Greg Pollowitz e-mails re the North Korea test:

There’s another possibility that isn’t being talked about regarding why North Korea chose today to fire off a nuke. What if if North Korea’s test was done more as a protest of a South Korean, Ban Ki-Moon, from heading the UN and had little to do with US foreign policy decisions? If Ban Ki-Moon does get the Secretary General job, that’s a huge p.r. victory for South Korea. It’s not only that South Korea is able to compete economically with the rest of the world, but now a South Korean will, in effect, lead the world. North Korea and South Korea are still technically in a state of war. We don’t think of it that way, but Kim Jong II does. I can’t imagine North Korea is happy at one, getting upstaged by the South and more importantly, two, having a South Korean in charge of North Korea’s economic and political future. Here’s a good Washington Post article on Ban Ki-Moon from Sept. 29th. Ki-Moon does have Bolton’s support, but there have been criticisms that South Korea has been using its economic influence to buy votes for Ki-Moon from the Security Council members. As qualified as Ki-Moon might be (I have no idea if he is or is not), I don’t think he’s the correct choice, especially with North Korea as an issue for the foreseeable future.