CHINA: China's Forbidden City

In the heart of Beijing lies the largest palace in the world, The Forbidden City. For five hundred years, it served as the home of the almighty Emperors of China along with their wives, concubines, and entourages of tens of thousands of eunuchs and civil servants. But the Forbidden City is more than an imperial residence; it is the center of the universe, a unique complex of structures revealing a hierarchy of power both imperial and divine.

The Center of the World, Part 1

Explore the origins of the Forbidden City, the savage and self-appointed emperor of the Ming Dynasty who ordered its construction, and the architect whose cosmic vision brought ritualistic significance to every detail. The greatest palace ever built was constructed with miraculous speed but harbored fatal flaws and became marked by a devastating fire that foreshadowed the city's ultimate fate-and that of the Ming Dynasty.

Forbidden City: The Creation

An Emperor’s grand vision leads to the creation of the Forbidden City.

Still So Many Secrets

Craftsman still use traditional methods to maintain the Forbidden City. Many of these methods are still closely guarded secrets.

Click here for air times on the Smithsonian Channel HD…

JAPAN: Frank Lloyd Wright's Japan

May 28,2009

By LUCY BIRMINGHAM

For Frank Lloyd Wright, Japan was a muse and possibly a savior.

The architect's love of ukiyo-e woodblock prints is well-known. But his 1917-22 residence in Japan, where commissions such as the Imperial Hotel helped revive his flagging career, is not so widely documented. Nor is his huge influence upon generations of Japanese architects.

So a tour of Wright's Japan—the place where he regained a foothold on the way to becoming "the greatest American architect of all time" (according to an American Institute of Architects survey)—offers fascinating insight into this eccentric genius.

The Tazaemon Yamamura House near Kobe, built as a summer place for sake brewer Tazaemon Yamamura/Yodoko Steel Works

Wright's 1890s Prairie Style homes sparked the first revolution in architecture since the Renaissance, and marked the architect's first golden age. He would go on to design several iconic American buildings—from the 1936 Fallingwater house in Pennsylvania to the spiraling Guggenheim Museum in New York City in 1959. But at the time he arrived in Japan in 1917, the then-50-year-old was a former wunderkind, dragged down by a scandalous affair and tragedy.

 The salon of the Yamamura house includes ventilation doors in the upper part of the wall, called the clerestory. The furniture is not by Wright./Yodoko Steel Works

His obsession with Japanese prints began before that, in the 1890s. An art form that dates back to the mid-1600s, ukiyo-e or "pictures of the floating world" include images of fashionable courtesans, Kabuki stars, landscapes and everyday life with architectural exteriors and interiors of the day. Wright's collection ultimately became the key to his financial survival—he used the prints as a struggling heir might use the family jewels, to settle his debts in difficult times; he always bought more when he was flush. After his death in 1959, they helped provide the $750,000 his Taliesin Foundation owed the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. But while he called them his "king's ransom," the prints were more important for the inspiration their beauty—and geometry—provided.

"I remember when I first met Japanese prints, I'll never forget it," Wright once said in a filmed interview. "Japanese art had a great influence on my feeling and thinking."

Wright's first encounter with Japanese architecture was probably the country's pavilion at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. A wooden copy of the Byodo-in Temple in Uji on the outskirts of Kyoto, it was built by carpenters from Okura & Co., which 20 years later would finance and build Wright's Imperial Hotel. Baron Kihachiro Okura, head of the firm, became one of the architect's staunchest supporters, despite mounting criticism as construction costs for the hotel climbed to an extraordinary $3 million.

"The reason why everyone says Wright was so influenced by Japan—and scholars have been arguing this for nearly a century—is because so many aspects of his philosophy of 'organic architecture' are also characteristics of Japanese traditional architecture," says filmmaker and Wright scholar Karen Severns.

Wright favored natural, local materials, warm earth tones, human scale and integration of interior and exterior, all of which fit with Japanese tradition. He "borrowed landscape," using windows or doorways like picture frames—a concept the Japanese call shakkei. Even his fascination with geometric shapes is in keeping with the rectangular straw tatami mat, the base of Japan's traditional architecture.

But his open plans, where space flows from room to room, are completely outside Japanese tradition.

"Wright fused East and West. And he loved the element of surprise," says Ms. Severns. "You'd go down a corridor with a low ceiling and then come out into an open expanse and, 'Oh, wow!' you'd say. That's something you don't often get in a Japanese building. He had this mastery of space."

A large window in the central hall of a Tokyo school for girls, Jiyu Gakuen Myonichikan, that Wright designed in 1921/Koichi Mori

Among Wright's 14 designs for Japan, six were built. Of those, Jiyu Gakuen Myonichikan, a 1921 building in Tokyo, and the Tazaemon Yamamura House (1918-24) near Kobe remain standing. His Imperial Hotel was demolished in 1967, but the main lobby exterior and interior was transported to Meiji Mura, an architecture theme park near Nagoya, and the Old Imperial Bar in the current Imperial Hotel retains some of the architect's original design.

Many more structures throughout Japan were designed by Wright's apprentices and followers, both Japanese and foreign. In central Tokyo alone are 26 buildings directly related to Wright, though most are not open to the public.

Ms. Severns and her partner Koichi Mori offer tailor-made Frank Lloyd Wright tours in Japan through their company KiSMet Productions.

I took a two-day tour that began at the intriguing Jiyu Gakuen Myonichikan—"myonichikan" meaning "house of tomorrow" and Jiyu Gakuen ("School of Free Spirit") being a progressive school for girls founded by Motoko and Yoshikazu Hani. The Hanis met Wright through Arata Endo, chief draftsman for the Imperial Hotel, who shared credit on the school design with Wright—a first for the American. Endo became his devoted collaborator and, after Wright left in 1922, his lifeline to Japan.

Designed on a strict budget, Jiyu Gakuen features Wright's trademark low-rise symmetry, clean, minimalist lines and simple, elegant adornment. Walk through the main entrance down a low-ceilinged corridor dimly lit with natural light and step up a brief flight of stairs into the split-level dining room, a breathtaking expanse of open space. Windows flooding the rooms with light are decorated with geometric shapes. Wright and Endo's chair and table designs, sized for children, sit in the room, and their sculptural pendant lights hang from the remarkable "ship's-hull ceiling."

The porous volcanic oya stone used in the fireplace was a favorite material for Wright, figuring in all his Japan structures, but it was a controversial choice—and as feared, it is crumbling with time. The school was registered as an Important Cultural Property in 1997—after a long battle—and then restored over three years.

In the tiny shopping district of Ginza there are structures designed by three of Wright's many followers. Our first stop was the Sapporo Beer Co.'s Lion Beer Hall—a virtual temple to beer—where we bravely nibbled a lunch of German-inspired sausages, washed down with generous mugs of yes, Sapporo beer.

Designed by Eizo Sugawara in 1934 with elements of Gothic, Art Deco and Wright homage, it miraculously survived devastating earthquakes and World War II bombings. Orb chandeliers, emerald green tiles, a Gothic ceiling and colorful glass mosaics—including the 30,000-piece wheat-harvest scene with its bare-breasted peasants above the bar—made our visit akin to a Wrightian communion.

"Most everything is original, even the floors," says Ms. Severns. "In Japan, this is something to be treasured."

