Comment by Alex

December 30, 2006 @ 2:12 am

Nice post! Its really facinating to see all of the posts thus far in cloud form here. North Korea has been the biggest story in my opinion this year politically. Its cause a stir, got a NK hardliner elected as Prime Minister and even has Japan talking about installing a military force instead of just the JSDF.

Comment by Ken Worsley

December 30, 2006 @ 2:18 am

I agree with you fully that Kim helped ease Abe’s election to the party presidency, but I’m not sure that any of the others were really going to campaign well enough to get the votes away from him if the test hadn’t happened. Would be nice to find out…

But now there are rumors that Abe could be out as early as May…

Comment by Alex

December 30, 2006 @ 3:51 am

I’ve heard that yes. Mark my words though that Japan may soon find itself in a toe to toe confrontation of words with Korea soon. They’ll find Korea is smuggling something or the like and suddenly Abe will gain a lot of popularity once again…

Comment by Ken Worsley

December 30, 2006 @ 2:19 pm

Are you suggesting a connection between the timing of a future incident involving the DPRK and a key political event in Abe’s future? Wouldn’t that be like the Republicans raising the Terror Threat Alert Level immediately following the Democratic National Convention? I’d love to see it.

I think Abe/the LDP tried this with the 17th abduction confirmation. There apparently had been no new evidence, yet she was formally added to the list. I didn’t see his ratings improve in that case…

Comment by Alex

December 30, 2006 @ 10:23 pm

Oh indeed Ken, I recall the 17th abduction confirmation. But they have to work on Abe’s strength because otherwise the government is a lame duck.

One of the main issues they’ve faced and the reason for his decline has been that he hasn’t been telling people what his plans are.. He’s very mum on what he’s up to. The average person hasn’t a clue what he’s up to…

But never the less, my prediction is that we see some NORK (North Korean) situation arrise in the next five to six weeks…