Monthly Archive: August, 2005

The online version of the Christian Science Monitor story, which originally stated that South Korea’s Human Rights Commission had endorsed calls to tear down MacArthur’s statue in Incheon, has been corrected: A complaint filed with the quasi-governmental National Human Rights Commission, which is reviewing the statue controversy, condemns MacArthur as “a war criminal who massacred numerous civilians.” The complaint adds, “To induce or force children to respect such a person by erecting a statue of him and teaching them that...

Representative Kim Moon-soo is only in his third term in the National Assembly, something that might have deterred an American couterpart from putting forth so bold a proposal on the most important issue of South Korean diplomacy, economics, politics, and nationhood. Just twenty-nine fellow lawmakers, all from the Grand National Party, co-sponsored his new North Korea human rights bill, suggesting that the GNP leadership continues to suffer some discomfort at Kim Moon-Soo’s brash confrontation of a sensitive and still unpopular...

Kim Moon-Soo is the man who may yet break the drought that has fallen on the bleak political landscape of South Korea, one that for too long seemed to have been divided between opportunistic appeasers and opportunistic reactionaries, each with its own dubious connections to Korean dictatorships that the nation’s history will not view kindly. Charismatic, fiery, and proficient in the use of new media, Kim has emerged as the standard-bearer of the New Right, a new political grouping largely...

I had a long post ready to go on OFK reader and contributor Won-Joon Choe’s new piece in the Christian Science Monitor (with co-author Jack Kim), but Blogger ate the entire entry, and I don’t have the time to rebuild it. It deals mainly with their thoughts on why South Korea doesn’t really mind the idea of a nuclear North Korea–its faith in reunification and belief that even a North Korean nuke is a Korean nuke. They lay responsibility for...

I don’t have one, for reasons I’ll be able to explain later. For now, don’t assume the HRC’s position is as reported.

South Korea’s Minister of Silly Talks, Chung Dong-Young, has opened his mouth again, an occurrence that never seems to end well. This time, he’s left no doubt that South Korea and the United States are much further apart on their positions on North Korean nukes than one would except of nominal allies: Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Wednesday North Korea must have the right to use nuclear energy peacefully for agricultural, medical and power-generation purposes. Chung told the online news...

From the Chosun Ilbo: Chun Man-kyu (49), the head of the residents’ committee, said, “Friday will be a historic day when half a century of shooting at Maehyang-ni stops… The yellow target-practice flag that symbolizes the pain and hurt of residents will disappear and the flag of peace will be hoisted.” Interestingly, Korean Army gunnery ranges appear to lack the same spiritual importance, which is fine, since troops who can’t hit anything aren’t much good in the event of war....

I’ve previously blogged about Deborah Fikes here, and about meeting and talking with her at the Freedom House Conference, here. Now, the New York Times has discovered her Midland Ministerial Alliance, which put on what appears to have been a very substantial event to publicize the same human rights issue that the Times has been ignoring for the most part. As with Nick Kristof’s recent piece, the article manages the difficult balancing act of being both patronizing and envious of...

The American Enterprise Institute’s Nicholas Eberstadt is unimpressed with the latest round of six-party talks with North Korea. After thirteen months of pining for this dead parrot, we returned to the talks to hear an intentionally obtuse new set of North Korean demands–including demands to abrogate our alliance with South Korea (something that we’d more likely do without North Korea getting mixed up in the matter), and to let North Korea keep its reactors for “peaceful” uses. In fact, Eberstadt...

Korean here.

The deconstruction of the South Korean Human Rights Commission continues in the wake of veteran Korea hand Don Kirk’s report that the HRC supports tearing down the General MacArthur statue in Incheon. I have no reason to believe that Kirk would get something this important wrong, but commenter Antti and The Marmot declare themselves incredulous, in part because the HRC didn’t publish a formal statement. [Update 8/14: Kirk and the CSM have corrected the story to reflect that the HRC...

Warning: Following this link and viewing these pictures may cause misconceptions.

The Chosun Ilbo asks why the United States is offering its limited support for nuclear programs in Iran and India, both of which are on the IAEA’s bad boy list, while refusing to allow North Korea any “peaceful” uses of nuclear energy. The headline suggests a code-yellow stupidity alert, but the article turns out to be a fair analysis, if already outdated by events. Confronting the question requires us to suspend all memory of events taking place in North Korea...

Fatal beauty.

Wolf Blitzer, Dumbass. One group that could stand to hire more veterans is the news business. You would think that military experience would be an important qualification for a journalist assigned to cover a war. Lacking that, how is it that CNN has the budget to hire asshats like James Carville and Robert Novak, but apparently can’t afford anyone to teach CTT to reporters who have successfully mastered the journalism programs of America’s top colleges?

[Update: Scroll down and read the updates. Mr. Kirk and the CSM have corrected the story to reflect that the HRC did not actually take such a position. Kirk appear to have quoted the complaint, believing it was the HRC’s own position. Thanks to readers Antti and Aaron for asking the specific questions that caused me to contact Don Kirk and ask him for verification. ] When my wife first showed me the the comments of Prof. Kang Jeong-Ju, South...

Post-Mortem on the Six-Party Talks: My synopsis is here, at NKZone.