HONOLULU -- Intelligence agencies from Seoul to Singapore would pay dearly for the answer to perhaps the most intriguing question in Asia arising from the capture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein: What does the "Dear Leader" of North Korea, Kim Jong Il, who, like Hussein, is a charter member of U.S. President George W. Bush's "axis of evil," think of this turn of events?
The Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, through which the Hermit Kingdom communicates with the rest of the world, was defiant several days after Hussein's arrest Dec. 14, linking Iraq with North Korea as the United States has "designated the Middle East and Northeast Asia as major targets in realizing its ambition for world domination."
Without mentioning Hussein by name, KCNA asserted: "The U.S. claims that it has laid a springboard from which to put the Middle East under its control after occupying Iraq, a sovereign state. It is now concentrating its efforts on carrying out its Northeast Asia military strategy."