A few blocks away, ready for more blessed sightings, we viewed the Christian Literature Society and the American Bible Society, two connected buildings designed in 1926 by Czech architect Antonin Raymond (1888-1976). The boxy '30s-style concrete modernist structures are remarkable mainly because they haven't been torn down and replaced—the real estate beneath them is some of the most valuable on the planet. Some small gems remain within—Raymond's office, for instance—but it's the story of the architect and his artist wife, Noemi, that's most intriguing.

"The Raymonds helped pioneer modern architecture and interior design in Japan," explains Ms. Severns.

The couple came to Japan with Wright to work on the Imperial Hotel, but left the project after one year. Raymond went on to create a highly successful practice in Tokyo, Raymond Architectural Design Office, which continues to operate. He moved toward the modernist style, slowly paring away Wright-style beautification and ornamentation.

Just five minutes away by foot, the Miharabashi Center Building was designed in 1952 by another Wright apprentice, Kameki Tsuchiura (1897-1996). Sadly, this crumbling modernist survivor appears destined for the wrecking ball. Designed like an ocean liner (a favorite architectural conceit of the '30s—and of Wright) with a hull-like underground arcade, it straddles a major Ginza roadway. The aboveground sections are topped like the bow and stern of a ship with delightful Wrightian details.

Wright's Imperial Hotel, finished in 1923, was torn down in the 1960s, though you can still see the main lobby at Meiji Mura, an architecture theme park near Nagoya./Imperial Hotel

The Imperial Hotel lobby in its theme-park setting/Koichi Mori

The lobby's similarly preserved interior Koichi Mori

At the Imperial Hotel, a 10-minute walk away, we quickly settled into comfy leather chairs and basked in the 1920s Art Deco mood of the Wright-designed Old Imperial Bar. It was once known as the gentlemen's bar, and fine malt whiskeys and cigars are still the fashionable choice.

Wright elements from the 1923 hotel, such as a section of mural with flecks of gold leaf and terra-cotta tile grillwork with lighting that casts a soft yellow light behind the bar, quietly illuminate the hotel's glorious past.

More of this past has thankfully been preserved at Meiji Mura, about an hour outside Nagoya (three hours from Tokyo). The hotel's exterior does not disappoint. It is Wright's classic symmetry, embellished with original "scratch tile" (a relief tile Wright created with local tilemakers) and oya stone carved into magnificent Mayan-like forms. The reflecting pool, however serene, still ripples with the memories of the Great Kanto Earthquake that struck Tokyo at 11:58 a.m. on Sept. 1, 1923, as guests gathered for the hotel's grand opening. The quake destroyed most of the city, but the hotel withstood the shock, and then survived the fires that followed thanks to the water in the pool. All inside survived and the hotel became a refuge. Wright was celebrated for his magnificent earthquake-conscious design.

Onward to our last stop, two hours by train from Nagoya: Yamamura House (now the Yodoko Guest House) at the foot of the Rokko mountain range in Ashiya near Kobe. Endo again shared credit with Wright for the design. With breathtaking views, and representing the best of Wright's distinctive charm and sustainable "organic architecture," it was saved as an Important Cultural Property in 1974.

While Wright's legacy has continued to influence generations of Japanese architects (Kengo Kuma is one recent example), he also inspired those who lived in his homes.

American Stephanie Tansey resided in the Yamamura House from 1956 to 1967, starting when she was 6. Growing up in the house "helped make me who I am today," she wrote by email from Beijing. Ms. Tansey has worked for years with the Earth Charter Initiative, which seeks to build peaceful and sustainable communities.

"Living [there] enabled me to know what 'real' is," she explained. "I learned what it means to live in sustainable harmony with nature."

—Lucy Birmingham is a writer based in Tokyo.Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page W16

Trip Planner

Tours

Wright scholars Karen Severns and Koichi Mori of KiSMet Productions offers guided tours of buildings and homes designed by Wright, his apprentices and followers in Japan.
Email: kjs30@gol.com 

Where to stay

Lakeside Iruka inn, right across the lake from the architectural theme park Meiji Mura, is Japanese in design but with Western amenities and luxurious baths. Double rooms are 10,800 yen ($116) a person, breakfast and dinner included.
118 Aza Kirokuyashiki, Inuyama, Aichi
Tel.: 81-568-67-3811
Web: www.kyosai-aichi.or.jp/lake/index.html  (Japanese only)

Wright's Imperial Hotel may be gone from Tokyo, but its successor does have a Frank Lloyd Wright Suite, opened in April 2005 in collaboration with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. It is full of genuine Wright details, from the Art Deco furniture to the light fixtures to the oya-stone relief. It's for serious Wright fans with 400,000 yen ($4,300) to spend.
Tel.: 81-3-3504-1111
Web: www.imperialhotel.co.jp 

Where to eat

The Old Imperial Bar at the Imperial is also full of Wright touches, and while it seems built for a single-malt Scotch whisky—such as the $19-a-glass Macallan 12 Year Old or $294-a-glass Macallan 30 Year Old—and a Cuban cigar (a Cohiba Siglo II is about $25), you can tuck into appetizers and sandwiches there as well. Open 11 a.m. to midnight.
Tel.: 81-3-3539-8088
Web: www.imperialhotel.co.jp  

The Lion Beer Hall, designed by Wright follower Eizo Sugawara, offers a cornucopia of Sapporo beers on tap at prices ranging from just under $7 to a bit over $11 a glass (steins also available). At the Lion Restaurant upstairs there's a variety of German-style dishes, including an "assorted sausage plate" that for about $26 gives you six varieties of wurst and a heaping of sauerkraut.
7-9-20 Ginza, Chuo-ku
Tel.: 81-3-3571-2590

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THE KOREAS: Succession Issues Driving North Korea, Experts Say

May 27, 2010

By CHOE SANG-HUN

SEOUL, South Korea — Over the years, South Korean officials and analysts have grown accustomed to the North Koreans’ habit of stirring up trouble, whether through missile launchings or nuclear tests. And when faced with international censure, the North lashes out with threats of retaliation and even war. Typically, it is an attention-getting tactic, the South Koreans say, used to win diplomatic and economic concessions.

But this time the motivation may be different.

Experts on North Korea say that its latest act of belligerence — the sinking of a South Korean ship in March, one of the worst military provocations since the end of the Korean War in 1953 — reflects a new force at play: the efforts of the North’s leader, Kim Jong-il, to establish his 27-year-old son as a legitimate heir to carry on the family dynasty.

“His succession to power is the factor that links all other factors when we try to explain why the North is doing what it does these days,” said Choi Jin-wook, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, the Seoul government’s top research organization on North Korea. “Without it, no explanation is complete or convincing.”

On the surface, the North’s ever-intensifying policy of confrontation can appear self-defeating. But, officials and analysts here say, it is all part of Mr. Kim’s effort to groom Kim Jong-un, the youngest of his three known sons, as his successor. According to this line of thinking, the sinking of the South Korean ship was intended to create an atmosphere of crisis that would serve Mr. Kim’s purposes, both by rallying public support and winning the crucial backing of the military.

“Kim Jong-il needs to create a warlike atmosphere at home to push through with the succession of power to his son,” said Cheon Seong-whun, another senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification. “To do that, he needs tensions and an external enemy.”

