Monthly Archive: January, 2005

Dr. Norbert Vollertsen writes to report yesteday’s events as part of the Korean Medical Association medical relief team in Aceh, Indonesia: Having completed our tour, we (the first KEMAT) left Banda-Aceh and arrived at Hanlim(?) military airport near Jakarta at around 6 PM today on an Indonesian military plane, fatigued but thankful. The return trip from Banda Aceh was equally dramatic as the trip to it. We were scheduled to leave at 8 AM, but when we actually took off...

Another e-mail report from Norbert with the Korean medical team in Aceh, Indonesia: Today, we were again divided into three units with the first unit at the ER of Fakinah Hopsital of Matai refugee camp treating about 50 patients with internal and dermatological symptoms. Aspiration pneumonia, for one thing, is under control with ample supply of right medicines brought from Korea. The second unit worked also inside the Matai refugee camp treating about 100 people. Many were with external wounds...

Surgeon General’s Warning: Holding your breath while awaiting apologies from nuclear-armed Asian septuagenarians may be hazardous to your health. Insert your own “hey, what are you smoking?” reference here. Say the Grand National Party’s own Beijing Four ©: We demand apology and punishment of those responsible for the sabotage of South Korean lawmakers’ press conference with the int’l media. On Jan. 12 (Wed), 2005, at a conference room on the 2nd floor of the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel in Beijing,...

Another e-mail report from Norbert with the Korean medical team in Aceh, Indonesia: Today, we were again divided into three units with the first unit at the ER of Fakinah Hopsital of Matai refugee camp treating about 50 patients with internal and dermatological symptoms. Aspiration pneumonia, for one thing, is under control with ample supply of right medicines brought from Korea. The second unit worked also inside the Matai refugee camp treating about 100 people. Many were with external wounds...

Another e-mail report from Norbert with the Korean medical team in Aceh, Indonesia: Today, we were again divided into three units with the first unit at the ER of Fakinah Hopsital of Matai refugee camp treating about 50 patients with internal and dermatological symptoms. Aspiration pneumonia, for one thing, is under control with ample supply of right medicines brought from Korea. The second unit worked also inside the Matai refugee camp treating about 100 people. Many were with external wounds...

Surgeon General’s Warning: Holding your breath while awaiting apologies from nuclear-armed Asian septuagenarians may be hazardous to your health. Insert your own “hey, what are you smoking?” reference here. Say the Grand National Party’s own Beijing Four ©: We demand apology and punishment of those responsible for the sabotage of South Korean lawmakers’ press conference with the int’l media. On Jan. 12 (Wed), 2005, at a conference room on the 2nd floor of the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel in Beijing,...

So what was I-just-saying? This was in my in-box from Norbert Vollertsen and Douglas Shin today: FOUR SK PARLIAMENTARIANS FROM THE OPPOSITION PARTY WERE TO SPEAK ON NK HUMAN RIGHTS AND NK REFUGEES AT A FIVE-STAR HOTEL MEETING ROOM IN BEIJING. (See the bottom for press head-up.) Before 2PM, several men in plainclothes demanded that the press conference be stopped as it did not receive [Ministry of Foreign Affairs] approval. They refused to identify themselves. Right after Rep. Kim Moon-soo...

So what was I-just-saying? This was in my in-box from Norbert Vollertsen and Douglas Shin today: FOUR SK PARLIAMENTARIANS FROM THE OPPOSITION PARTY WERE TO SPEAK ON NK HUMAN RIGHTS AND NK REFUGEES AT A FIVE-STAR HOTEL MEETING ROOM IN BEIJING. (See the bottom for press head-up.) Before 2PM, several men in plainclothes demanded that the press conference be stopped as it did not receive [Ministry of Foreign Affairs] approval. They refused to identify themselves. Right after Rep. Kim Moon-soo...

Hu Jintao is a fascist tool, and yes, those are official results. I’d hoped to offer you comments that are more, umm, reasoned and nuanced, but my kids have other plans. If you want the long version, check out this must-see series in the New York Times, called China’s Great Divide (registration required but free). I love it–the New York Times pushing class warfare against the plutocratic Maoist mandarins. Delicious.

Dr. Norbert Vollertsen, who is volunteering his services to help the Acehnese as part of the Korean Medical Association contingent, writes to update us on his activities. He includes contact info if you want to assist or donate–and he has pictures! Hope they won’t crash my site, but here goes: Contact info of Korean Medical Association relief team in Banda-Aceh/Jakarta whom Dr. V is with: +82 11 792 6908 (mobile roamed from Korea) (Maybe +62) (0)868-1212-7826 (satellite phone) Ms. Yoon...

Hu Jintao is a fascist tool, and yes, those are official results. I’d hoped to offer you comments that are more, umm, reasoned and nuanced, but my kids have other plans. If you want the long version, check out this must-see series in the New York Times, called China’s Great Divide (registration required but free). I love it–the New York Times pushing class warfare against the plutocratic Maoist mandarins. Delicious.

Rev. Shin e-mailed today to announce a press conference in Beijing(!): Four SK parliamentarians from the opposition party will be speaking on NK human rights and NK refugees Time: 2 PM, Wednesday, January 12, 2005 Place: Hibiscus Room (2nd Fl.), Great Wall Sheraton Hotel By Reps. Kim Moon-Soo, Choi Byung-Gook, Bae Il-Do, and Park Seung-Hwan (All from Grand National Party) Subject matter: Yanji trip (Mon-Tue), SK Consulate visit to talk to more than 100 NK refugees there (Wed), and Weifang...

Dr. Norbert Vollertsen, who is volunteering his services to help the Acehnese as part of the Korean Medical Association contingent, writes to update us on his activities. He includes contact info if you want to assist or donate–and he has pictures! Hope they won’t crash my site, but here goes: Contact info of Korean Medical Association relief team in Banda-Aceh/Jakarta whom Dr. V is with: +82 11 792 6908 (mobile roamed from Korea) (Maybe +62) (0)868-1212-7826 (satellite phone) Ms. Yoon...

Rev. Shin e-mailed today to announce a press conference in Beijing(!): Four SK parliamentarians from the opposition party will be speaking on NK human rights and NK refugees Time: 2 PM, Wednesday, January 12, 2005 Place: Hibiscus Room (2nd Fl.), Great Wall Sheraton Hotel By Reps. Kim Moon-Soo, Choi Byung-Gook, Bae Il-Do, and Park Seung-Hwan (All from Grand National Party) Subject matter: Yanji trip (Mon-Tue), SK Consulate visit to talk to more than 100 NK refugees there (Wed), and Weifang...

Traffic has quadrupled at this site in the last few days (yesterday was an all-time high, thanks!)which may explain why the site is loading so slowly. A commenter gently chides me that it’s probably because I’ve posted to so many images from other low-bandwidth sites–the ones that are sucking up the bandwidth are from the KFA, thus ending the ethical dilemna–so I’ll see if changing them to links will improve matters. Unfortunately, blogger won’t even let me get into the...

Amnesty for Kim Jong Il? I wholeheartedly endorse the Marmot’s response to Prof. Andrei Lankov’s proposal to offer Kim Jong Il amnesty. The promise, of course, would be illusory even if it were advisable to throw away the deterrent value of a potential prosecution, even if that value may pale in comparison to the countervailing deterrent of the lynch mob he most fears. In a sense, the reasoning mirrors the debate on giving terrorists full POW status, something to which...

LiNK News: The Yangban reports on their meeting in Seoul. More about LiNK here.

What Not to Buy: Via the Nomad, Kaesong “peace pots” will be labelled “Made in DPRK.” Why am I so suspicious? This guy, in part.