SEOUL, South Korea– You have to give the late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung credit. Even in death, he seems to be trying to get South and North Korea to become friends.

Honor guard soldiers carry the coffin of Kim Dae-jung for burial during his state funeral on August 23 in Seoul.

For the first time since the current conservative President Lee Myung-Bak took office, the North Koreans sent a high-level delegation to mourn the late Kim.

Before the trip, the North would only contact the late President’s aides. But while in Seoul, the delegation reportedly asked to meet with South Koreans and ultimately the president.

For Seoul’s part, there was a definite chilly reaction to the North’s announcement that it would send a delegation to Seoul.

And the South Korean news agency Yonhap says when the Northern visitors wanted to meet the president there were some in the government that thought it was inappropriate.

But in the end, the delegation got their meeting, and the South Korean spokesman says they conveyed a message from the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

The details of that message were not made public. But when asked at the airport how their stay in the South went, the head of the North Korean delegation was quoted as saying, “We are heading back in the positive mood.”

The South Korean spokesman said President Lee conveyed a message of his own to the delegation: that South Korea’s position is still firm and that he hopes for sincere dialogue in the future.

Now, will this be the catalyst for improved relations between the two Koreas? It’s hard to predict. But one thing for sure, if they do, someone up there will be cheering on the sidelines.

SEOUL, South Korea – Over the weekend, North Korea fired seven missiles into the sea between Korea and Japan.

Shortly afterwards, South Korean media published stories about just how much this display of missiles cost the impoverished North Korean regime.

The price tag for each missile fired on July 4 was said to be between $3 to 5 million - all seven, a total of about $25 million.

North Korea has launched 18 short to long-range missiles so far this year. This total comes to some $330 million, according to Joongang Ilbo, which quoted a military source. Analysts say that is enough to keep North Koreans fed for an entire year.

So did North Korea gain more than a big bang for its buck?

Some analysts believe the launches were conducted on the U.S. Independence Day to show the North’s displeasure at the Obama administration. Washington has been pushing for tough enforcement of the U.N. Security Council sanction imposed after North Korea conducted a nuclear test in May. But if the North wanted to get a rise out of the United States, it failed. Washington had little to say on the matter.

North Korea did manage to spook South Korea. Some of the missiles were thought to be scuds with an extended range that would cover all of South Korea.

And South Korean media quoted military officials as saying the latest launch showed North Korea had been able to significantly improve the accuracy of the scuds.

This does not bode well as relations between South and North Korea have deteriorated to its worst level in recent years. South Korean projects in the North which were supposed to foster friendship between the two Koreas have either been suspended or have hit major stumbling blocks.

The North openly denounces the South Korean president as a war-monger.

After the missile launches, Chung Mong-Jun, a prominent National Assemblyman called upon the government to address the South Korean people to explain the level of threat North Korea posed to the South.

But what if North Korea’s fireworks display really didn’t have much to do with the outside world?

Kim Tae-Woo, a long-time North Korea watcher with the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis, laughs in agreement when asked if the outside world thinks it means more to North Korea than it actually does.

Kim sees the missile launches as simply a process in North Korea wanting to be what it always said it wanted to be: an independent and strong nuclear power.  “North Korea needs to test its missiles to see if their technological advances are real.”

“And it doesn’t hurt to let its potential buyers know as well,” he says.

While it is difficult to know exactly how many missiles North Korea exports, it is known that missile sales are a major source of foreign currency and their main customers are countries like Iran and Libya.

And then there is the internal political reasoning. “North Korea often uses such military actions to concentrate internal forces, to enhance domestic stability,” says Kim.

For North Korea, which seems to be in the process of transferring leadership from Kim Jong-Il to his 26-year-old son Kim Jong-Un, this is a crucial time. After a stroke last year, the North Korean leader’s health is in question.

The 26-year-old heir apparent is a relative newcomer to the North Korean power structure and a young man shrouded in mystery to the outside world. The only picture publicly known of Kim Jong-Un was taken when he was a student in Switzerland ten years ago.

And to realize a smooth transition of power from father to son, analysts point out that the leadership needs the backing of all factions of its society, especially the military.

So if testing out and showing off its missile prowess keeps the military happy, it is more than worth the hefty price tag the North Korean leadership paid, says analysts.

“For the North Korean leadership, nothing is more important than regime survival,” says Kim.

SEOUL, South Korea – Judging from the media, South Koreans are not only happy about their team qualifying for the finals of the 2010 World Cup –- but they are also ecstatic about the North making it in, too.

“South and North Korean Brothers Make It Into the Finals,” said one South Korean newspaper headline read by locals on the subway.

The Joongang Daily has a front page picture of the star players from each of the teams with this headline: “The Two Men Go Together to the World Cup.”

“Will the two teams score goals of reconciliation?” the newspaper wrote in a headline for another story on the matches.

