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Category: U.S. & Korea

April 30, 2006

The Slavery Candidate

Former Minister of UniFiction / Uri Party Leader / presidential candidate Chung Dong-Young thinks he has found his winning issue: transforming the North into a corporate plantation, with Kim Jong Il as overseer. Chung has the additional disadvantages of being anti-American and having a self-confirmed sub-room-temperature IQ (I’ve never met Chung, but several others who have confirm that judgment). If Chung or someone like him wins the presidency, expect a rapid and mostly complete departure of America’s military contingent from...

Categories An Alliance?/Appeasement/Human Rights/Korean Politics/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea
April 29, 2006

First N. Korean Gets U.S. Asylum, But What Does This Really Mean for NKHRA Compliance?

Updated 4/30; scroll down “We can and will do more to protect North Korean refugees. . . . We hope that very, very soon, we can welcome North Korean refugees here in the United States.” — Amb. Jay Lefkowitz, April 28, 2006 WASHINGTON, April 28 (Yonhap) — The Los Angeles Immigration Court has granted asylum to a North Korean defector after he awaited a decision in the U.S. for the past 20 months, his lawyer said Friday. The final ruling...

Categories Defectors/Human Rights/Refugees/U.S. & Korea
April 28, 2006

NK Freedom Week 2006, Part II

The events have not yet concluded, and an all-night prayer vigil at the Chinese Embassy is underway. For various reasons, all of us missed the first half of the week. In my case, that was due to a family visit to South Korea (observations to follow later). Still, the events that are capable of being described at a forum like this one can be described now. Here is the week’s enduring image, one that creates a hopeful contrast to when...

Categories Activism/Human Rights/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized
April 28, 2006

N. Korea Freedom Week Updates

First, please join us on the West side of the U.S. Capitol today, starting at 11:30. The rally will last well into the afternoon, with plenty of opportunities to frighten powerful and cynical people throughout the day. Some of us may even make a special appearance at the South Korean Embassy later this afternoon. At 6 PM, Suzanne Scholte of the North Korean Freedom Coalition will lead a rally at the Chinese Embassy that will become an all-night prayer vigil....

Categories Abductions/Activism/Appeasement/China & Korea/Defectors/Democracy/Human Rights/Japan/Japan & Korea/Korean History/North Korea/Refugees/Resistance/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
April 13, 2006

Links of Interest

* The United States wants South Korea to join it in imposing sanctions against North Korean shipping. South Korea will not agree, though the move would be almost exclusively symbolic. * LiNK will hold a fund-raising happy hour at the K Street Lounge, 1301 K St. NW, Washington, DC, on April 20th at 6 p.m. Join us as LiNK DC hosts the K Street Lounge Happy Hour! With free first drinks, we promise a great time networking with like professionals...

Categories Activism/An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Appeasement/Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/Korean Law/Korean Society/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/WTF?
April 13, 2006

Also Turning Ugly: USFK Relocation

I wish I had the time to cover the latest Camp Humphreys relocation protests in the detail they deserve, given that I spent seven months of my life there defending young, misunderstood soldiers who were wrongly accused of various things. Humphreys, one of the least pleasant sites in the USFK portfolio, has its advantages: cheap land, proximity to Osan Air Base, and a location south of Seoul and out of artillery range. It makes sense to move most of the...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/UCMJ & SOFA/Uncategorized
April 10, 2006

The FTA Debate Is Turning Ugly

FTA negotiations will likely magnify “anti-American” sentiments in the short run and unleash a backlash in America. — Balbina Hwang, March 2, 2006 There are really three premises to this post, all of them leading to one conclusion: First, a Korean-American free trade agreement would be a good thing for both countries, but particularly for Korea. Second, despite that being demonstrably the case, the usual suspects see the FTA as an opportunity to ride to power on the shoulders of...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/China & Korea/Diplomacy/Korean Education/Korean Politics/Media Criticism/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized
April 9, 2006

The Death of an Alliance, Part 36: FTA Meets WTF

Move over Weekly World News: Beware of the dragonfly: it may be a bugging robot disguised as a harmless insect. No, the advice does not come from a mental patient convinced the government is spying on his laundry bills: it was one of the security tips issued during last week’s two-day workshop for 120 Korean delegates in the nation’s impending free-trade negotiations with the U.S. The workshop was designed to help delegates guard their negotiation strategies from prying ears when...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Diplomacy/Humor/Satire/Korean Politics/Korean Society/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Unintended Humor/WTF?
April 7, 2006

Daily NK on Ma Young-Ae

The Daily NK is clearly skeptical about Ms. Ma’s claim for asylum from South Korea: We do know that the South Korean government does not consider the North Korean democratization movement as good, and tries interrupting the movement by taking every opportunity. However, the South Korean government does not imprison and torture activators like the past administrations. We understand Ma Young Ae could be afraid of the government, yet many activators who got even more severe threats and interruptions are...