Mr. Kim himself was carefully groomed for years to succeed his father, Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994. In the years he was consolidating his power base, Kim Jong-il was credited with masterminding a 1968 commando attack on the South Korean presidential palace in Seoul and the 1976 ax killings of two American military officers at the border, said Baek Seung-joo, a North Korea specialist at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.

Also in 1968, North Korea captured an American naval intelligence ship, the Pueblo, holding 82 hostages for nearly a year, while its commandos attacked remote South Korean villages and clashed with the South Korean military for two months.

But this latest succession has been thrust upon the Kims prematurely, after Kim Jong-il’s reported stroke in 2008 and subsequent health problems, which have been said to include kidney disease. Although Mr. Kim, 68, was healthy enough to visit China this month, questions persist over how long he can remain in power.

The next step for Kim Jong-un is to make his official public debut, but that has been complicated by his lack of major achievements, analysts said.

“Planning and ordering a successful naval attack in a disputed sea border with the South boosts Kim Jong-un’s credentials as a ruthless leader who can command the military,” Mr. Baek said. “Pulling off a daring provocation to win military charisma was the rite of passage Kim Jong-il himself went through as he was consolidating power as his father’s heir.”

Of course, the succession issue is not the only problem facing Kim Jong-il. His trademark policy of building a “strong and prosperous nation” was called into question when his navy lost a humiliating skirmish against the South last November. His government’s recent attempt to arrest inflation and eliminate black markets through a drastic revaluation of the North Korean currency set off more inflation and a wave of popular discontent that extended beyond the capital, Pyongyang.

Meanwhile, South Korea refused to offer economic incentives until the North gave up its nuclear weapons program.

With the succession issue and the rising internal and external pressures, it is not surprising that Mr. Kim would ratchet up confrontation with the South and its allies, Mr. Cheon, the analyst, said. North Korea’s propaganda machine uses international condemnation to strengthen internal solidarity, whip up a war fever and justify Mr. Kim’s near-absolute grip on power, he said.

North Korea is now telling its people that the United States and South Korea fabricated the sinking of the South’s ship as a version of the “Gulf of Tonkin incident,” a battle that Washington vastly overstated to justify expanding the Vietnam War. Huge outdoor rallies are being mobilized in the North, according to North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity, a Web site run by defectors from the North, which cited sources inside North Korea.

Last week, using a radio network that reaches every North Korean home, Gen. O Kuk-ryol, a top officer, delivered Mr. Kim’s order to the military and reserve forces to be ready for combat, said the defectors’ Web site.

But Mr. Kim’s most concerted efforts seem to be directed at the military, the critical power base for his son. Despite United Nations sanctions that ban exports of luxury goods to the North, Mr. Kim is believed to have smuggled in fancy foreign cars for loyal generals, and in April 100 senior officers received promotions.

The government has also elevated to hero status six crewmen of the minisubmarine that sank the South Korean ship, said Ha Tae-keung, who runs Open Radio for North Korea, a Web site based in Seoul that collects news from informants inside the North.

Mr. Ha said that Mr. Kim’s tactics seemed to be succeeding.

“I think the son is firmly in place,” he said. “He was in charge in Pyongyang when his father and his top aides were all in China.”

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JAPAN: Dream Window: Reflections on the Japanese Garden

Take a breathtaking, mind-cleansing stroll through the most aesthetically beautiful gardens in the world. Discover how these visual wonderlands have served as retreats for people looking to rediscover the natural world, and themselves, for over a thousand years.

Click here for upcoming air times on the Smithsonian Channel HD…

JAPAN: A Japanese director's world debut

Gen Fujimoto

May 26, 2010

By DAN GRUNEBAUM

TOKYO — Haruki Murakami’s books top bestseller lists worldwide, and the filmmaker Takeshi Kitano is a regular hit at Cannes. But contemporary Japanese theater remains by and large terra incognita.

Abroad, Japanese theater directors are mainly known in the form of Amon Miyamoto’s Broadway hits and Yukio Ninagawa’s kabuki Shakespeare productions. Performances of new Japanese theater are rare, leaving a gaping hole in the world’s understanding of the country’s performing arts scene.

That is beginning to change with the translation into English and other languages of recent works by the theater company Chelfitsch and the playwright and director Shu Matsui. Festival/Tokyo, Japan’s leading performing arts showcase, regards Mr. Matsui as one of the country’s most important young directors, and translated his disturbing, surrealistic “Ano Hito no Sekai” (That Man’s World) for its fall 2009 season.

Via his Sample company’s eye-catching, multilevel staging, the play follows the story of a directionless loner in rural Japan who searches for meaning in anarchic, bestial ceremonies. But the larger theme is the intolerance lurking behind the polite facade of Japanese society.

“The story is about people whose prejudices prevent them from interacting,” the soft-spoken Mr. Matsui said in a recent interview in the trendy Shibuya district. “I wanted foreigners to see the play because it deals with bigotry. Living in homogeneous Japan there aren’t many chances to confront one’s prejudices, so they remain hidden.”

Key to “Ano Hito no Sekai” was the way that the characters acted mechanically and didn’t even attempt to scale walls of mutual noncomprehension. This grew out of Mr. Matsui’s view of Japan as a zombie nation, something that led Festival/Tokyo to describe him as portraying “the emptiness of modern Japan.”

“I’m not quite sure how they arrived at that catch-copy,” Mr. Matsui said, laughing. “For me, it’s not so much a question of ‘emptiness.’ I prefer the image of a zombie. Why? Because zombies represent the future of mankind: they have no soul, no interior, no emotions. They wander about with no purpose, they respond to stimuli — for example if there is an escalator at a shopping center they’ll go up and down — but that’s all they do. Their form to me somehow represents what humans are heading toward.”

For his latest work at the Tokyo Performing Arts Market this spring, Mr. Matsui was asked by a local theater in the western Japanese island of Kyushu to create a play based on Takiji Kobayashi’s landmark Japanese Marxist novel “Kanikosen” (The Crab Ship), about exploited crab cannery workers. The 1929 book has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in Japan amid the financial crisis and hardships facing the nation’s young.

The result was “Hakobune” (Ark), which depicts dead-end, part-time workers performing meaningless tasks at an anonymous factory. They suffer under the hand of an overseer, but midway roles are suddenly reversed and he becomes an underling. Relentlessly cheery J-pop music and ubiquitous cellphones inject notes of everyday Japanese reality into an absurdist plot in which even death is a matter of little import.

It wasn’t long ago that Mr. Matsui himself labored on a conveyor belt as a struggling actor. Reflecting his experience, the workers of “Hakobune” are the passive Japanese freeta — those unable to land full-time jobs — of the moment rather than the Marxist rebels of “Kanikosen.”

“‘Kanikosen’ has a revolutionary flavor that I thought wouldn’t resonate,” he said. “People don’t join organized labor these days and before it gets to that point they lose their jobs to outsourcing anyway, so I depicted a softer workplace — even if the workers are still throwaway.”

The irony of Mr. Matsui’s reference to Noah’s Ark in the title is that his characters are not in fact irreplaceable bearers of their species’ gene pool, but disposable ciphers.

“Rather than the people, it’s the objects on stage that are the main players,” he explained. “The characters are like holographs, like something you might see at Disneyland’s haunted mansion. They serve only to explain the situation — like artifacts of a mistaken history.”

