National Assembly election post mortem

Over at The Marmot's Hole, The Korean has put together a nice overview of Tuesday's vote for the National Assembly seats, a national poll in which the ruling party did surprisingly well, thanks to Park Geunhye.

The Korean credits Ms Park successfully incorporating bread-and-butter rice-and-kimchi issues that are normally the purview of the parties on the left. And despite President Lee Myungbak's abysmal ratings (you're not a lame-duck ROK president unless you're popularity is less than one in three), it turns out not to have been much a referendum on the Marilyn Manson impersonator.

One wonders how this bodes for the presidential election coming in December. Does this make a Park Geunhye candidacy more likely, and will her success in April be enough to carry her (back) to the Blue House, occupied for nearly two decades by her father.

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Daily Kor for Saturday, June 4, 2011

From story #4: Former GNP chairwoman Park Geunhye, the Mitt Romney of the ruling party, meets with President Lee Myungbak, the George W. Bush (first term) of the ruling party. Ms Park's faction would like to focus on welfare issues while Lee's faction wants to cut taxes for corporations to boost the economy. 

It's a rainy day with flood warnings here on Oahu, but I went for my daily run anyway. I used to worry about my iPod Shuffle getting wet, but after someone I know accidentally washed and dried an iPod Nano and it still worked swimmingly (ha!), I'm less concerned. Anyway, stay warm and dry wherever you are.

1. Pyongyang threatens "retaliatory military actions" after revelations that pictures of North Korea's "eternal president" Kim Ilsung, current leader Kim Jong-il, and alleged heir-apparent Kim Jong-un (AP via WaPo, Yonhap)
2. South Korean Foreign Ministry says "door remains open" for talks with North Korea, despite Pyongyang's revelations of secret talks (UPI)
• Opposition parties lash out against ROK President Lee Myungbak over "hard-line" approach on North Korea (Reuters)
3. Meeting with Chinese counterpart, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates calls for more cooperation between Beijing and Washington on piracy, disaster relief, and North Korea (WSJ, AP via MSNBC)
4. President Lee and former ruling party head and presidential frontrunner Park Geunhye vow to cooperate to restore public trust and "put a focus on people's livelihood and move toward unity rather than division" (Yonhap, Joongang Daily, Korea Herald)
5. ROK Navy deploys second high-tech Aegis destroyer, Yulgok Yi I, to bolster defenses against North Korean belligerence (Yonhap)
6. KRW headed for third week of gain as demand for US dollar falters (Bloomberg) 
7. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says free trade agreements with US and Peru contained hundreds of translation errors (Korea Times)
• Lee cabinet approves ratification of KORUS FTA (Joongang Daily)
8. Fendi show goes on in Seoul after reducing amount of fur used in show that had met with protests (ABC)
9. Formula One racing calendar changes date of Korean Grand Prix from October 16, 2011, to April 22, 2012 (UPI)
10. Korea Republic beats Serbia, 2-1, in soccer friendly (Yonhap)
11. Analysis of video recovered from Pakistan raid indicates Osama bin Laden spent years hiding out in a Seoul koshiwon (CBS)