Monthly Archive: July, 2005

First, I’d like to start by saying that the penultimate paragraph is so dead-on right that it redeems any flaws that I subjectively see in the rest of the piece: All that can be countered by engaging the Roh government in a struggle for the hearts of the South Korean people. The Bush administration can seek to speak directly to ordinary South Koreans about the horrors of Kim Jong Il’s gulag state, explain why the world cannot allow it to...

I haven’t written anything substantial about the terror attacks in London because I just don’t know what I could say that hasn’t already gone through every sane mind in the civilized world. I don’t ask, “Why do they hate us?” I ask, “What the f*uck is wrong with them?” Predictably, OhMyNews brings fevered minds out of their padded cells and onto the Internet, where their stupidity pretty much disproves the silly idea that talking to one another is the key...

This time, a U.S. soldier is involved in an alleged sexual assault. Strangely, the Korean media reaction appears to be uncommonly subdued. Quite uncharacteristically, no one in Korea is prepared to presume guilt before we know all the facts. Some Koreans even appear to be quite understanding about it. Can anyone explain why the Korean media have all suddenly embraced journalistic sobriety and restraint? I mean, Korea sure is quiet without the sound of the lynch mobs. HT: GI Korea.

The North Koreans have reportedly agreed to return this month. If you’re looking for misty expressions of hope, there’s always Dog Stew. To me, the question is whether there will be progress at those talks, and whether North Korea will ever agree to anything verifiable. Again, that means that North Korea will have to compromise substantially on transparency, something I doubt they’re prepared to do. What seems more likely is that recent hints and Bush’s executive order freezing the assets...

We may have our answer. About a week ago, I linked to this report showing a Japanese NGO’s pictures of what appeared to be international food aid for sale in markets in North Korea. I suggested that this was evidence of diversion of food aid, most likely by heartless and corrupt officials. James pointed out that North Koreans sometimes recycle the sacks, which are made of strong fiber. It was a plausible possibility. Today, I finally got around to watching...

The South Korean Human Rights Commission may be focused on haircuts (a wierd photonegative image of another government gone mad with its own intrusive state power), but the Korean government has come to the conclusion that it can no longer ignore the rights of the North Korean people. It was confirmed on July 8 that Cheong Wa Dae formed a special task force team under the Presidential secretarial office for civic and social agendas to precisely grasp the human rights...

Thanks to all of those who e-mailed me links to interesting stories recently. I’ll have to do a carnival-type group posting to discuss all of them. Your contributions, comments, and yes, corrections make this site infintely better than it would be without you. Adrian Hong in The Korea Times Adrian Hong of LiNK forwarded this letter he wrote to the Korea Times. I’m printing every word: I refer to a July 6 article on Page 19 of The Korea Herald...

Kang Chol-Hwan and (tentatively) Dr. Norbert Vollertsen will also speak. The event will take place at Washington’s Mayflower Hotel on July 19th. Full details at Freedom House’s press release. An interview with FH’s North Korea Program Director, Prof. Jae Ku, is here.

I understand that Hitler justly earned his decorations for bravery during the First World War. He built some dandy roads, too. Yet we’re not really debating his legacy. I realize what a cheap piece of political porn the Hitler comparison has become lately, but if you put thousands of innocent people in concentration camps and kill millions more, the comparison is not out of line.

Haircuts–the last atrocity to be exposed by the South Korean Human Rights Commission. Han Man-Taek was not available for comment.

The daughter of a South Korean POW, held in North Korea for 50 years in violation of the armistice for 50 years, has escaped into the South Korean Embassy in Beijing. Jang Young-ok (29), who is a daughter of Korean POW Jang Pan-seon (74) and was detained by a broker organization for North Korean defectors in China, and her son Kang Chang-hyeok (2), successfully entered the Korean Embassy in Beijing on July 2. Thus the six Jang family members, who...

Original Post (0935): When I first reported that The American Enterprise had published an issue focusing on North Korea, I predicted “a panicked reaction in the Korean papers” unless they decided to ingore it. Thus far, that has not happened. Things might be about to change. Examining my visitors’ log today, I saw that KBS, the Korean Embassy, the Chosun Ilbo, and the Joongang Ilbo had been examining the post in great detail. Stay tuned. Update (2240): Well, that didn’t...

First Pakistan, then Libya, and now Iran. Who do we think we’re kidding about red lines? VIENNA (Reuters) – Recent intelligence reports accuse North Korea of secretly helping Iran develop its nuclear program, raising fresh concerns about Pyongyang’s nuclear proliferation and Tehran’s atomic intentions. . . . . “In the late 1990s, cooperation began between the two countries, which focused on nuclear (research and development),” said an intelligence report obtained from a non-U.S. diplomat. “There has been a significant improvement...

A debate I’ve had too many times is the question of whether sanctions against North Korea are counterproductive to the goal of liberalizing North Korea. The “Trojan Horse” theory holds that if only the United States would drop its sanctions against North Korea and trade with the regime, consumer goods, DVDs, and Western culture would flood into the country and gradually reform it. It’s a great idea, actually. I happen to agree that contact with the outside world would have...

In his inaugural address, rules out U.S. military options against N. Korea: President Roh Moo Hyun declared Thursday that under no circumstances would South Korea allow the United States to resort to a military attack against North Korea. Roh made the comment while blaming the nuclear deadlock on the uncompromising attitudes of both North Korea, which he called “the most stubborn country in the world,” and the United States, which he described as the “most opinionated country in the world.”...

From the Joongang Ilbo: Citing interviews with North Korean defectors, a Seoul-based research institute said yesterday that the regime in Pyongyang is continuing an aggressive campaign to suppress underground churches in the country. The 2005 North Korea Human Rights White Paper published by the Korea Institute of National Unification reported a number of executions of religious figures operating underground Protestant churches in the North. In 2001, five people found guilty of conducting missionary work were executed by firing squad in...

Probably the most exciting new source of information about North Korea today is DailyNK, for which I’m honored to be a Correspondent in Washington (I take no credit for making up that title, and of course, it’s unpaid, like all of my activities on North Korea). Information from defectors, of course, comes with special cautions about biases as well as special insight. For all of its occasionally clumsy English (including my own), Daily NK is breaking new ground–by putting North...