The son of a lawyer and radio announcer, Mr. Matsui spent an unremarkable childhood and only ended up in theater when he followed a girl he had a crush on into his high school drama club. There he was bitten by the theater bug, and spent his 20s as a professional actor and odd-job worker before his 2004 breakout “Tsuka” (Passage) was given the New Face Award by the Japan Playwrights Association.

“I’d been an actor for 13 years, but didn’t start to think about writing my own plays until I was past 30,” said Mr. Matsui, who is 37. “I wanted to create a world that I found compelling, and to see if it compelled others. I wondered if others shared my anxieties. It surprised me when people related to my work, especially since the first one about a family that is taken over by outsiders was pretty disturbing.”

Bestiality and rape appear in Mr. Matsui’s work, but the violence serves a cautionary purpose. He cites the intense interest among his generation in the “otaku murderer,” Tsutomu Miyazaki, who between 1988 and 1989 mutilated and killed four young girls, molesting and cannibalizing their corpses.

“He said before his execution that he was told to do so by someone in his head, and that it was not his fault,” Mr. Matsui recalled. “Ever since then I’ve been fascinated by his comments. His thinking is different from thinking up until now. He has no interior life, no feelings. We want him to express remorse and show his feelings — we think this is part of being human — but maybe that’s not the case, and maybe we are all heading in his direction.”

For his next project, which will have its debut in the autumn, Mr. Matsui has been commissioned to create a new piece for Yukio Ninagawa’s Saitama Gold Theatre, which consists entirely of elderly amateur actors. He said it would inevitably deal directly with the issue of Japan’s aging society.

“Images of the elderly in Japan tend to split into extremely negative depictions of the senile and terminally ill or idealistic depictions of sprightly old folks,” he said. “We’re now beginning to face the problem of our aging society, so I want to confront these extremes. I want to offer an everyday tragedy that treats old age as just another period of life in a way that is emotionally liberating — not as heaven or hell, which I think is weird and unhealthy.”

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THE KOREAS: Will Korean Tensions Impact Cruises?

May 25, 2010

What's the conflict?

(5 p.m. EDT) -- Following a lengthy history of conflict, South Korea announced Monday that it will sever trade with North Korea after a North Korean attack sank a South Korean warship, killing 46 sailors. A report by MSNBC says that the U.S. has offered its support to South Korea and will take part in two military exercises with South Korean soldiers off the Korean Peninsula. Read on to find out how your sailing might be affected.

Which ports and ships could be affected?
 

• Cheju City, South Korea -- Costa Romantica (June 24), Seabourn Pride (June 28)
• Jeju Island, South Korea -- Legend of the Seas (June 3
• Mokpo, South Korea -- Seabourn Pride (June 29)
• Pusan, Korea -- Legend of the Seas (May 29)
•  Seoul (Inchon), Korea -- Seabourn Pride (June 16)
•  Yeosu, Korea -- Seabourn Pride (June 18)

What's the impact?

Spokespersons for Royal Caribbean, Costa and Seabourn tell us there is no impact to itineraries at this time.

What should I do?

We'll keep you posted as we find out more. In the meantime, you can try contacting your travel agent or cruise line directly. Contact information for most lines can be found on our Contacting Your Cruise Line page.

--by Ashley Kosciolek, Copy Editor

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RUSSIA: Stalin blocked attempts to kill Hitler: general

This picture shows an undated file picture of the German ''Fuehrer'' Adolf Hitler. Credit: Reuters/Stringer

Tue May 25, 2010 3:30pm EDT

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Soviet dictator Josef Stalin blocked two attempts to kill Adolf Hitler during World War Two, fearing that his replacement as Nazi leader would make peace with the Western Allies, a top Russian general said Tuesday.

A plan to attack Hitler's bunker in 1943 and a 1944 plot involving an assassin who had gained the trust of the Nazi leadership were both canceled on Stalin's orders, General Anatoly Kulikov told a historical conference in Moscow.

"A plan to assassinate Hitler in his bunker was developed, but Stalin suddenly canceled it in 1943 over fears that after Hitler's death his associates would conclude a separate peace treaty with Britain and the United States," Russia's RIA news agency quoted Kulikov as saying.

In 1944 the Soviets again plotted to kill Hitler after a potential assassin managed to gain the trust of the Nazi leadership.

"A detailed assassination plan was prepared, but Stalin canceled it again," Kulikov was quoted as saying.

Hitler killed himself on April 30, 1945, as Soviet forces closed on Berlin, effectively ending the war in Europe and setting the stage for the Cold War stand-off between Russia and the West.

An estimated 27 million Soviet citizens died in the 1941-1945 war with Nazi Germany.

Kulikov was Russia's Interior Minister from 1995 to 1998 under President Boris Yeltsin. He said that the Club of Military Leaders, which he heads, would include details of the assassination attempts in a forthcoming book on World War Two.

(Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Ralph Boulton)

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RUSSIA: Powerful blast hits Russia’s southern republic

Published 25 May, 2010, 23:06

A powerful explosion has rocked the capital of the southern Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.

Police say an explosive device went off on the roadside, shattering windows in nearby buildings. No casualties have been reported as of yet.

According to a source in Kabardino-Balkaia law enforcement, the blast was directed against a police car which was passing the site.

“The explosion was directed toward a shopping mall,” the source was quoted as saying by Interfax. “The car with policemen was not affected.”

The site of the explosion has been cordoned off by police as they search for other explosive devices.

The Russian police and security services have been cracking down on militants in Russia's troubled North Caucasus region, which has been plagued by terrorist attacks over the last few years.

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CHINA: No major breakthroughs as U.S.-China talks wind down

Tuesday, May 25, 2010; 2:59 PM

By John Pomfret, Washington Post Staff Writer

BEIJING -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner wrapped up extensive talks with Chinese officials Tuesday without any significant progress on Iran, North Korea or other key issues dividing the countries.

At the 2nd annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue, Chinese and American officials signed seven memorandums of understanding on issues such as shale gas development in China and supply-chain security. But on the bigger issues, China did not seem to budge.

Despite what Clinton termed "productive and detailed discussions" about the crisis in the Korean Peninsula, for example, China has declined to accept the results of a South Korean report that implicates North Korea in the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship March 26.

Asked Tuesday whether she had succeeded in pushing China to change its views, Clinton replied:

"We had very productive and detailed discussions about North Korea. The Chinese understand the gravity of the situation."

China has increasingly shown its assertiveness on issues in Asia. That stance, along with the increasing tension on the Korean Peninsula, could benefit the U.S. strategic position across the region, analysts say, as countries such as Japan and South Korea draw closer to Washington as a hedge against China's newfound strength. Even former U.S. enemies such as Vietnam and nonaligned states such as Malaysia, which for years had adopted a lukewarm view of the United States, have moved closer to Washington -- in part because of China's rise.

At the talks here, Clinton and Geithner were accompanied by a group of about 200 American officials, including four Cabinet secretaries; Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke; Adm. Robert F. Willard, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific; and experts on everything from energy to education. Clinton called it the biggest delegation of U.S. officials to ever come to China.

Before the talks started, U.S. officials played down the possibility of major breakthroughs -- they spoke of their hope for "solid singles, not home runs." But even by those standards, the results of the two days of discussions seemed thin.

