  We present a new analysis of the Delta I = 1/2 rule in K --> pi pi decays and
the B_K parameter. We use the 1/N_c expansion within the effective chiral
lagrangian for pseudoscalar mesons and compute the hadronic matrix elements at
leading and next-to-leading order in the chiral and the 1/N_c expansions.
Numerically, our calculation reproduces the dominant Delta I = 1/2 K --> pi pi
amplitude. Our result depends only moderately on the choice of the cutoff scale
in the chiral loops. The Delta I = 3/2 amplitude emerges sufficiently
suppressed but shows a significant dependence on the cutoff. The B_K parameter
turns out to be smaller than the value previously obtained in the 1/N_c
approach. It also shows a significant dependence on the choice of the cutoff
scale. Our results indicate that corrections from higher order terms and/or
higher resonances are large for the Delta I = 3/2 K --> pi pi amplitude and the
(|Delta S| = 2) K^0 -- anti K^0 transition amplitude.
