Kim Jong-il in Guangdong

Our "Dear Leader", President Kim Jong-il, is reported to be just across the border in Guangdong Province on a "secret visit". Supposedly, he's in southern China to learn capitalism from the Chinese.

The South China Morning Post reported that the entire White Swan Hotel - the hotel where foreigners stay when they adopt Chinese babies - has been fully booked, and that guests who were staying there were suddenly forced to check out (EDIT: this hotel has 28 floors and 842 guest rooms). Shamian Island, the 24 square kilometer island on which the White Swan Hotel is located, has been closed to traffic. Fortunately for the US State Department, the US Embassy is no longer located on this island on which European factories were confined and Europeans were allowed to settle for part of the year in the days before the Opium War.

Reporting has focused on how secretive the trip has been, with a media blackout in China, and with no press reports from either the Chinese or North Korean governments. Also peculiar is how heavy the security measures have been.

I almost wish I were on Shamian Island, just to spot the short, pot-bellied guy with the huge bouffant hair.