On efforts to rein in Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program, Washington and Beijing apparently made no progress in dealing with a disagreement over which companies would be hit with sanctions under a planned United Nations Security Council resolution. And when asked about whether China would allow the value of its currency, the yuan, to appreciate against the dollar, a central goal of the Obama administration, Geithner pivoted and praised China for its growth rate.

The talks in Beijing occurred against a backdrop in Asia in which recent Chinese missteps and trouble between the Koreas appear to be benefiting the United States, halting what many in the region had viewed as a strategic slide in American influence.

China reacted slowly to the sinking of the Cheonan, the South Korean warship, waiting almost a month before offering South Korea condolences. Then, without telling South Korea of its plans, it feted North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in early May, apparently offering him another large package of aid. China's attitude enraged South Korean officials.

But more important, according to Michael Green, a former National Security Council official who was in the region as the crisis unfolded, China's attitude toward the attack served to underscore how differently China views the Korean Peninsula than those in South Korea or Japan. For China, keeping the Koreas separate is a foundation of its policy, he said, whereas for South Korea and even for many in Japan, a united, democratic Korea is the goal.

"It is a defining moment," he said.

Chinese missteps with Japan and the crisis between the Koreas have also helped to push the Japanese government, which had been toying with a foreign policy more independent from the United States, firmly back into the American orbit.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who leads only the second opposition party to run Japan in nearly 50 years, announced he would accept a plan to relocate a U.S. Marine Corps base on Okinawa despite a campaign promise that the base should be moved out of Japan.

A day later, Hatoyama said a key reason was the Korean trouble. But Chinese aggressiveness also played a role, Japanese officials said.

In April, Chinese military helicopters twice buzzed Japanese defense ships that were monitoring Chinese naval exercises. And on May 15, during negotiations between Japan, South Korea and China, China's foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, erupted at his Japanese counterpart, Katsuya Okada, after Okada suggested that China cut its nuclear arsenal. Yang almost left the talks in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, according to diplomatic sources, and screamed at Okada that his relatives had been killed by Japanese forces in northeastern China during Japan's occupation of China during World War II.

Okada was shocked, a Japanese official said.

"He's always been a peace lover," the official said. "I guess the Chinese felt like yelling."

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THE KOREAS: North Korea moves to cut remaining ties with South

A North Korean guard post, bottom, placed near the North-South Kaesong Economic Complex, is observed from the Dora Observation Post in Paju near the border village of Panmunjom, South Korea, April 14. North Korea appears ready to shut down the complex, long seen as the last remaining point of contact between the two Koreas.  Ahn Young-joon/AP/File

May 25, 2010

By Donald Kirk, Correspondent, Seoul, South Korea

Angered by charges that it torpedoed the Cheonan Navy ship, North Korea appears ready to shut down the Kaesong Economic Complex, the last point of contact between the two Koreas. Kaesong hosts some 100 South Korean factories and more than 40,000 North Korean workers.

North Korea appears on the verge of shutting down the last remaining point of contact between the two Koreas – the Kaesong Economic Complex, long seen as a beacon of hope for North Korea’s dilapidated economy and a symbol of the potential for North-South cooperation.

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That’s the implication of a report late Tuesday by Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency that the North is expelling all South Koreans from the complex, where more than 100 South Korean factories turn out light industrial products. The South Koreans are technicians and managers responsible for directing more than 40,000 North Korean workers on assembly lines.

The North Korean report said relations with South Korea would be “severed” and “all communications links between the north and south will be cut off,” ending the dream of North-South cooperation at Kaesong.

'Smear campaign'

North Korea accused the South of waging a “smear campaign” – a reference to South Korea’s charge that a North Korean submarine fired the torpedo that sunk the Cheonan, a Korean Navy corvette, in March, killing 46 sailors. South Korea is calling for strengthened UN sanctions against North Korea based on a lengthy investigation by a team that included 10 foreign experts.

It was not clear, though, if the ban on all communications will extend to the truce village of Panmunjom, adjacent to Kaesong, where North and South Korean soldiers face each other across the North-South line in a joint security area that’s become a destination for tourists from both sides.

A small number of US troops also mans the southern side of the line at Panmunjom, where officers meet occasionally under terms of the truce that ended the Korean War in 1953 to talk over pressing problems and are able to get in touch on a special phone line.

Suspension of operations at Kaesong would mark a final blow to the economic gains of years of reconciliation on the Korean peninsula. North Korea has been earning about $50 million a year from the complex, mostly from salaries paid by the South Korean companies as wages to the workers, who South Korean officials privately acknowledge never actually get the money.

South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak suspended all trade and most aid with North Korea on Monday, but did not stop production at Kaesong, located just above the North-South Korean line and about 40 miles north of Seoul.

Propaganda time

North Korea made the announcement as South Korea was again broadcasting propaganda messages into North Korea. South Korea resumed propaganda broadcasts Tuesday while refurbishing huge loudspeakers on the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone that has divided the peninsula since the end of the Korean War.

Mr. Lee added another rhetorical flourish Tuesday by ordering North Korea again to be declared South Korea’s “main enemy” – a term that Kim Dae-jung as president had dropped from Ministry of Defense white papers.

The war of words on both sides escalated as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was about to leave China and fly here Wednesday for several hours of intense discussion at which she’s certain again to align the US closely with South Korea’s tough position.

North Korea now is accusing South Korean vessels, on increased patrols, of entering North Korean waters, and is threatening to fire on them. North Korea has also threatened to shoot at the loudspeakers spewing out appeals to North Korean troops on the other side of the DMZ to defect to the South. South Korean leaders are planning joint exercises with US aircraft and warships to sharpen antisubmarine warfare skills in the area in the Yellow, or West, Sea where the Cheonan went down.

“They just want to threaten South Korea, to show they have the capability to harm the South,” says Ha Tae-keung, president of Open Radio for North Korea, broadcasting news and propaganda into the North. “If South Korea succumbs to the threat, they can have the advantage and financial profits from aid.”

Both sides stopped propaganda broadcasts during the decade of the Sunshine policy initiated by the late President Kim in 1998, but the conservative President Lee has declared an end to efforts at reconciliation with the North as tensions rise to the highest level on the peninsula in decades. He took office in February 2008 after winning a landslide victory over a liberal opponent in revulsion over the economic issues as well as disappointment over Sunshine.

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THE KOREAS: Goodbye Sunshine

MAY 21, 2010

BY CHRISTIAN CARYL

South Korea has officially accused Kim Jong Il's regime of committing an act of war. Now comes the hard part.

So now it's official: North Korea did it. In the early morning hours of March 26 an explosion tore through the hull of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan, which was sailing in waters not far from the disputed maritime boundary with the North. The 1,200-ton patrol boat split in two and sank, and 46 sailors lost their lives.

The cause of the disaster wasn't immediately obvious. No one claimed responsibility for an attack, and some sort of accident was, of course, within the realm of possibility. So the South Korean government launched a probe to figure out what happened. On Thursday, after six weeks of work, the investigators presented their findings. The evidence included fragments, recovered from the sea bottom near the sinking, of a Chinese-made torpedo of a kind known to be in use by the North Korean Navy.