Another national daily, which said a joint cheering squad should be formed, wrote: “South and North Korea to Go Together to the Finals for the First Time in 44 Years.”

In fact next year's tournament in South Africa will be the first time both Koreas have played at the same World Cup. South Korea made their tournament debut in 1954 and have qualified for every World Cup since 1986, reaching the semifinals on home soil in 2002. North Korea's sole appearance in the World Cup was in 1966 in England where they reached the quarterfinals.

The teams’ achievements also topped the main news programs of South Korean TV stations.

While this may seem strange to the outside world, it is not if you consider the fact that in South Korea there are two mutually exclusive North Koreas.

One is the belligerent North Korea, which is seemingly bent on becoming a nuclear state and is led by secretive leader Kim Jong-Il.

The other is the North Korea that was severed by the South through a war that many people here feel was not of Koreans making. It is the idea of North Korea as the lost and impoverished brother that has gone astray.

North Korea is still the home for the brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters of tens of thousands of South Koreans.

Family members that these South Koreans never get to see, never get to hear from, except for a few isolated “family reunions.”

So while the rest of the world may see a rogue state, South Korea sees a country filled with "brothers" that need to be embraced.

Brothers that were "helped" when South Korea's star player Park Ji-Sung fired in the equalizing goal against Iran.

If the South Koreans had lost, North Korea's chances of making it to the World Cup would have gone up in smoke.

So while in almost no other place and instance, can South and North Koreans go hand in hand, it seems at the World Cup finals in South Africa, they will be able to play, brother alongside brother.

And that is worth celebrating.

SEOUL, South Korea – The man who answered my call sounded extremely dazed. "I didn't believe it when they first told me," said 40-year-old Bae Seok-bum. "I thought they were pulling my leg." But when Bae logged onto the Internet, he found his face plastered on South Korean Web sites as the third son and the heir apparent to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Bae Seok-bum says this picture is of him, not North Korea's heir apparent.

"I have no idea how this got on TV Asahi," he said. "I took this photo last summer when we went on a trip. And I posted it on my Internet cafe so that others could see what I was doing," he said.

This is not the first time Bae, who is South Korean, got noticed for his resemblance to Kim Jong Il. "I heard that many, many times," he sheepishly admitted. But this is the first time things have gotten so out of hand.

"I'm getting so many phone calls that I can't do anything else." Even when I was talking to Bae, his cell phone kept beeping, letting him know there were many calls waiting.

Such a case of mistaken identity is not surprising when you have a regime that is so shrouded in mystery. The only photo the outside world has seen of North Korea's heir apparent, who is now 26, is a school photo taken when he was thought to be 11 at most. So when TV Asahi said it had pictures of Kim Jong Un as an adult, everyone took notice.

Even me. I was just twittering away that the resemblance between father and son was uncanny when I first heard of the possible hoax. And so, the outside world is back to trying to find out whatever they can about the mysterious Kim Jong Un. I have even heard of some using imaging technology to try to figure out what he would look like today.

Well, if you ask me, I would think those images could look a lot like Bae Seok-bum. Who, by the way, has finally turned off his cell phone.

SEOUL, South Korea — I did not know at the time that my interview with the late President Roh Moo-Hyun for Talk Asia in December of 2007 would be the one of the last ones he ever did with a foreign correspondent.

If I had, I would have wanted to know more about why this man, who was the most powerful in the country, was so sad.

That is the feeling I was left with as we ended the sit-down discussion, probed his computer system together, and walked around in his private office.

One of the last things he said to me was that he was really looking forward to stepping down as president.

“I think I will be able to watch the news with a more peaceful state of mind. I will be able to move when I want to move. That’s freedom. To be able to achieve such freedom fills my heart with anticipation,” he said.

I could see his face visibly brighten as he talked, and that to me indicated just how much angst this man experienced during his presidency.

For, despite good intentions, his presidency was one that was marred by controversy and deepening division between liberal and conservative factions.

The establishment never really acknowledged that this man who started out in a poor farming family, and never even went to college, had the right to lead the country.

It was Roh’s supporters on the streets that elected him president … the relatively young, of middle- or low-income status, and Internet-savvy.

They called themselves NoSaMo, the Korean acronym for “Group of people who love Roh Moo-Hyun.”

Their color was yellow, for the people’s movement.

They were the ones who took to the streets when the establishment tried to impeach their champion, and they are the ones who are the driving force behind the huge nationwide wave of mourning.

And they are also the ones that are most angry at the current government of President Lee Myung-Bak, who they believe initiated an unfair investigation into the late president that ultimately led to his death.

It was their presence that I felt in the late president’s private office as he proudly showed off a wall hanging of miniature piggy banks.

Thousands sent in coin-filled piggy banks to support Roh during his presidential campaign.

There were also memos of love and support, and even a gold medal someone sent him to use as campaign funds.

