Ha! Yankee, go home . . . when I turn 30!

I have two new posts up at NKZone, where Rebecca McKinnon has graciously appointed me as a co-blogger. Both are on the subject of trade with North Korea and my efforts to dig up more facts about it. I will keeping blogging non-Korea stuff here exclusively. Hopefully, posting will return full-throttle in a few weeks, after the next Little One gets dried off.

I have two new posts up at NKZone, where Rebecca McKinnon has graciously appointed me as a co-blogger. Both are on the subject of trade with North Korea and my efforts to dig up more facts about it. I will keeping blogging non-Korea stuff here exclusively. Hopefully, posting will return full-throttle in a few weeks, after the next Little One gets dried off.

Work responsibilities have left no time for blogging and probably won’t for the next few days. And then, there’s the upcoming birth of the newest Free(half-)Korean. The little spare time I have left is going toward building her a cradle out of red oak. Like everything I’ve built since my first visit to the Tapshimni antique market, which is a thousand times better and more authentically Korean than Insadong, it will be in a Chosun Dynasty-influenced style. Pictures to follow...

Work responsibilities have left no time for blogging and probably won’t for the next few days. And then, there’s the upcoming birth of the newest Free(half-)Korean. The little spare time I have left is going toward building her a cradle out of red oak. Like everything I’ve built since my first visit to the Tapshimni antique market, which is a thousand times better and more authentically Korean than Insadong, it will be in a Chosun Dynasty-influenced style. Pictures to follow...

My letter worked. The offending sign is down and the Post Office sends its apologies. They say it was all a mistake. Obviously all the Koreans who work there and passed through the door hundreds of times just never happened to notice.

For now, check out this story in the NYT. Everyone seems to have concluded that diplomacy is failing to defang Iran and North Korea. The usual gang of Clinton holdovers is blaming us for not offering enough protection money. The Bush administration is now thinking covert action. Uh, good timing, guys. The basic premise is undeniable. Of course, to read anything in the Times these days you have to put up with plenty of completely gratuitous swipes at Bush and...

My letter worked. The offending sign is down and the Post Office sends its apologies. They say it was all a mistake. Obviously all the Koreans who work there and passed through the door hundreds of times just never happened to notice.

For now, check out this story in the NYT. Everyone seems to have concluded that diplomacy is failing to defang Iran and North Korea. The usual gang of Clinton holdovers is blaming us for not offering enough protection money. The Bush administration is now thinking covert action. Uh, good timing, guys. The basic premise is undeniable. Of course, to read anything in the Times these days you have to put up with plenty of completely gratuitous swipes at Bush and...

Argue all you want about the presence of al-Qaeda thug Abu Musab al-Zarkawi in Baghdad back when Saddam’s people were listening in on every living room in town. Insist, if you will, that neither this, nor the multiple con-fabs between the henchmen of Saddam and Osama, justified our being alarmed. There�s no doubt that Zarkawi�s there now, and that he�s spearheading those who are killing our troops�and increasingly, a lot of Iraqi civilians. The simple truth is that today in...

Argue all you want about the presence of al-Qaeda thug Abu Musab al-Zarkawi in Baghdad back when Saddam’s people were listening in on every living room in town. Insist, if you will, that neither this, nor the multiple con-fabs between the henchmen of Saddam and Osama, justified our being alarmed. There�s no doubt that Zarkawi�s there now, and that he�s spearheading those who are killing our troops�and increasingly, a lot of Iraqi civilians. The simple truth is that today in...

I have posted a detailed argument against the theory that diplomatic recognition and free trade can dissuade North Korea from its evil ways while Kim Jong-Il continues to be in charge there. It’s lots of rich, linky goodness, but I didn’t want it to crowd the new human rights stories off the page, so I posted it here for your reading pleasure.

I have posted a detailed argument against the theory that diplomatic recognition and free trade can dissuade North Korea from its evil ways while Kim Jong-Il continues to be in charge there. It’s lots of rich, linky goodness, but I didn’t want it to crowd the new human rights stories off the page, so I posted it here for your reading pleasure.

. . . from your webmaster, just an angry ex-soldier and bleeding-heart conservative waging war by other means. Stop to look at this brand-new BBC video clip first. Then get yourself a stiff drink. I’ll wait. Back already? Then you now know the level of Treblinka depravity we’re talking about. Now, take a look at this, edit as liberally as you like, cut and paste it into the Web form here, and do something about it. Our efforts may have already...

. . . from your webmaster, just an angry ex-soldier and bleeding-heart conservative waging war by other means. Stop to look at this brand-new BBC video clip first. Then get yourself a stiff drink. I’ll wait. Back already? Then you now know the level of Treblinka depravity we’re talking about. Now, take a look at this, edit as liberally as you like, cut and paste it into the Web form here, and do something about it. Our efforts may have already...

Another North Korean defector, this one a chemical weapons “scientist,” is telling the BBC how he killed people in gas chambers. Link and video clip here: “The purpose of this experiment was to determine how long it takes for a human being to die – we wanted to determine how much gas was necessary to annihilate the whole city of Seoul.” The South Koreans apparently tried to stop him from talking to the media, and of course, they say it’s...

NK Gulag’s founders, both of them refugees from North Korea themselves, send this message: On behalf of the 23 million North Korean people, we wish to express our heartfelt gratitude to the Congressmen and Congresswomen and to the American people who helped pass this landmark legislation. Later, when set free from Kim Jong Il’s dictatorship, the North Korean people will surely remember July 21, 2004.

You could search for a long time to find words more persuasive than this picture, but the words of the North Korean woman in this BBC story come close: I left because there was no food, but also because I wanted freedom. I wanted to be able to live how I wanted to live. The North Koreans are neither robots nor zombies nor programmed automatons. They are human beings just like us, but with a much keener understanding of what...