So what happens next? Media commentators assure us that -- as is usually the case in matters North Korean -- all the options facing South Korean President Lee Myung Bak are bad ones. Yet this commonplace may need a bit of correcting. President Lee's range of possible moves may be relatively limited, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the ones he chooses will be ineffective. On Friday, Lee ordered his government to prepare "resolute and systematic" countermeasures against North Korea, and announced that he would be announcing further moves in a speech next week. And though he may not go so far as to say it outright, his plan is likely to revolve around doing away with the remnants of the "Sunshine Policy," the South's decade-long program of rapprochement with the North. Bruce Bennett, a Korea-watcher at the Rand Corporation, notes:

"When somebody's committing acts of war against you there isn't any sunshine."

The Sunshine Policy was the brainchild of Kim Dae Jung, the dissident-turned-national leader who came to power in Seoul in 1998. Kim assumed that North Korea's decades of bad behavior could be modified, and the way to do that was by lessening tensions and comprehensively promoting personal and economic contacts between the two countries. The two governments dismantled the propaganda loudspeakers on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone, brought together families that had been separated by the Korean War, and organized several grand investment projects on the northern side of the line. (For some reason no one ever assumed that Kim Jong Il might be able to dig up the cash for investments in the South.) One of those projects was the Hyundai-funded tourism resort at Mount Kumgang, just to the north of the DMZ. Another was the Kaesong Industrial Park, where as of last year some 40,000 North Koreans were earning wages in factories run by several dozen South Korean companies.

For a while it seemed to be working: The North toned down its belligerent rhetoric (well, at least a bit), and inter-Korean contacts, once unthinkable, became the order of the day. South Koreans told pollsters that they welcomed the change in atmosphere. (No one ever managed to ask Northerners what they thought). Yet the inflow of South Korean capital and know-how never seemed quite enough to satisfy Pyongyang, and the broader benefits of more relaxed relations never materialized. The North, for all the warming, went on launching missiles and expanding its nuclear programs.

President Lee came to office in 2008 promising to end the unconditional largesse, and, to no one's real surprise, the North immediately made its disapproval felt, threatening Kaesong investors and refusing to punish a North Korean soldier who shot a southern tourist in cold blood at the Kumgang resort. One theory has it that the sinking of the Cheonan might be the North's retaliation for a naval skirmish that took place last fall, when the Southerners got into a gunfight with a Northern vessel that violated the maritime border between the two countries. At least two North Korean sailors are said to have died. But there may be more to all of this than meets the eye. Ever since the North Korean leadership badly botched a would-be "currency reform" last fall, triggering the first public protests in recent memory, the regime has looked even wobblier than usual. Add to that Kim Jong Il's health problems (he apparently suffered a stroke in 2008 and looked shockingly worse for wear during a recent visit to China) and his correspondingly urgent efforts to ensure the succession of his son Kim Jong-un as North Korea's next leader, and you have a powerful recipe for instability.

All of this means that President Lee has had to tread carefully -- and so far he's been doing a masterful job. Shortly after the attack, he ordered the formation of an investigative panel to be supervised by a bipartisan parliamentary committee -- a highly unusual move in the hyper-polarized world of South Korea's domestic politics. He eschewed condemning the North from the start, even as the families of the drowned sailors were crying out for immediate action.

Andrew Krepinevich, of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, notes that Lee's deliberateness has helped to legitimize the case that Seoul is trying to build:

"It's an approach that shames and discredits the North by showing the restraint and caution of the South."

The ranks of the investigative panel include an American, a Canadian, an Australian, and -- an especially smart touch -- one citizen of famously neutral Sweden. That gave added weight to the commission's finding that a North Korean task force, including small submarines of the type that presumably snuck up to the Cheonan without being noticed, had left their base a few days before the sinking and returned a few days after.

What will Lee do next? A military counter-attack is probably the least likely option of all, most observers concede -- though it certainly makes sense, as President Lee has already vowed to do, to plug any gaps in South Korean defenses that might tempt the North into another sally. As its first move over the next few days, Seoul will probably ask the U.N. Security Council to censure Pyongyang's actions and apply a fresh round of sanctions in addition to those imposed on the North after its last nuclear test. The biggest challenge there, of course, will be getting the Chinese to come on board -- which, given the overwhelming evidence, they might well do, if only at the cost of diluting the language of a subsequent resolution.

Bruce Bechtol, a former military intelligence officer who now teaches at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, recommends another angle:

"Taking strong economic measures will hit North Korea where it hurts -- in the pocketbook."

For instance, it's time to shut down the Kaesong complex, he insists -- and the same goes for the already moribund Kumgang Mountain project, which over its lifetime has served as the source for a billion dollars worth of income to the North Koreans. In the meantime, he says, the U.S. needs to put North Korea back on the State Department's list of sponsors of state terrorism. (The North was removed from the list by the George W. Bush administration, which was trying to lure Pyongyang back to the now-defunct six-party talks, the negotiating forum aimed at persuading the regime to shed its nuclear weapons.)

Critics respond that all of this is easier said than done. There are still hundreds of South Korean employees living in the Kaesong complex, for example, who will make wonderful hostages in the event of a further uptick in tensions. Rand's Bennett says that the important thing is for Lee to devise a punishment for the North that falls on the country's leadership, rather than its already-suffering citizens -- as the West's sanctions have too often done. Now it's time to make life hard for Kim himself, by gearing up psychological operations that would encourage fissures in his regime. Bennett notes that Pyongyang has reacted especially sensitively to balloon-borne leaflets sent into the North by groups of defectors in recent years. The texts of the leaflets usually assail the regime for its incompetence and corruption, as well as describing some of the maneuverings around Kim's succession (an issue that's closed to discussion in the North Korean media).

Perhaps, says Bennett, it's time to open up the information front on a larger scale. And, what's more, he'd like to see the South Korean government declare that, from now on, it will be taking explicit measures to cope with a possible collapse of the North Korean regime and the unification that will inexorably follow. This might sound like fairly obvious stuff, but it was anathema to say as much during the Sunshine years. In the wake of the Cheonan incident, Bennett believes, the overwhelming majority of South Koreans will be happy to support that new tack.

Managing some of these policies will be tricky. Expect many an anxious moment along the way; the North can be counted on to rattle its sabers. But given how well President Lee has handled everything up to now, it seems like a good bet to assume that cooler heads will prevail. In South Korea, at least.

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CHINA & US: Time to Defriend China

MAY 24, 2010

BY ELIZABETH ECONOMY, ADAM SEGAL |

The quest for the illusory "G-2" has wasted everyone's time for long enough.

"This is not a G-2." With those words, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg finally sounded on May 11 at the Brookings Institution the death knell for the much-touted, if misguided, idea that China and the United States would band together to solve the world's problems.

The idea of a "G-2" was first introduced by C. Fred Bergsten, director of Peterson Institute for International Economic, as a mechanism for promoting agreement between the two sides primarily to address international economic issues. However, it migrated to strategic issues, championed by old Washington hands like Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski. The idea resonated with the White House and Foggy Bottom, where hopes were high for joint efforts to solve the financial crisis and address climate change. As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remarked in a February 2009 visit to Beijing,

"The opportunities for us to work together are unmatched anywhere in the world."

That hope was short-lived. It has become painfully clear during the first year of Barack Obama's administration that mismatched interests, values, and capabilities make it difficult for Washington and Beijing to work together to address global challenges. China's unwillingness to sit down with the United States and its maneuverings with India, Brazil, and South Africa to undermine a larger agreement at Copenhagen were clear signs that building a special relationship would not be easy. America's approval of arms sales to Taiwan in January and the Dalai Lama's visit with Obama in February returned both sides to old suspicions and sensitivities.