He said he put these things on his wall to remind him just who made him president and who he was working for.

It was this wall that was a huge burden as well, especially when Roh was going through the impeachment process.

“I couldn’t help thinking, they made me president, and now I am going to get myself impeached,” he said.

After he stepped down, he indeed seemed to enjoy life as a “normal” citizen.

He retired to his home town in southern Seoul and was shown doing “normal” things, riding a bicycle with his granddaughter in the back, walking to the corner store, always with a big fat smile on this face.

But the peaceful farm life did not last long. Prosecutors started an investigation into alleged corruption by the former president and his family, and he was summoned to the prosecution’s office to answer questions about his alleged illegal actions.

The smile was gone, replaced by the slightly sad grin I so vividly remember.

So as I cover the late president one last time, I am reminded of the words he left behind on a computer screen just before leaping to his death.

“Don’t be sad.  Don’t blame anyone.  Life and death are both a part of life.”

President Roh, may you finally be at peace and free.

SEOUL, South Korea — It's the end of a long news week, and a group of foreign correspondents share a well-deserved beer. The conversation naturally turns to the story of the day.

"Did you think Kim Jong-Il limped?" "Not that I could notice."

The reclusive North Korean leader's health has been the subject of much debate.

"Didn't he always waddle?"

"Now what about that left hand...Definitely something wrong there."

Then someone notices how absurd our conversation is becoming.

But it's a reflection of just how absurd the story we cover is. It's a story that is put together by the bits and pieces of information that seeps out of one of the most reclusive countries in the world.

Take the issue of the North Korean leader's health. Reports say he suffered a stroke last August. A French surgeon that treated him supposedly confirmed it.

The evidence to back up such suspicions is that Kim didn't appear in public for months, then only released still pictures in various well-controlled photo-ops.

So imagine the anticipation among North Korean watchers as day-of video of Kim appears.
The scrutiny begins.

JoongAng Ilbo, a prominent South Korean English daily, shows Kim holding up his Worker's Party card on Thursday, then compares it to a very similar shot taken a year ago, and then the same pose again 10 years ago.

According to JoongAng Ilbo, a number of things become apparent: In the photos of the past, there are a row of microphones in front of Kim; there are none in the recent photo. The paper says this is an indication that Kim did not make a speech to the assembly this year, a sign that he may not yet be able to speak clearly.

And while it may not be evident to the untrained eye, his expression was reportedly more rigid than usual. And it stayed that way throughout the assembly meeting, said the paper, evidently having had someone look at just his face throughout the event.

A neurosurgeon quoted in the article said these are possibly signs that there was facial paralysis due to the stroke. He added that Kim's left hand is noticeably less active then his right, a fact that was apparent as he clapped: His right hand did the clapping, his left hand barely moved.

One neurosurgeon said he noticed the fingers on this left hand did not move as Kim pushed papers around on his podium. Another was quoted as saying his right leg stayed on the ground slightly longer than his left leg, causing him to walk with a slight limp.

All signs, the doctors say, that he is still recovering from the aftermath of the stroke.

But the neurosurgeons all agreed that while the symptoms of a stroke were all there, Kim was still well enough to rule North Korea.

Even the journalists, untrained in medicine, agreed with that assessment; the conversation to be resumed when the next piece of news filters out of the North.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has fired a rocket, "elected" Kim Jong-Il as its leader and entered what it says is a new era of leadership.

This picture, released April 6, 2009, shows Kim Jong Il, center, with satellite control and command center staff.

But it still leaves the rest of the world thinking, "What is it that the North Korean leadership wants?"

Being one of the world's most secretive countries, it's a question very few outside of North Korea can answer.

So we have to do what most North Korean analysts and watchers do, base theories on clues taken from what the North does and says.

While the rest of the world may debate whether the rocket launch was a success or not, there is no doubt in North Korea.

"This historic event is a manifestation of the unshakable will of leader Kim Jong Il to open the gate to a great, prosperous and powerful nation without fail," says a Workers' Party official, according to the North Korean state media.

And there's more.

"The successful launching of the satellite is not a mere fruition of wisdom and talent but a fierce confrontation with those who disliked it."

And North Korean media says 100,000 North Koreans gathered at a massive rally in Pyongyang the day after the launch wholeheartedly agreed.

South Koreans heading to an industrial complex in North Korea were quoted as saying they noticed the normally somber northern guards kept asking whether the southerners had heard about the North's successful satellite launch.

And herein is a little insight into the world according to North Korea.

The North wants to be taken seriously.

The North Korean leadership needs something the people can point to as proof that they are indeed living in a "paradise on earth."

In recent years, even though the North has controlled domestic information to an amazing degree, information about the outside world has seeped in.

People have all heard rumors about the abundance that lies beyond its borders, the different and at times attractive lifestyles enjoyed by other people, especially South Koreans.

