Daily Kor for December 2, 2009: Dead presidents/100

I don't usually make wild predictions, but I will now: We may be witnessing the catalyst for the beginning of the end of the regime in Pyongyang (story #1). Now I don't know how long this reaction will take, and I have been wrong in the past (North Korea didn't collapse within five years of the Dear Leader's death and Lee Myungbak has not revealed himself to be Marilyn Manson — not yet), but I feel good (or bad) about this one.

Other stuff happened, too. Railroad strike declared illegal, exports jumping for the first time in a year, foreign exchange at a record high. But none of that will matter when the DPRK implodes.

1. Chaos reportedly erupts in North Korea in response to unexpected currency devaluation (links here)
2. South Korean exports 18.8% higher in November than one year earlier, first rise in 13 months (AP via WaPo, Bloomberg) 
3. ROK President Lee Myungbak urgers striking railroad workers to return to their jobs, calling their action illegal and unreasonable (Yonhap); cabinet declares strike illegal (Korea Herald, Joongang Daily)
4. Hyundai sales rise 46 percent in November from a year earlier, driven especially by Alabama-made Hyundai models (Birmingham Business Journal); sales for all five South Korean automakers rise 25.6% (AsiaPulse), but GM Daewoo falls 13% (Reuters)
5. Beijing expresses hope for upcoming rare talks between North Korean and American officials (AP via WaPo)
6. South Korea's Unification Ministry dispels rumors that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had been attacked and killed (Reuters via WaPo)
7. Renault Samsung to sell electric car in South Korea in 2011 (Bloomberg, Korea Herald)
8. South Korean foreign reserves rise for ninth consecutive month to a record high of $270.89 billion (Reuters via CNBC)
9. Maximum jail term for child sex offenders set to rise to fifty years (Yonhap)
10. Health Ministry says forty percent of population will receive H1N1 vaccination (Yonhap)
11. Governor of North Chŏlla Province sends letter to Eni Faleomavaega, US Representative from American Samoa and Chairman US House Asia-Pacific Subcommittee, asking for USFK to expedite measures for civilian international flights from Kunsan Air Base (Yonhap)
12. Unidentified general at the DPRK 3rd Brigade explains to Dear Leader Kim Jong-il how his battalion captured part of Google Earth (Yonhap)