But while we now have a more realistic assessment of what the U.S.-China relationship is not, we still lack a positive formulation of what it is -- or should realistically become. Next week's U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), the annual high-level dialogue on economic and political issues led by Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on the U. S side and Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo on the Chinese, is unlikely to address this lack of a larger framework. In fact it will compound the problem.

In the run-up to next week's meetings, U.S. officials have been all over the map in framing the topics for discussion. State Department officials have identified at least 20 issues of strategic importance to discuss in Beijing. The Treasury Department has laid out an equally broad agenda that includes trade and investment barriers, balanced growth, financial reform, and strengthening the international economic and financial architecture. Meanwhile, some White House officials have mentioned specific goals, such as RMB revaluation; others have said the goal is the development of a larger framework to address strategic issues; still others have said they hope that by putting controversial issues like local content requirements on the agenda, they can get the most senior Chinese officials to make decisions on topics that would typically disappear within the bureaucracy.

These are all worthy objectives and outcomes, but the lackluster history of similar dialogues suggests there are better ways to spend our time and effort. Past such dialogues have achieved only modest success delivering on specific goals. Yes, it's true that the last S&ED yielded agreements on EcoPartnerships, collaboration on electric vehicle standards, and development of smart grids. Yet such small-scale cooperation and capacity-building have been a staple of U.S. energy and environmental talks for decades. These narrow goals would hardly seem to merit flying more than a dozen U.S. cabinet members and agency heads crossing the Pacific.

Let's be realistic: Progress on core U.S. strategic interests largely emanates from outside such talks. For instance, at Copenhagen, China reversed its stance on two core issues related to its climate change negotiation position, establishing voluntary emission reduction targets and offering to move to the back of the line for international funding assistance. Both of these moves, however, were a response to concerns in the developing world, not U.S. pressure. Similarly, Beijing's apparent willingness to rescind the most controversial portions of a proposed government procurement strategy that would have closed off a large portion of the Chinese market to foreign technologies arose from widescale global protest, not simply U.S. objections. And China's recent decision to support the U.S.-led sanctions against Iran depended largely on Russia folding first and leaving China without political cover to maintain its opposition.

Having expended significant time and energy creating this overarching bilateral dialogue, the temptation for the Obama administration will be to keep the S&ED, move forward on all fronts, and see what sticks. This would be fine if the issues didn't actually matter and our policymakers had unlimited time and patience. Neither is the case.

Joshua Cooper Ramo, Kissinger Associate Managing Director, has suggested a second option: disband the S&ED. In its place, the two sides would build à la carte dialogues around issues of real strategic interest that can be established and disbanded at will. This would free hundreds of people to work on other pressing issues, as well as eliminate the almost inevitable cycle of Washington defending what it did or did not get from high level dialogues. But it would also mean the loss of institutional continuity and personal connections that are an important part of the bilateral relationship, especially in times of crisis.

Going forward, it makes the most sense to keep the S&ED, but to downsize it. The Treasury secretary and the secretary of State should continue their discussions with their Chinese counterparts about the broad strategic issues in the relationship, but everybody else should stay home. Issue-specific discussions should be carried out by individual agencies on their own timelines: The Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade will continue conducting negotiations on innovation and industrial policy will carry on in; and the Department of Energy, the EPA, and the National Science Foundation will continue their good work on energy and climate change.

Downgraded dialogues would also more closely resemble the true state of U.S.-China relations. It would be a symbol of the possibility of greater cooperation when, and if, there is a convergence of the values, interests, and capabilities of the two sides. It would recognize the importance of the bilateral relationship, but simultaneously acknowledge that less is likely to be accomplished just by Washington talking with Beijing.

The sticking points in U.S.-China relations are mirrored in China's relations with much of the rest world. The European Union and Japan, for example, find it no easier to negotiate with China on issues such as trade, climate change, cyber conflict, and the Dalai Lama. As a result, the United States is more likely to make progress when it spends time and energy cultivating allies throughout the rest of the world. We shouldn't shed any tears for the G-2. Its demise enables us to make real progress with China by looking elsewhere.

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S. KOREA: Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern

 

In this episode airing on the Travel Channel, Andrew travels to Seoul, South Korea, where he feasts on the country's most authentic soups, barbecues and fermented foods. Andrew's Asian adventure goes beyond eating when he makes his first batch of fresh kimchi.

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CHINA: Beijing's Most Embarrassing Allies

MAY 24, 2010

BY JOSHUA E. KEATING

As China has grown into a major economic and military power in the last two decades, its mad scramble for energy resources and trading partners has led it into alliances with some of the world's most unsavory governments. Here are five regimes that couldn't survive without Beijing.

NORTH KOREA

Beijing's interests:  Stability, bilateral trade, and a buffer between China and South Korea

The relationship:  Chinese support for North Korea dates back to the 1950s, when Beijing loaned military aid and fighters to Kim Il Sung's communist government during the Korean War. China quickly became North Korea's primary benefactor and trading partner, a relationship that has continued under the rule of Kim Jong Il. Ninety percent of North Korea's energy imports, 80 percent of its consumer goods, and 45 percent of its food now come from China.

The relationship isn't all one-sided. An increasing number of Chinese firms are investing in North Korea to take advantage of its rock-bottom labor costs and large coal and mineral deposits. Bilateral trade between the two countries reached $2.79 billion in 2008, up more than 40 percent from the year before. More importantly for Beijing, North Korea provides a friendly buffer zone between China's northeast and capitalist, democratic South Korea -- as well as the 37,500 U.S. troops based there.

China has frequently used its position on the U.N. Security Council to block harsher sanctions against Kim's regime. Since North Korea began its pursuit of nuclear weapons, Beijing has seemed more exasperated with Kim's belligerence and at times, has even supported international sanctions. Although the support is not as unconditional as it once was, China remains North Korea's most important ally, as evidenced by the reclusive Kim Jong Il's recent trip to Beijing, where he met with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao and reportedly suggested once again that he might be willing to return to the negotiating table.

Most embarrassing moment:  China was instrumental in cajoling North Korea into participating in the 2003-2005 six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, which culminated in a 2005 agreement by North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for foreign aid. So when Pyongyang tore up the agreement and tested a nuclear weapon in October 2006, it was widely perceived as a "slap in the face" to a Chinese government that had repeatedly stuck its neck out for its troublesome southeastern neighbor. One week after the tests, China agreed for the first time to support U.N. sanctions on North Korea, and the political relationship between the two countries has been strained ever since. Fearing the chaos and potential refugee crisis that might result if the Kim regime were to fall, however, China is still wary about applying too much pressure, and trade between the countries continues to increase.

IRAN

Beijing's interests:  Oil and gas

The relationship:  The economic relationship between Iran and China dates back to the days of the Silk Road, but has taken on a new geopolitical importance in the last decade, as China has sought out reliable sources of oil to fuel its growing economy, and an increasingly isolated Iran has looked eastward as relations with the United States and Europe have deteriorated.

Iran is China's third-largest source of oil, supplying about 11.4 percent of its oil imports. Bilateral trade between the two countries totaled $21.2 billion in 2009, up from 10.1 billion in 2005. The China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) has reached deals to develop new oil and natural gas fields throughout the country. Because Iran lacks the capacity to refine its own oil into gasoline, it's also a major importer of Chinese petroleum products.

