You know there is a problem when you hear about a sea battle for the first time during its fourth year anniversary

On the eve of the final of the 2002 World Cup, six young seamen were killed in a surprise attack by North Korean patrol boats off Yeonpyeong Island in the West Sea and 18 others wounded. On the fourth anniversary of the tragedy, some of the survivors live with shrapnel too deeply embedded to remove, and in their nightmares they see their comrades shrouded in flame. The Chosun Ilbo tracked down on 10 of the wounded from the West Sea Battle of 2002, who were far away from football fans’ cries of “Dae-han-min-guk” that filled the city streets. Six agreed to speak on the record.

Is this the tunnel vision we have to deal with every four years?

Criminals kidnap for ransom. Regimes, for political capital

SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean man allegedly abducted by the North met his mother for the first time in 28 years Wednesday amid concern the communist state is trying to use him as a tool to silence Japanese claims that his former Japanese wife is alive.

Kim Young-nam and his 78-year-old mother cried and hugged each other at the North’s Diamond Mountain resort, amid other reunions of Koreans divided by the world most heavily fortified border.

“I am very happy to see you are so healthy,” Kim told his heavily wrinkled mother, Choi Gye-wol, who sat in a wheelchair, according to television footage. “Stop crying, why do you cry on such a happy day?”

She responded, saying “Now, I don’t have any regret even if I die.”

Kim was just 16 when he disappeared from a beach on South Korea’s southwest coast in 1978. His family thought he had drowned but learned later from the South Korean government that he was believed to have been abducted by North Korean agents and forced to live there.

Now 45, Kim is among nearly 500 South Korean civilians believed to have been kidnapped by the communist state and still held there. North Korea claims they voluntarily defected.

Update: What do you know? After almost 30 years in North Korea Kim is spouting government talking points. Even if this was a real account it sure makes him a lousy son who does not write or call his mother.

Update II: The Yokoda’s are not buying it.

Other North Korean news not involving ballistic missiles

The eight men were arrested earlier this year and face charges of violating Japan’s Stimulant Drugs Control Law, the Tokyo District Prosecutors’ office said in a statement.

The Turubong 1 ship was allegedly carrying 237 kilograms (522 pounds) of amphetamines from Chongjin, a North Korean port, in November 2002 to a prearranged point in the Sea of Japan, the statement said.

The ship dropped off the cargo for pickup by a Japanese vessel owned by one of the arrested men, but the vessel failed to find the cargo due to bad weather, according to the statement. Japanese police later discovered the drugs washed ashore on the country’s northwestern coast.

The boat was seized and searched by Japanese authorities in May, and later returned to North Korea, according to the AP.

Over 500 lbs of speed could have done more damage to Japanese youths than some missile. Keep that in mind.