• It is premature at this stage to discuss the cause of the sinking. It has not been determined whether this incident is related to North Korea.
• South Korean presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye • Regarding the country’s ship that sank, leaving at least 46 sailors missing. The early reports were bad enough to make Wall Street freak out, but right now, they’re backing off, with the country’s defense ministry saying “an unidentified reason caused a hole in the ship.” Well, that’s nice and vague. source

• The ship is sinking. This could be bad. The ship, located near the island of Baengnyeong, may possibly have been struck by a torpedo. Many sailors are feared dead and a rescue mission has already begun. South Korea and North Korea, by the way, are technically still in a state of war. Oh, and North Korea just yesterday threatened to use nuclear weapons. source

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• At 6.8, this quake is nearly as strong as the one that turned Haiti into a pile of rubble. Here’s a map. More details on the quake as we get them. This literally just happened.
• Update: The A.P. (grumble) reports that the quake was strong enough to shake buildings in Beijing for a minute, despite its relatively long distance away.

• peace The country wants to write up a new peace treaty with the U.S. – the first rewrite since the end of the Korean war nearly 60 years ago.
• leverage The carrot – and stick – for the U.S.? If they sign it, North Korea will give up their nuclear weapons program. A plan too good to be true?
• flipped? Unfortunately for North Korea, the U.S. wants them to get rid of the nukes first – then they’ll talk about rewriting the peace treaty. source

• one cargo plane was intercepted in Thailand this morning; it was headed to Sri Lanka
• 35 tons of weapons were discovered on the plane; holy crap, Kim Jong-Il … what’s wrong with you? source

• 5 short-range missiles were fired off this morning source

• Feeling nervous about where we were, we quickly turned back toward China. Midway across the ice, we heard yelling. We looked back and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles running toward us. Instinctively, we ran. We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us.
• A statement on Current TV’s Web site • In the statement, Ling and Lee describe the circumstances that led them into North Korea. Basically, a guide in China convinced them to keep walking until they found themselves in the country. They immediately went back into China, but were grabbed anyway by North Korean soldiers. Which, if anything, lends credence to the idea that they weren’t intentionally headed there. • source

• They feel, the North Koreans, that by giving us the two American journalists, that they’ve made an important gesture. And now they’re saying the ball’s in our court.
• New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson • Talking about the current diplomatic situation with North Korea. They want bilateral talks (a.k.a. just the U.S. and North Korea), but the U.S. remains committed to having those talks as part of a larger group of countries. It just confirms what we knew all along: Euna Lee and Laura Ling were pawns for North Korea. • source