Anju Links for 25 March 2008

HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU HAVE TO KILL to get noticed by Amnesty International?  My theory is that it depends on how much you tell people you hate America, but it looks like North Korea may have exceeded Amnesty’s limit.  Let’s hope this turns out to be something sustained.

NAMIBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST DENOUNCES North Korea’s human rights record  on the occasion of Kim Yong Nam’s visit:

Just about a week or two ago about 15 people were executed publicly 13 of whom were women. This is how brutal the regime is. That’s one of the reasons we are totally opposed to give an honor to a person from a country that is so cruel and treats its citizens so cruel in that manner,” Ya-Nangolo noted.  [N.Y. Jewish Times]

Amnesty should hire this guy.

BRITAIN WILL FORCE ITS ATHLETES to sign no-criticism contracts, banning them from criticizing China’s human rights record.  (ht: Roboseyo)

WHEN THE CRIMINALS RUN THE COURTS:  Here’s how the trial of a Chinese land rights activist ended recently:

Family members tried to talk to Yang as he was escorted from the courtroom, but police pushed his son to the ground, his lawyer, Li Fangping, said. When Yang tried to intervene, he was repeatedly shocked with electric batons, the lawyer said.  [Anita Chang, AP]

China’s human rights problem is a lot bigger than Tibet, and Chinese who allow themselves to be distracted by the ethnic dispute are missing the larger problem.  The same goes for some Tibetans.

ANDREI LANKOV WRITES about the post-Soviet shuttle merchants  of Korea.  I remember seeing Russians, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, and Mongols buying textiles and wares in Tongdaemun, thinking that I was standing at the terminus of the new Silk Road.