Daily Kor for December 7, 2009: Steven Bos is coming to town!

This should be interesting: North Korea is going to have to answer to the United Nations — which has lately shown a bit more willingness to criticize the DPRK — about its systemic human rights abuse. Meanwhile, the US envoy for North Korea has arrived in Seoul, presumably for Washington and Seoul to get on the same page as Ambassador Bosworth heads for Pyongyang on Tuesday.

Not sure if this Santa-lookalike is bearing gifts, but damn straight Kim Jong-il is on the naughty list. Okay, I don't know why I keep beating this Christmas theme to death. But here's a nice picture of people hiking through snow-capped Puk'ansan National Park [북한산 공립공원], which is partly located within Seoul city limits and easily accessible by the metro. Take that, London, New York, and Tokyo!

1. After rocky trip to China, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper due in Seoul to discuss economic issues and next year's G20 summits in Canada and South Korea (CBC)
2. ROK President Lee Myungbak to attend key UN climate change conference in Copenhagen for three days from December 17 (Yonhap, Korea Herald, Joongang Daily)
3. North Korea to face questioning over systemic abuse of human rights at United Nations on Monday (Reuters via WaPo, AFP)
4. Seoul to ban single-hulled oil tankers from entering ROK waters starting in 2011, bringing South Korea in line with global drive against a ship design blamed for oil spills (Bloomberg, Korea Herald)
5. Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education says average class size in elementary school has fallen below 30 for the first time ever (Donga Ilbo)
6. South Korea begins vaccinating children aged five and younger against H1N1 (Yonhap)
7. Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) says many of the 117 official H1N1 fatalities so far had lung ailments that made it difficult to recognize "swine flu" symptoms (Korea Times)
8. Freight and passenger traffic on airlines up spikes 7.4% in November over a year earlier, following a 4.7% year-on-year drop in October (Yonhap)
9. China beats South Korea, 78-62, in women's basketball preliminary round at East Asian Games in Hong Kong (Xinhua)
10. Local media considers South Korea's draw in first round of World Cup to be "manageable" (Korea Times)
11. US special envoy for North Korea Stephen Bosworth arrives in South Korea ahead of trip to North Korea (Reuters via WaPo, AFP, AP via NYT, UPI, Xinhua, Yonhap, Chosun Ilbo, )
12. Same-sex marriage advocates in Nagano say macaque nuptials of Adamu and Sutibu mark an important baby step toward full recognition in Japan (Reuters)