All of this chips away at the image of the paradise that the Kim family is supposed to have built in North Korea.

And reports of Kim's health problems have aggravated the situation.

Now that Kim is ready to appear in the public view again, this is the time to renew the North Korean public's faith in the Kim dynasty - to make sure the loyalty is there before building the foundation for the next generation of Kims to take over.

This theme is only expected to strengthen as the "Day of the Sun" approaches - April 15. It's the birthday of the late Kim Il-Sung, the country's founder and eternal leader.

SEOUL, South Korea - Today is Arbor Day in South Korea.  The day people go to the mountains to plant trees, and visit the graves of their ancestors. This year, the weather was perfect; sunny and calm.

South Korean activists on Sunday launch a balloon carrying leaflets intended to land in North Korea.

But it was also perfect weather for North Korea to conduct what the rest of the world considered a not-so-peaceful act: Firing off a long-range rocket.

It was not like any tree-planting South Koreans could see from the mountains; the rocket dropped one engine into the sea east of the Korean Peninsula and then flew over northern Japan.

But South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak hurried back from planting trees to an underground emergency situation room to hold a National Security Council meeting.

And for the scores of South Koreans climbing up mountains, the fact that North Korea would again raise tensions on the peninsula was definitely something looming over their heads.

As timing would have it, one group was holding a Korean War photo exhibition in downtown Seoul. South and North Korea fought a devastating war from 1950 to 1953. The conflict has technically never ended since the two sides never signed a peace treaty.

The organizers said it was a fitting message to North Korea of what could happen again if the North kept ratcheting up tensions.

SEOUL, South Korea - After more than 20 years of covering Korea, it never ceases to amaze me how seemingly blasé South Koreans can be to the North Korean threat.

Take Monday, for example, the day North Korea hurls fiery rhetoric at the South by using words such as "all-out war" and "combat ready" at South Korea and the United States.

It was a day when hundreds of South Korea's citizens were stranded in the North as Pyongyang in effect closes its borders in retaliation for U.S.-South Korean military exercises.

We take to the streets to do a story about the reaction (I'm thinking "shock and horror") of the average South Korean.  Here's what we got.

Um Sung-eun, a 25-year-old college student, said, "North Korea is threatening us, but I think they are trying to fight with the U.S., they don't mean to threaten us."

Ko Chong-Chu, a businessman old enough to be her father says, "In the past, North Korea carried out a missile test to strengthen their negotiation position.  I think they are doing the same thing again."

North Korean experts with doctorates from Ivy League universities couldn't have been more analytical.

So what gives?  South Koreans will stop traffic for miles to hold shouting matches at the mildest fender-bender. Why the seeming lack of fiery emotion where North Korea is concerned?

The best explanation I've ever received is that having lived under a North Korean threat for more than half a century, South Koreans have learned to tune most of the rhetoric out. I mean, how many times can you hear "wolf" and still jump?

Or maybe the thought of North Korea firing anything, never mind a missile, at South Korea is too horrible to even think about.

Whatever the reason, I once again retire the microphone to another non-story about a panic attack that never appeared.

When will I ever learn?

SEOUL, South Korea - I'm sitting at a coffee shop with a local Korean journalist, a fellow North Korean watcher. Our cell phones buzz at the same time. "Missiles?" he says, only half jokingly. It turned out to be just a coincidence.

A South Korean soldier stands guard at Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone between the North and South.

But for a moment there. ...

One North Korean watcher says this latest vigil is like watching storm clouds gathering. You can see it happening. You don't know if it will end up raining or not. But you've seen it before and you know you will see it happen, again and again.

Will they or won't they?

Here's the most likely scenario for the moment.

On March 8, North Korea holds its Supreme People's Assembly. This is like holding national assembly elections except that in communist North Korea, all the assembly members have already been chosen.

The important thing is that one of the already chosen ones is North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

It's one of those communist formalities that are steeped in symbolism. The symbol here being that Kim Jong-Il is still firmly in power.

If North Korea was going to fire a missile or a satellite, (a discussion for another day) the thinking is that they would do it sometime between March 8 and the date they set for the first general assembly of the "newly elected" members.

At this meeting, it is expected they will unanimously vote Kim to be the head.

It is not clear when that meeting will be, but from past experience, it should be two to four weeks after March 8.

Another theory that supports this time line is the fact that North Korea has been harshly critical of the U.S.-South Korean military exercise "Key Resolve" which will continue for most of March.

The exercise could provide the perfect excuse for North Korea to fire off a missile or a satellite. Now, as my North Korean analyst friend and I sip coffee in Seoul, we also understand that any and all of this may change.

What if Steven Bosworth, the new U.S.-appointed North Korean envoy heads to North Korea? Again, this may be fodder for another coffee session. But for now, both of us keep of cell phone close.