As Iran has, over strong U.S. and European opposition, continued to develop its nuclear program, China has repeatedly opposed, on the Security Council, international sanctions against its new business partner, generally proposing that diplomatic efforts be given more time.

Most embarrassing moment:  China's stated position, that the Iranian nuclear issue could be resolved through negotiations, took a hit in November 2009, when Iran rejected a deal to ship its uranium abroad for enrichment. China joined with the other members of the Security Council in expressing disappointment with Iran's decision and has publicly urged Iran to accept the new agreement. China welcomed a similar fuel-swap deal negotiated by Brazil and Turkey this May, but it was apparently too little too late. The United States quickly announced that China had finally agreed to tougher sanctions, but the devil is in the details, and it's still unclear whether Beijing will sign on to the most punitive measures backed by the other big powers.

SUDAN

Beijing's interests:  Oil

The relationship:  As China's insatiable demand for energy has led it to invest more and more in Africa, it has come under frequent criticism for its relationship with unstable and unsavory regimes -- but none has been more controversial than Sudan. Cooperation between the two countries began during the 1970s, when Mao Zedong provided the country's then-Marxist government with loans and medical aid. But it wasn't until the 1990s that energy cooperation between the two countries took off, after American oil companies pulled out due to U.S. sanctions.

The international sanctions applied to Sudan following the country's bloody civil war and the ongoing violence in Darfur have allowed China overwhelming dominance over the country's energy sector. CNPC is the largest investor in Sudan's state-owned oil company, and China purchases 40 percent of the country's oil output, accounting for about 6 percent of China's imports.

Even more controversially, human rights groups allege that China has sold Sudan more than $55 million in small arms -- weapons that have been used to kill more than 300,000 people in the Darfur region. Chinese cooperation with Sudan has continued even as Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has been charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. China, along with Russia, has blocked sanctions against Sudan on the Security Council.

Most embarrassing moment:  Next to Tibet, China's relationship with Sudan is the most frequent cause of anti-Chinese ire from human rights activists. In the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, for instance, Darfur activists disrupted the Olympic torch relay and then U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton called on President George W. Bush to boycott the opening ceremony. Bush went, but another high-profile guest, American film director Steven Spielberg, who had signed on as a consultant to the opening ceremonies, pulled out of the project over his objections to China's policies in Sudan.

BURMA

Beijing's interests:  Natural gas and mining

The relationship:  Burma has traditionally exported raw materials like timber and gemstones to China, but nowadays Beijing has its eyes on a much bigger prize: Burma's estimated 21.19 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves. CNPC signed a 30-year natural gas deal with Burma in 2008, and a pipeline carrying gas to China's Yunnan province is expected to come online in 2012. China has also begun work on an oil pipeline through Burma that will save Chinese tankers a costly trip through the politically sensitive Strait of Malacca. China gave Burma about $2 billion in military aid between 1995 and 2005, including fighter jets and naval vessels.

Although China has been more than willing to turn a blind eye to Burma's crackdowns on political opposition and has stood up for the Burmese junta in the Security Council, there are signs that the relationship has begun to deteriorate. Burma's long-running military campaign against ethnic minorities in its northeast has sent thousands across the border into China, bringing narcotics and HIV/AIDS with them. China expressed its "deep concern," in August 2009, prompting the junta to issue a rare apology. Above all, China is looking for stability from its southern neighbor and energy provider, and the increasingly isolated junta seems unable to provide it.

Most Embarrassing moment:  Burma's 2007 anti-government protests were a wake-up call to China. The images of Buddhist monks taking to the streets en masse to challenge the junta's authority was not a sight that Chinese leaders particularly wanted to see replicated throughout the region, particularly in Tibet. Burmese Foreign Minister U Nyan Win was publicly admonished on a trip to Beijing that year by senior Chinese diplomat Tang Jiaxuan, who told him to "restore internal stability" and "push forward a democracy process that is appropriate for the country." Perhaps hedging its bets, China has lately begun to reach out to imprisoned Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. China's wavering commitment to the junta will likely be tested again later this year, when the government has tentatively planned to hold elections with Suu Kyi's party banned from participating.

ZIMBABWE

Beijing's interests:  Precious metals

The relationship:  Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is a long-time Sinophile, dating back to his days as a rebel leader fighting the white-dominated Rhodesian government, when he received arms, training, and funding from Beijing. Mugabe made a point of visiting China in 1980, the first year of his leadership, to thank the Chinese for their support.

The Chinese government has publicly supported Mugabe's controversial land-reform policies and has granted the country billions in agricultural aid. China has also sold Mugabe's regime the latest military technology, including FC-1 fighter jets, 100 military vehicles, and a state-of-the-art radar system at Mugabe's mansion in the suburbs of Harare.

In exchange, Mugabe has opened up Zimbabwe's vast mineral deposits, including the world's second-largest supply of platinum, to Chinese investment. Chinese companies have pumped millions into rebuilding the country's struggling mining sector, expanding economic cooperation as Western governments have slapped increasingly harsh sanctions on Mugabe's regime.

Most embarrassing moment:  During the Zimbabwean government's 2008 crackdown following a disputed presidential election, China was caught red-handed when a ship carrying small arms intended for Zimbabwe -- including 3 million rounds of ammunition and 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades -- was turned away by South African authorities at the port of Durban. After it was prevented from unloading at several African ports, the ship was eventually forced to return to China.

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S. KOREA: Films Recognized at Cannes International Film Festival

Eric Gaillard/Reuters

The Cannes Film Festival is the world's most prestigious film festival, looming over all others, a privileged moment for celebrating past glories and great expectations. Established in 1946, it takes place each May at Cannes, a town along the French Riviera.

Every year Cannes appears, alluring and forbidding, a haunted palace that knows better than to open wide its doors, become democratic or user-friendly -- leave that to the North Americans. The competition choices obey a certain logic: the festival is faithful to those who have triumphed and those who have suffered.

The Marché du Film, where meetings, negotiations and deals take place in parallel to the Festival de Cannes, draws more than 10,000 buyers and sellers from around the world, according to the festival's organizers.

This year two Korean films were recognized.

Award for Best Screenplay

LEE Chang-dong for POETRY

Best screenplay went to the South Korean Lee Chang-dong for “Poetry,” a beautifully directed, emotionally wrenching drama about a grandmother who discovers that her only grandson has been party to a horrific crime. Mr. Lee, speaking in English, acknowledged his powerhouse female star, Yun Jung-hee, who gave one of the most memorable performances of the festival.

Un Certain Regard Prize - Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema

HAHAHA directed by HONG Sangsoo

On Saturday the Certain Regard prize went to “Ha Ha Ha,” a wistful, intricately structured comedy from the South Korean director Hong Sang-soo. In a festival that tends to be crammed with films that skew toward the grave — religious fundamentalism was a recurrent theme — the humor in “Ha Ha Ha” was also a relief.

Although the Certain Regard films are not part of the main competition, this section has consistently become a showcase for some of the strongest, most innovative and daring work at Cannes. Such was the case this year with a largely well-received slate . . .

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Complete NYT coverage of the Cannes International Film Festival

Festival de Cannes