The Norks line up in the entryway for the entertainment of the gathered guests:
Everybody
So Jong
Kim Il
Auf Wiedersehen
Goodbye!Kim Jong Il
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight
According to Ace and others, it looks like the Kim Jong Il (dictator for life in North Korea) is about to be ex-dictator for life in North Korea.
I think perhaps China has grown weary of supporting a failed state that brings no benefit to them and nothing but problems.
Quoting from the NYTimes article (bugmenot):
But in recent months, there have been signs of fissures in these walls. There are indications that news is leaking out of North Korea by cellphone and that criticisms of the government are being posted in public places. Those developments and the angry response to recent legislation in the United States intended to flood the country with radios that can pick up foreign broadcasts suggest that the leadership realizes its one great achievement – near total information control – is threatened.
…
Analysts also say they have seen more high-level defections of late, possibly a result of more permeable borders and greater dissatisfaction.
In Seoul, an editor at Monthly Chosun, a magazine that closely follows North Korean affairs, said in an interview that when he was in northern China earlier this year, Chinese officials showed him North Korean wanted posters for generals who had managed to reach China with their families. The editor, who asked not to be identified, estimated that in recent years, 130 North Korean generals had defected to China, about 10 percent of the military elite.
Of this group, the most significant, he said, are four who have been integrated into active duty with the Chinese military in the Shenyang district, along the Korean border.
Ellipses mine.
More telling than the posters and cellphones and the yipping and yapping of the masses is the defection of the generals to China. I think perhaps the military in North Korea realize which way the wind is blowing and want to make sure the wind is to their backs.
This will be the hot story for the next few weeks.