Dear Leader Is Back with a Bang

SEOUL - The resurrection of Dear Leader Kim Jong-il from the jaws of death to which "foreign propagandists" consigned him last August is now complete. At least symbolically and rhetorically speaking.

The Supreme People's Assembly, the North's rubber-stamp parliament, capped off a week of vindication and triumph that began with the supposed orbiting of "a communications satellite" with a rousing declaration that he was indeed supremely qualified to serve a third five-year term as chairman of the National Defense Commission.

Under North Korea's constitution, that makes him leader of the country.