Categories Defectors/Korean Law/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized
April 7, 2006

Some People Will Believe Anything

The question you really have to ask yourself on reading tripe like this is whether a mature, self-assured democracy would plot to disturb international peace and commerce for a windswept and essentially uninhabited pile of guano. I’ll go out on a long limb here and say Japan and the United States wouldn’t, because unlike South Korea, they are mature and self-assured democracies. You can’t keep a stable alliance with a nation where urban legend passes for public discourse, leading us...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Japan & Korea/Korean Society/Media Criticism/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized
April 5, 2006

Who Is Ma Young-Ae, and What Does She Know?

[Updated 6 Apr 06; scroll down] Via The Flying Yangban, it looks like the U.S. may be on the verge of accepting its first North Korean refugee. Like the Yangban, I’m happy about it. Unlike the Yangban, I don’t see this as necessarily precedent-setting for the broader issue of accepting refugees fleeing persecution in North Korea. Reason: this refugee is also fleeing persecution in South Korea. No, that wasn’t a typo: Ma came to South Korea in 2000. In April...

Categories Abductions/An Alliance?/Appeasement/Censorship/Counterfeiting/Defectors/Human Rights/Japan/Japan & Korea/Korean Law/North Korea/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
April 4, 2006

Anti-American Protest Video at Usinkorea

The Korea Sojourner, a/k/a usinkorea, has put up a video montage of some recent anti-American protests. In some parts, especially where he puts up the lyrics to the latest catchy hate song (which has an unmistakably North Korean sound), he does a service to the uninitiated. Soundtrack, too! Judge for yourself: 1. Just how “peaceful” these peace activists are; 2. How effectively the Korean police have kept their violent acts away from U.S. forces that are defending Korea; 3. If...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Law/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized
April 3, 2006

Lefkowitz Denounces Kaesong Slave Labor; U.S. Continues to Squeeze NK’s Finances

It’s like they’re reading this blog . . . or perhaps great minds just think alike. You may recall that recently, I blogged about a media visit to the Kaesong Industrial Park. Piecing together several excellent reports allowed one to gather: (1) the extraordinary degree of control over the North Korean workers; (2) the extraordinary degree of supervision of the South Korean visitors; (3) the fact that the North Korean workers actually receive just $8 a month, not the widely-reported...

Categories "United" Nations/Activism/An Alliance?/Appeasement/China/China & Korea/Defectors/Diplomacy/Human Rights/NK Economics/North Korea/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views/WMD
April 1, 2006

ROK Police Failed to Protect U.S. Marines

Just in case you thought my most recent rant about South Korea failing to protect U.S. troops (the ones defending its country) was off-base, well, have a look: The appearance of anti-war demonstrators as the beachfront site of a joint U.S.-Korea military drill on Thursday showed an apparent lack of interest by authorities in keeping exercise sites free of demonstrators and other civilians. Authorities said yesterday that the police in the vicinity of Manripo Beach, in Taean, South Chungcheong province,...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Law/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/Uncategorized
April 1, 2006

2ID KATUSA Escapes Captivity in N. Korea

Some translation is appropriate for non-military readers: KATUSA means Korean Augmentee to the U.S. Army, and 2ID means Second Infantry Division, a brigade of which remains stretched out in an arc perpendicular to the Northern approaches to Seoul. Hundreds of KATUSAs still serve with U.S. Army units there today, but the first KATUSAs served during the Korean War. Here’s what happened to one of them: Lee participated in the Korean War after enlisting in August 1950 as a Korea auxiliary...

Categories Abductions/Appeasement/China & Korea/Defectors/Human Rights/Korean History/North Korea/Refugees/ROK Military/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military