Daily Kor for November 14, 2009: Janus

Ah, that inscrutable North Korea. On the one hand it tells French envoy Jack Lang that it is willing to talk with France about human rights (maybe Monsieur Lang is getting this one wrong and Pyongyang is about to school Paris about how badly the French treat their Muslims), and on the other hand it threatens to take South Korea down on the whole Northern Limit Line (NLL) which it has disputed for years. Was the Yellow Sea naval clash this week just a prelude?

1. French envoy Jack Lang ends five-day visit to North Korea, says Pyongyang had agreed to "exchange" with Paris on human rights issues (AFP)
2. Pyongyang warns Seoul that it's ready for battle over disputed maritime border (Yonhap, Reuters, AP via WaPo, Bloomberg, Korea Times, Donga Ilbo, Joongang Daily); US calls on North Korea to tone down bellicose rhetoric (AFP)
3. US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke says ambitious legislative agenda focusing on health care, financial regulation, and alternative energy means trade agreements "are going to have to wait" (AP via WaPo)
4. In Yonhap interview, US President Obama urges North Korea to live up to its promise of abandoning nukes and returning to the fold of the international community; also offers appeal for South Korean leadership role in global effort to combat recession (Bloomberg, Yonhap, full text)
5. ROK Trade Minister Kim Jonghoon says South Korea should expect same level of exports this year as last year (WSJ)
6. Korea buys HSBC headquarters in London's Canary Wharf for $1.3 billion (BBC, Bloomberg)
7. Environment Ministry unionists withdraw from militant KCTU umbrella labor group (Korea Times, Joongang Daily)
8. Third-quarter average household income falls (Yonhap, Joongang Daily)
9. STX announces 1 trillion won order for eight vessels to be delivered by September 2012 (Reuters)
10. Education Ministry reports that 92 students were expelled from CSAT administration because of banned items (Korea Times)
11. YTN must reinstate six unionists who waged collective action against network (Joongang Daily)
12. Drunk foreign douchebag with military haircut knocks loudly on door of famous blogger at around 4 a.m. Saturday morning; after told to bugger off, douchebag smiles, walks off, and knocks on all the other doors in apartment building (TMH)

[above: When else would I get a chance to use this? Oh, wait... I'm talking as if I don't actually control the content on my own frickin' blog.]