U.S. Politics – Page 12

August 30, 2007

State Dept. Won’t Remove N. Korea from Terror List … Yet

The chief U.S. envoy at North Korean nuclear talks said Wednesday the United States will make sure close ally Japan is satisfied before lifting North Korea from a U.S. list of countries accused of sponsoring terrorists. Christopher Hill acknowledged the North has raised the terror-list removal repeatedly as a crucial part of a February nuclear disarmament accord. But, he said, the United States is “not going to cup our eyes and pretend a country is not a state sponsor of...

Abductions/Diplomacy/Japan & Korea/Six-Party Talks/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics

July 28, 2007

Not Ready

I have resigned myself to a Lee Myung Bak presidency in Korea, something I can do without much difficulty because (a) there will be much amusement, hilarity, scandal, and great blog material, and (b) because I’m not South Korean [Update: or North Korean]. Superficially, Lee is the furthest “right” of the major candidates, and while South Korea’s idea of “right” may not be my thing, it’s the linear opposite of South Korea’s idea of “left,” which I unreservedly despise. Concepts...

Korean Politics/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics

July 14, 2007

If Jack Pritchard Doesn’t Believe Jack Pritchard, Why Should We?

Jack Pritchard probably comes to his role as South Korea’s main policy mouthpiece honestly, through a shared belief that the next ten years of unrequited aid really will change North Korea into a peaceful, bucolic, union-free garment district. Pritchard is President of the Korea Economic Institute, which works Washington’s Korea-watching and policy-making crowds through its regular sponsorship of social and academic dinner events. I’ve been to a few myself, and though I seldom agree with what I hear there, the...

Media Criticism/Six-Party Talks/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Politics/Washington Views/WMD

July 5, 2007

The FTA and ‘Fortress Korea’

It can be disturbing to find so much to agree with in the writings of someone who doesn’t share your outlook on the bigger picture. I generally favor the lowering of trade barriers and oppose the protection of domestic industries from the competition of a fair and open market. Note the key caveat in that last sentence, for defining “fair and open” is where the devil is. I suspect Alan Tomlinson defines it more narrowly than I do, and that...

NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Politics

June 20, 2007

North Korean Money and the Fed

Kevin Hassett, Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, asks, “Why did the Fed help North Korea launder money?” I’m no economist, so I’m interested in how the transaction could affect the Federal Reserve system. Hassett thinks this transaction simultaneously inseminated the Fed with dirty money and politics, and he doesn’t think we’re going to like what we see at the end of the gestation. You ought to read the whole piece, but here’s a graf: It...

Money Laundering/NK Economics/U.S. Politics

June 18, 2007

Lee Myung-Bak Proposes ‘Kaesong Archipelago’

Would you trust this man? If you were one of those hoping that the next South Korean election would be the end of our long international nightmare, you were mistaken: Former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak, the front-running opposition presidential aspirant in December’s election, proposed Monday creating a “Manhattan-like” island near the border with North Korea and building an inter-Korean industrial park there to ease military tension. Dubbed “Na-deul,” which means a narrow waterway in Korean, the manmade island would be...

Human Rights/NK Economics/Proliferation/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Politics/WMD

June 12, 2007

Win the Battle, Lose the War: How South Korea’s Brilliant Negotiation Skills May Have Killed the FTA

[Update: The USTR will reportedly call for renegotiation of the entire deal, in part to make the draft FTA compliant with U.S. labor standards. More at the bottom of this post.] Absolutely stomach-turning. After all of the Bush Administration’s brave rhetoric about “forced labor” and “material support” for “atrocities,” it ended up signing a free-trade agreement that could very well have allowed slave-made, axis-of-evil Kaesong imports into the United States. Then, because there was no denying the staggering hypocrisy...

Anju Links/Human Rights/Human Trafficking/NK Economics/U.S. Politics

June 12, 2007

Republicans Rebel on N. Korea Policy, Demand GAO Money Laundering Inquiry

You may recall that in this post and in this piece for Front Page Magazine, I suggested that our own State Deparment’s attempts to return $25 million to the North Korean regime — much or most of it proceeds of crime — could violate U.S. money laundering laws, as well as two U.N. resolutions the United States successfully lobbied for less than a year ago. As it turns out, great minds think alike. Now, with Russia about to step up...

Counterfeiting/Money Laundering/U.S. Politics

May 14, 2007

FTA Update

The N.Y. Times reports: Peru and Panama are considered most likely to win early Congressional approval. Colombia is more problematic, because Democrats are demanding that, besides the new measures, more protections be added to prevent violence against activists trying to organize workers. The South Korea accord, if put in place, would lead to the largest amount of increased trade. But it is opposed in its current version by Democrats who want greater access to that country’s markets for American beef,...

