North Korea - now part of China?

Item:

NORTH KOREA as we know it is over.

Interesting op-ed in today's NY Times.

Speaking of the Times, I was somewhat amused by the story saying that the CIA's was taken by surprise by  Kim Jong-ils' death and calling this a serious intelligence failure.* Besides wondering why journalists expect to be told what spy agencies know, it is kind of amusing to see intelligence agencies judged on journalistic standards - i.e. Who got that story first? rather than by things that are actually relevant.

*Actually, the story back peddles much lower in the copy, almost as if someone pimped up the beginning and then someone else read it and tried to dial back. "Extensive" or "minor" - which is it? If you're going to analyze something, you ought to at least decide what you're saying. But that's another problem . . .