South Korean president Lee Myung-bak’s visit with the president of the United States has been big news here and the meeting has been getting lots of coverage most of the week.

I’d say this sums up the meeting pretty well:

Lee drove a golf cart, with Bush seated in the assistant driver’s seat, to the cabin area, while Laura Bush drove a separate golf cart for Kim. During the cart ride, Bush praised Lee as a “fine driver” and jokingly told reporters, “He (Lee) is afraid of my driving.” Lee shared a joke, saying, “He (Bush) is guest.”

I’m sure North Korea was a big topic of conversation. Lee has a hard-line stance against North Korea and seemingly ruffled Kim Jong-il’s feathers just in his being elected. Not long ago Lee was described as a “traitor” by North Korea.

Not very coincidentally former South Korean president 2000 Nobel prize winner Kim Dae-jung, author of the Sunshine Policy, scheduled a speaking tour in America that coincided with Lee’s White House visit. Not sure what his complete itinerary was, but we seems to have spent some time in Oregon.

This puff piece, Kim Dae-jung finds strength in the cause of peace, which is based on an interview in a Portland hotel room Kim was staying in, reads a bit like something I’d expect from the DPRK’s KNCA, not the Oregonian. I’m guessing is exactly what Dae-jung was looking for when he set out for the U.S.

Kim’s attempt to steal some of Lee’s thunder during his American trip is a debatable tactic and apparently I’m not the only one who thinks so. Today, according to Yonhap news, Kim Ki-sam, a former South Korean intelligence agent, announced he’s going retaliate with some fireworks of his own.

Kim claimed that the intelligence agency had bribed North Korea to help then-South Korean President Kim win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000, which was awarded to him after the first inter-Korean summit in the summer of that year.

The former spy also had charged that the spy agency had bugged the mobile phones of leading politicians, leading to the arrests of two former agency chiefs.

Yup. Those would be fireworks. It’ll be interesting to see if he actually does this or if he’s just huffing and puffing.