NK Economics/U.S. Politics

May 7, 2007

So Much for ‘Hawk Engagement:’ Victor Cha Steps Down

The proponent of the “hawk-engagement” theory of North Korea policy looks to be the first casualty of the unraveling of Agreed Framework 2.0. The AP tries to shoehorn this into its standard anti-Iraq War meme, but it’s a strained fit for on Cha, an architect of a soft-line diplomatic approach that is clearly failing: Cha leaves amid concerns over North Korea’s failure to comply with deadlines to eliminate its nuclear weapons programs. [AP] Reporter Matthew Lee’s story is what you’d...

An Alliance?/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks/U.S. Politics

May 5, 2007

How Feminist Liberalism Supports Misogynist Terror

It’s very simple. Step One, rig a girls’ school with explosives. Step Two, blow up the school and a few dozen little girls, and bask in the fascination (three parts horror, one part masochistic adoration) of news media everywhere. Step Three, wait for for Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and Barbara Boxer to declare you the victor. Wait for atrocities to be rewarded and mass murder to be misdiagnosed as a liberation struggle. Wait for Michael Moore to call you and...

Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics

April 25, 2007

North Korea’s Sponsorship of Terrorist Acts, 1996-2007

As I noted here, at the end of Update 4/24 to my North Korea Freedom Week post, the State Department is now rumored to be seriously considering removing North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. This conflicts with signals State had sent earlier, and as I noted here, would probably trigger a rebellion by conservatives in Congress. With Japan’s Prime Minister set to visit Washington next week, unverified gossip holds that the Bush Administration will put pressure...

Abductions/Appeasement/Japan & Korea/Six-Party Talks/Terrorism (NK)/U.S. Politics/WMD

April 11, 2007

Anju Links for 11 April 2007

* Are You Effing Kidding Me? The Bush administration, reversing a six-year-old North Korea policy based on deep mistrust, said it will now rely on Pyongyang’s “good faith” to ensure that funds released yesterday from a Macao bank are not misused…. Mr. McCormack said the North Koreans had promised “to spend the money for the betterment of the North Korean people,” and not for the personal benefit of its officials. [Wash Times] Stupidity with malice aforethought is its...

Activism/Anju Links/Appeasement/Kremlinology/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics

April 8, 2007

Why Moonbats Will Never Run the World

The “Crawford Peace House” run by Kim Jong Il’s unwitting ally, Cindy Sheehan, is the latest victim of financial irregularities, unmedicated emotion, and a characteristic absence of any moral perspective: “There are people who have said, `Don’t say anything because you’ll hurt the peace movement,’” Oliver said. “But if the peace movement isn’t pure and transparent and holy as it can be at its heart, then it’s just like George Bush: lying, thieving, conniving, backstabbing bastards.” This is certainly a...

Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics/WTF?

April 8, 2007

John Bolton on Agreed Framework 2.0

“I think this deal will inevitably fail,” Bolton said. “That day cannot come too soon in my view.” [CBS] That was John Bolton speaking at the American Enterprise Institute on Thursday (I was home sick). If you were to ask me the reasons why I think AF 2.0 is a flat-out capitulation — one that will make our world more dangerous, hurt our friends, and reward our enemies before it fails — all I have to do is look who...

Appeasement/U.S. Politics

April 4, 2007

Richard Lawless Resigns

Lawless was responsible for pushing the South Koreans into USFK restructuring and cost-sharing agreements, and unlike years of predecessors, had been tough enough to sit down and negotiate as firmly as his counterparts. No one pushed Richard Lawless around. As a result, the Korean government and press were not fans. See, e.g., this picture the Joongang Ilbo printed. “Hulk angry!” Lawless cited personal reasons for his resignation, according to one official. He will leave his post in a few weeks,...

An Alliance?/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/U.S. Politics

April 3, 2007

FTA Hits Opposition in U.S. Congress

The Economist’s blog reports, After a long drawn out, and highly fraught, negotiation that pushed right up against the deadline, America and South Korea have inked a new trade deal. It is the largest America has signed since NAFTA. However, tensions between the Bush administration and resurgent protectionists in America’s new Democratic Congress make it highly uncertain that the pact will be ratified. I don’t yet know if the opposition will be enough to defeat the deal, but some key...

Human Trafficking/Korean Politics/NK Economics/U.S. Politics

April 1, 2007

FTA Agreement Reached FTA Talks Near Failure: The Death of an Alliance, Part 66

[Update 2: Well, as it turns out, the two sides did reach an agreement, although it’s not clear how comprehensive. Both sides — mainly us — made major last-minute concessions. Talks were ongoing until minutes before the legal deadline. Beef tariffs will be phased out over 15 years, which is a long time. (We’ll see if the Koreans actually accept the next shipment.) Korea also gets to protect its rice market. There’s really only one bright spot I can see:...

Anti-Americanism/Korean Politics/NK Economics/The Fifth Column/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Politics

Category: U.S. Politics