This one was to China. Word has it that he left early and in a huff owing to China's increasing interest in how Pyongyang conducts its domestic affairs.

Much of the recent trouble in North Korea centers on a currency revaluation gone horribly wrong. I think the guy in charge of it, at least nominally, was executed earlier this year. Basically, the central government was losing power to and competing against nascent interests brought about by the success of some minor economic reforms launched a few years ago. Kim, the paranoid and greedy bastard that he is, squeezed too hard and too fast.

If anybody invades NK, my money is on the Chinese. And they might even be able to pull it off without firing a shot. Maybe.