ROKs Won’t Go to Iraq

Owen at RathbonePress is on board with my view that South Korea isn’t going to send troops to Iraq. Previously, I stated that we could make much better use of the Second Infantry Division (now serving in Korea) than 3,000 South Koreans assigned to the most peaceful part of Iraq. Now, some evidence is emerging that Rummy agrees with that. A South Korean friend and I recently bet 10,000 won on this. I should have said British pounds. Which brings...

It Sucks to Be Right

On April 21st, I blogged about the new Radio FreeNK and closed by presciently asking, “How long till Roh shuts it down?” We have our answer. South Korea is trying to shut down FreeNK, a radio station that broadcasts independent journalism into North Korea from Seoul. First, they banned the Kim Jong-Il comic book that went on to become a bestseller in Japan. Then, last summer, they beat up Norbert Vollertsen when he tried to send radios into North Korea...

Claudia Rosett for U.N. Ambassador

Her column in today’s WSJ is a must-read. In a sea of mediocre journalism, Claudia Rosett is two giants–the investigative gadfly who exposed UNSCAM and the big media’s only consistent teller of the hideous truth about North Korea. In her column today, she brings both issues to their inevitable intersection in the moral corruption beneath the U.N.’s rotten foundation. Nowhere is that moral corruption more evident than in the case of its unforgiveable silence about North Korea–precisely the kind of...

Context

With the horrific beheading of Nick Berg, Zarqawi and his merry band of excrement sculptures have put the Abu Ghraib story in its rightful context. We punish depravity; they embody it, videotape it, and broadcast it. Now, Zarqawi has done us the supreme service of switching the reels in our election-year theater. Its us or them. This century or the 12th. Victory or extinction. Open debates about abortion and gay marriage or routine bus bombs and burkas for our daughters....

Claudia Rosett for U.N. Ambassador

Her column in today’s WSJ is a must-read. In a sea of mediocre journalism, Claudia Rosett is two giants–the investigative gadfly who exposed UNSCAM and the big media’s only consistent teller of the hideous truth about North Korea. In her column today, she brings both issues to their inevitable intersection in the moral corruption beneath the U.N.’s rotten foundation. Nowhere is that moral corruption more evident than in the case of its unforgiveable silence about North Korea–precisely the kind of...

Context

With the horrific beheading of Nick Berg, Zarqawi and his merry band of excrement sculptures have put the Abu Ghraib story in its rightful context. We punish depravity; they embody it, videotape it, and broadcast it. Now, Zarqawi has done us the supreme service of switching the reels in our election-year theater. Its us or them. This century or the 12th. Victory or extinction. Open debates about abortion and gay marriage or routine bus bombs and burkas for our daughters....

If You Don’t Have a Case, Try a Smear

Over at NKZone, the Jack Pritchard groupies and Clintonites are attacking the North Korean Freedom Act and the North Korean Human Rights Act as pretexts to open North Korea as a new market for Christian evangelism. Since I’m uniquely free of that purported taint, I went on the counteroffensive on behalf of my Christian bretheren. The new tactic of the appeasers is to label those who are moved to fight patent evil with faith-driven compassion as spiritual junk bond peddlers....

If You Don’t Have a Case, Try a Smear

Over at NKZone, the Jack Pritchard groupies and Clintonites are attacking the North Korean Freedom Act and the North Korean Human Rights Act as pretexts to open North Korea as a new market for Christian evangelism. Since I’m uniquely free of that purported taint, I went on the counteroffensive on behalf of my Christian bretheren. The new tactic of the appeasers is to label those who are moved to fight patent evil with faith-driven compassion as spiritual junk bond peddlers....

If You Don’t Have a Case, Try a Smear

Over at NKZone, the Jack Pritchard groupies and Clintonites are attacking the North Korean Freedom Act and the North Korean Human Rights Act as pretexts to open North Korea as a new market for Christian evangelism. Since I’m uniquely free of that purported taint, I went on the counteroffensive on behalf of my Christian bretheren. The new tactic of the appeasers is to label those who are moved to fight patent evil with faith-driven compassion as spiritual junk bond peddlers....

