South Korea

On November 12, North Korean scientists took Stanford professor Siegfried Hecker and two colleagues to the Yongbyon nuclear complex. The North Koreans led the Americans to a building that Hecker, former head of the Los Alamos nuclear laboratories, had visited in February 2008.

Bloomberg reports:

Rogue nation North Korea attacked their South Korean neighbors earlier today, killing two South Korean marines. Reuters reports:

This is a tale of two printing presses.

At his November 12 press conference in Seoul, President Obama was asked the following question by CBS’s Chip Reid: “What was the number-one complaint, concern, or piece of advice that you got from foreign leaders about the U.S. economy and your stewardship of the economy?”

Whereupon the president began his response with a complaint: “What about compliments?” he asked. “You didn’t put that in the list.”

Well, soorrrrrry, Mr. President.

Steve Hayes, with A. B. Stoddard and Charles Krauthammer, last night on Fox News:

The United States has been engaged in anti-submarine exercises with South Korea to demonstrate resolve in the aftermath of the sinking of a South Korean vessel, the Cheonan, by the North Koreans.

A North Korean soldier looks in through the window of the T2 building as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates tour the Demilitarized Zone in Korea on July 21, 2010. DoD photo by Cherie Cullen.

Conservatives are fond of denigrating Barack Obama as a foreign policy wimp, a president determined to demonstrate American weakness around the world, one begging for dialogue with dictators, and apologizing for past American sins, real and imagined.  Even if overdrawn, there has been justification for this line of criticism.

Josh Rogin has the rundown on the UN's response to the killing of over 40 South Korean sailors by North Korea:

Speaking to reporters at the G-20 summit in Toronto, President Obama declared his intention to complete the U.S.–South Korea free-trade agreement, which was signed by the Bush administration three years ago. “I want to make sure that everything is lined up properly by the time I visit Korea in November, and in the few months that follow that, I intend to present it to Congress,” Obama said. “It is the right thing to do for our country, it is the right thing to do for Korea.”

Commenting on North Korea’s attack and sinking of the Cheonan with 46 South Korean sailors killed, President Obama said this past weekend at the G-20 summit in Toronto that “our main focus right now is in the U.N. Security Council making sure that there is a crystal-clear acknowledgement that North Korea engaged in belligerent behavior that is unacceptable to the international community.”