http://www.nis.go.kr/eng/security/issue_index.html

The ‘they’re our brothers; they’ll never hurt us” doctrine goes right out the window with the info such as this, which is on the site:

The Chronology of Major Provocations by North Korea

1950s Kidnapped KNA in Feb. 16, 1958. -Carried away by 5 people 24 people out of 32 flyers were repatriated on March 6, 1958
1960s 9/5/67 Bombing of Kyongwon Railways
1/21/68 Kim Shin-jo and 30-member squad infiltrated the Presidential House to assasinate President Park
1/23/68 USS Pueblo was kidnapped to the North by 2 MIG fighters and 3 quard ships in the East Sea (82 crewmen were all repatriated in Dec. 1968)
10/30/68 Infiltration into Uljin and Samchok area The squads were on the loose until Nov. 18
4/15/69 US reconnaisance plane EC-121 was gunned down by a North Korean fighter. All the crew died.
12/11/69 KAL’s YS-11 was kidnapped by a North Korean special agent, Cho Chang-hee. 39 out of 51 flyers were repatriated on February 14, 1970. 12 passengers including crews were not repatriated.
1970s 6/5/70 A naval vessel was kidnapped in waters off Yeonpyongdo Island by a North Korean guard ship (20 crewmen were detained)
6/22/70 Bombing of the National Cemetary. Botched incident took place when 2 North Korean agents installed bombs to assasinate figures participating in the 6.25 memorial ceremony. Their efforts failed.
2/15/74 A fishing boat, “Soowon” was gunned down. 30 fishermen were kidnapped.
8/15/74 Tried to assasinate President Park, but in vain North Korean agent, Moon Sae-kwang was the second generation of a pro-North resident in Japan under the guidance of North Korea. (First Lady Yook Young-soo passed away)
11/15/74 1st underground tunnel discovered (Korangpo)
3/19/75 2nd underground tunnel discovered (Chulwon)
8/18/76 30 North Korean soldiers wielded axes in Truce Village. 2 U.S. soldiers died and 8 U.N. security guards were seriously wounded)
10/27/78 3rd underground tunnel discovered (Truce Village)
1980s 8/26/81 A U.S. reconnaisance fighter, SR-71 attacked by missile, 10/9/83 Bombing of the Rangoon Cemetry in Burma to assasinate President Chun Doo-hwan (17 members of the presidential entourage were killed)
11/23/84 Shoot-out in Truce Village (1 North Korean guard, 1 U.N. guard were killed)
9/14/86 Bombing terror at the Kimpo International Airport. Bombs were hidden in a trash can in the first level of the airport (5 people died and 32 people were wounded)
1/15/87 A fishing vessel, Dongjinho, was kidnapped in waters off Baekryongdo Island. North Korea expressed its willingness to repatriate them but is still detaining them as a revenge for the defection of Kim Man-chul’s family (12 crew members)
10/7/87 A fishing vessel, Jinyoungho 31, gunned down by a North Korean reconnaisance vessel (11 people missing)
11/29/87 KAL’s passenger plane was bombed by agents Kim Hyun-hee and Kim Seung-il of the Workers’ Party on waters off Burma (All 115 passengers and crew died)
1990s 3/7/90 4th underground tunnel discovered (Yanggu)
2/5/91 Namhaeho kidnapped (5 Koreans and 13 Chinese all returned on February 28, 1991)
5/22/92 3 armed soldiers infiltrate into DMZ
5/30/95 Woosungho kidnapped
7/9/95 Pastor An seung-woon kidnapped
10/17/95 Armed agents infiltrate into the Imjin River
10/24/95 Armed infiltrators appear in Puyo, Chungnam province. Cross fire with South Korean soldiers. One captured and the other killed.
9/18/96 Armed agents infiltrate through submarine carrying 26 crewmen who were under the reconnaisance bureau of the North Korean Ministry of National Defense. The sub was a shark-type small marine vessel (350 tons). One captured, 13 killed, 11 committ suicide and 1 escaped.
10/1/96 South Korean consular to Russia, Choi Duk-keun was assssinated
6/22/98 A submarine infiltrates into waters off Sokcho, which was under the operation bureau of the Workers’ Party. 9 crew all committ suicide on board
7/12/98 An armed agent infiltrates Mukho

There is also a lengthy list of assassination attempts. This is from a Korean Government site; are people in Korea unaware of this while showering the Norks with adoration? Or do they REALLY not care about all this? If it is the former, I think that it is time for the word to get out. The North is not a benevolent state. They seek the destruction of the South and its way of life.

IMHO, the conservative/anti-North/whatever groups holding pictures of starving Northerners and other such things at the Universiade were going out of their way to make it political, consciously and in a premeditated attempt to incite the Northerners, who responded in kind by making fools of themselves, just as expected, producing the desired effect.

IMHO, this is what Lee Chang-dong is talking about as the head of the ministry in charge of sports. No responsible gov’t minister under any Korean government would be able to say the guests are misbehaving, no matter what he really thinks. (In Lee’s case, “god I hate this job.”)

Ultimately you’re right, though. No question the North made it political before anyone else even tried when it threated to boycott, and over what people did at a Liberation Day rally a week apart and hundreds of klicks from the sports event. The head of the North’s delegation here now said in an Ohmynews interview that the Ingonggi burning in Seoul City Hall Plaza was “behavior like a 3 year old child.” Guess that means the North was acting about 2 yrs old.