Back to the Blogosphere

Excuse the long absence and the long rant. I meant to announce my absence in advance, before my move last week, but our Internet service was cut before I expected. I just bought my first house, and since then have been single-handedly helping Home Depot and Lowe’s meet their quarterly sales estimates. Last week was full of heavy lifting, moving, painting, cutting, chiseling, sanding, drywalling, prying, painting, and of course, shopping. Like many of you, I’ve been in a deep...

Back to the Blogosphere

Excuse the long absence and the long rant. I meant to announce my absence in advance, before my move last week, but our Internet service was cut before I expected. I just bought my first house, and since then have been single-handedly helping Home Depot and Lowe’s meet their quarterly sales estimates. Last week was full of heavy lifting, moving, painting, cutting, chiseling, sanding, drywalling, prying, painting, and of course, shopping. Like many of you, I’ve been in a deep...

North Korea Needs a Jewish Voice

What brought me to this cause was my offense that that oxymoron called the “world community” abets genocide. Being an American soldier brought me to Korea, but I can’t deny that being Jewish played some role in bringing me to feel so strongly about it. Don’t Jews have a particular historical responsibility to act at a time like this? It’s especially true now that we have read David Hawk’s report on the concentration camps, the BBC reports on gas chambers,...

More on North Korean Freedom Day

Rebecca at NKZone was challenged on her estimate that 1,000 people were there. While I’d put the number closer to 500-700, there were clearly hundreds of people at the Capitol at the end of the march. Even a thousand people is not a large demonstration by Washington standards, but it’s significant in light of where the nascent movement for human rights in North Korea was a year ago–there wasn’t one. The single most impressive factor was the youthfulness of the...

North Korea Needs a Jewish Voice

What brought me to this cause was my offense that that oxymoron called the “world community” abets genocide. Being an American soldier brought me to Korea, but I can’t deny that being Jewish played some role in bringing me to feel so strongly about it. Don’t Jews have a particular historical responsibility to act at a time like this? It’s especially true now that we have read David Hawk’s report on the concentration camps, the BBC reports on gas chambers,...

More on North Korean Freedom Day

Rebecca at NKZone was challenged on her estimate that 1,000 people were there. While I’d put the number closer to 500-700, there were clearly hundreds of people at the Capitol at the end of the march. Even a thousand people is not a large demonstration by Washington standards, but it’s significant in light of where the nascent movement for human rights in North Korea was a year ago–there wasn’t one. The single most impressive factor was the youthfulness of the...

Good Thing It’s Pure Fiction

I first heard this at the rally, but I had to see it to believe it. North Korea is praising “heroes” in Ryongchon who ran into burning or collapsing buildings–not to save their wives and kids–but to save portraits of the Great Leader, Dear Leader, and Dogs Playing Pool (not really, but wouldn’t that be a better story?). First reaction: as if. Second reaction: even the North Korean people have to quaking with quiet fury when they feel the indignity...

North Korean Freedom Day

Between all of the activities of this day, a full-time job, a family, and closing on a house, it’s been a very busy week. Yes, I was there. There were certainly hundreds of people there, maybe a thousand. I will plead exhaustion for now and just convey a few brief impressions: 1. In spite of 9/11, it’s still astonishingly easy to walk into a Senate office building and personally deliver your views to the most powerful people on earth. 2....

Good Thing It’s Pure Fiction

I first heard this at the rally, but I had to see it to believe it. North Korea is praising “heroes” in Ryongchon who ran into burning or collapsing buildings–not to save their wives and kids–but to save portraits of the Great Leader, Dear Leader, and Dogs Playing Pool (not really, but wouldn’t that be a better story?). First reaction: as if. Second reaction: even the North Korean people have to quaking with quiet fury when they feel the indignity...