Interesting developments in North Korea. First, the "parliament" named a familiar face to the positoin of premiere: Former North Korean premier Pak Pong-ju, who was sacked in 2007 for failing to successfully implement economic reforms, was re-appointed to the top cabinet post at a meeting of the country's rubber-stamp assembly on Monday, its KCNA news agency said. "At the session, Deputy Choe Yong-rim was recalled from the post of premier of the DPRK Cabinet and Deputy Pak Pong-ju was elected premier of the DPRK Cabinet," KCNA said. Competence not being one of Mr. Pak's strong points, one would think he was named to help Kim consolidate his power - which many experts believe is the reason for all the bellicose rhetoric in the first place. And the North Korean "parliament" sang the praises of nuclear weapons, calling them "the nation's life": On Sunday, Kim and top party officials adopted a declaration calling nuclear weapons the "the nation's life" and an important component of...(Read Full Post)