Monthly Archive: July, 2005

The New York Times has it covered (via AP), although aside from South Korea’s now-characteristic and perfectly undiplomatic public demand for Japan not to discuss its abductees, nothing particularly interesting was reported. I’m always watching U.S. “security guarantee” language carefully. Christopher Hill is saying the U.S. has “no intention to invade or attack” North Korea. This, from the Chosun Ilbo, was more interesting, in the context of those bilateral pre-talks non-talks we’re in the habit of having these days: Hill...

The Dong-A Ilbo reports that Hong Seok-Hyun, the Korean Ambassador to the United States, will soon step down over his involvement in a campaign-finance scandal. He was already plagued by a previous tax conviction when he first started the job in February. That’s February of 2005. Update: The Korea Herald explains why the (left-wing) Uri-led government was so quick to throw Amb. Hong out of the lifeboat: Hong was attempting to help funnel money to the (right-wing) Grand National Party,...

The Chosun Ilbo reports that Washington is about to insist on a written commitment by North Korea to complete denuclearization, or else. The three countries will not be content with vague reference to “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” or a preliminary freeze, and Washington and Tokyo have threatened to stop the talks and impose sanctions if no written undertaking is forthcoming. A Korean official said Sunday the goal of the six-party talks was “the dismantling of the North Korean nuclear...

The Japanese NGO RENK, which has scored some incredibly brave video “gets” from inside North Korea, has done it again. They smuggled a videocamera onto a North Korean train and surreptitiously interviewed a North Korean soldier who was being send home to “recover” from malnutrition. Daily NK has the report, with pictures and a partial interview transcript. Rank of the soldier Kim Man Chul interviewed is the lowest one. The North Korean trains have separate cart for civilian passengers and...

While Robert Mugabe is uprooting millions of his people, most nations have become increasingly hesitant to back up his regime, with one notable exception: While the talk is of democracy sweeping the continent, some experts believe that China’s rising influence here may power its blend of free-market dictatorship, particularly among African leaders already reluctant to turn over power democratically. “We might see the Chinese political system appealing to a lot of states whose elites and regimes are more in line...

Perhaps Mao was right about one thing: the cradle of revolution is the peasant class. I have to think that if the crude old thug were still alive today, he’d probably see things the same way. The unrest is neither sporadic nor isolated: Such scenes of frustration are occurring with increasing frequency across rural China as villagers rise up against corruption, pollution and the seizure of land for real estate development. With little faith in local officials or the weak...

There may be dozens of reasons why Koreans and Americans view North Korea so differently, but if you leave the “root causes” argument to another day, the more immediate cause is how the South Korean press covers the issue. Having had a disillusioning view of how the media boloed their coverage of the ADVANCE Democracy Act, I didn’t have terribly high expectations for how the South Korean media would approach a press conference with Natan Sharansky. To some in the...

Aaron Robert Miller, a regular OFK reader and commenter with a very different perspective (much more pro-“engagement” with the N.K. government) than what you regularly read here, has a summary of the entire conference that’s much more comprehensive than my own. He’s posted it on the Korean Cultural Center’s Web site. The Cultural Center is affiliated with the ROK embassy, but Aaron’s views don’t represent those of the ROK government. Aaron has written a very honest and complete summary of...

Japan is making progress–both legal and technological–toward being able to defend itself from North Korean missiles.

I guess it all depends on how it’s said–by North Korea, or by the reporter. It’s not much of a story to me yet, because North Korea has made that demand before, and because the reports I’ve seen on the story don’t mention North Korea offering to sign a formal peace treaty with South Korea or recognize its sovereignty. And of course, what it offers in exchange is to do what it promised to do when it signed the NPT...

There are two other accounts of the Freedom House conference, aside from my own. While I’m stuck in the details of what everyone said (I’ll stay stuck there because that’s the niche I’ve opted to fill), the other reports pan out for the wide-angle view. I recommend both. I can’t figure out what the deal is with cell phones in North Korea these days, but this report suggests that aside from senior officials and those who possess them illegally near...

Those who would prefer not to discuss what the North Korean regime is doing to its own people have sometimes advanced silly and sometimes fevered arguments that human rights advocacy is either a neocon (meaning Jewish) conspiracy or an evangelical enterprise. One author even managed to say both at once, focusing his attack on none other than Natan Sharansky: Who is Mr. Sharansky? He was a Jewish dissident in the former Soviet Union, which former President Ronald Reagan defined as...

Meanwhile, in China, someone is listening to Radio Free Asia’s message: [O]n Maban Mountain in the same province, another North Korean couple had also dug a hole to live in, concealing it with leaves. They hardly expected to remain there for the next seven years, according to another North Korean defector who visited them there. Neither husband nor wife wished to be identified even by a pseudonym. The defector, who asked to be identified by the pseudonym Kim Myung-chul, said...

Update: Welcome Instapundit readers! I started this blog after leaving the Army–including four years in Korea–to practice law in Washington. This blog exists to tell the story of what is happening to the North Korean people, and to remind America and the world of what happened the last time we paid Dane Geld to Kim Jong Il–North Korea walled out the world, squandered its treasury on weapons it had just agreed to give up, and intentionally starved two million of...

Two out of two Koreas agree–all of our disquieting talk about human rights is dashing the soaring hopes of fools on both sides of a great ocean that next week’s six-party talks will be different from all those held since 1993. If your reaction is “six party what?,” don’t feel ashamed. After all, North Korea forgot about them for thirteen months and suddenly agreed to return to them what, a week ago? SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said Wednesday...

As before, LiNK is the youth, the heart, and much of the numerical strength of this small movement. Adrian Hong e-mailed with a link to some great pictures of both the conference and the LiNK protest at the ROK Embassy that afternoon. This picture gives a good idea of the scale of the conference. I might kibbitz with Adrian’s head count, but I don’t disagree that it was a strong success. It likely gave this issue essential momentum and media...

Meanwhile, in China, someone is listening to Radio Free Asia’s message: [O]n Maban Mountain in the same province, another North Korean couple had also dug a hole to live in, concealing it with leaves. They hardly expected to remain there for the next seven years, according to another North Korean defector who visited them there. Neither husband nor wife wished to be identified even by a pseudonym. The defector, who asked to be identified by the pseudonym Kim Myung-chul, said...

This was a Q&A session moderated by Senator Sam Brownback, who can fairly be called North Korea’s most dangerous enemy in the U.S. Congress. Update: After watching this program on C-SPAN’s book TV, I caught a few errors and made corrections to that effect. Please do not mistake this for a verbatim transcript; it’s highly summarized . . . my best effort to be faithful to the ideas conveyed by the speakers. In the case of Mr. Sharansky, I cleaned...