Lee Myung bek blinks

Mr. Lee Myung bek, president of the ROK [Republic of Korea aka South Korea]is on a roll. He is talking tough about the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea aka North Korea] in the wake of the sinking of the corvette 'Cheonan'.
He has donned in his own mind at least the uniform of a marshall to threaten fire and brimstone on the North for its 'proven' responsability in the sinking of the vessel and its intendant loss of 46 crew.
He has intensified the war of words, and in order to put some muscle to his posturing, he has cut off all aid and succour to the DPRK.
But has he? Not really. Mr. Lee has made an interesting exception: the Kaesong Industrial Park [KIP] funded by South Korea's 'chaebols'. And the KIP which has North Korean workers, is a source of much needed hard currency, which the South Korean president had vowed to cut off, to bring the North to its knees.
Yes, Mr. Lee blinked, but his bluster and joint military exercises with his protector the US and his martial music has won him brownie points in the ROK. It looks as though his party will retain, if not increase its majority in parliament.
On another front, the summit meeting of Japan, the ROK, and China, he failed to persuade Beijing to condemn Pyongyang for its responsability in the sunken 'Cheonan'.
It boogles the mind how ahistorical Mr. Lee and his American handlers are. For them, the past began yesterday; the longer term view is erased.
Have the forgotten the purchase China and its military have on protecting the DPRK?