Monthly Archive: September, 2005

UPDATED; scroll down. You haven’t heard the last of this. Call it a prediction. The U.S. media was watching, but (thus far) doesn’t much seem to care. The U.S. government is watching and does. Update on that later. For now, here’s what happened, beginning with pictures from OhMyNews: Much, much more here. Here’s part of : The demonstration started off peacefully with singing, dancing and a speech by Democratic Labor Party central committee member Lee Jeong-mi, but turned violent after...

Norbert has given me permission to print his e-mail in full: Dear Joshua, Thank you for your message! I am in Seoul ~ it worked again like in January after the tsunami when I returned from Indonesia with a Korean medical aid team. This time I came back from the Philippines with another Korean aid team and I got a “final notice” but was allowed to enter the country even when I refused to sign any document. I do not...

The International Herald Tribune has published a new piece on the North Korean refugee who applied to go back to visit his family–the same one Antti blogged about earlier. HT: The Nomad. ________________ The Nomad also links to a Yonhap report on another sad end for a group of nine North Korean refugees in China–including a seven-year-old child and a year-old baby. ________________ After nine painful and nauseating anthrax shots, now they tell us: North Korea Monday denied possessing ‘a...

I’m with Barbara at Quid Nimis. This Flight 93 Memorial concept absolutely sucks. If I’m called up and killed in the war, my only request that my mom and my entire family not turn me into a poster boy for surrender. If I die in a terrorist attack, all I ask is that some scabby hippies with taxpayer funds not cover my grave with the symbology of my murderers. OK, aside from that part about “avenge me–cow after cow, village...

Good News in Japan: Koizumi was reelected in a landslide.

More public outrage at this thing known as an “independent judiciary,” this time in China.

Michael Yon is back with another dispatch from Iraq.

Asked about their preferences for the next president, 30 percent said they support former Prime Minister Goh Kun, while 16 percent backed Grand National Party chairwoman Park Geun-hye. Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-Bak and Unification Minister Chung Dong-young were third and fourth on the list with 15 percent and 10 percent, respectively. (emphasis mine) —The Joongang Ilbo, August 24, 2005 The Grand National Party’s top two contenders for the presidency both owe much to the legacy of Park Chung-Hee. If Ms....

No 9/11 Post Today: I just saw this, and if I said what I’m thinking right now, I’d spend the rest of the year explaining it. No, Curtis LeMay didn’t need a year, but I might. Instead, I’ve opted to calm down, which functionally means “never,” because I will never, ever get over the rage that I felt that day and still feel with equal intensity to this day. And will, forever.

Deceptive Headline of the Month goes to Channel News Asia for this beaut: ” New US human rights envoy suggests food aid weapon against North Korea.” Weapon against whom? The United States has sent food to the North for years, but we’ve never had much confidence that it’s been feeding the intended recipients. Which is why it’s nice that the article finally got around to saying this: Non-governmental groups have accused North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il’s regime of widespread...

Talks Update: Chris Hill is not sounding like the caving-in type today: The United States adopted a tough stand Friday ahead of talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programmes, saying it would not compromise on the hardline communist state’s request to maintain peaceful atomic activities. “Our opposition has been very clear on this. What North Korea has to do is get out of the nuclear business,” said Christopher Hill, the chief US negotiator to the six-party talks due...

More on Food Aid: Another interesting article on NK’s rejection of food aid, which goes into somewhat greater detail than those I’ve linked below. I have a quibble with the reporter, a very nice man who claims to be an OFK regular, who says of Jay Lefkowitz, “His remarks sparked attention because what he said isn’t in line with the state department’s existing policy not to link humanitarian aid with human rights.” Food–specifically, the government’s denial of it to millions...

After thirty years of forced labor in a chicken farm with no chickens, Ko Myung-Sup is home at last. “Happiness was short-lived. Thinking about my beloved wife and kids I left behind in the North, I am only sad with more despair,” said the 62-year-old Ko, speaking in a heavy North Korean accent at a seminar Friday hosted by the main opposition Grand National Party. A key party goal is to push this year for bills aimed at accounting for...

North Korea is reportedly taking out its irritation on South Korean visitors in the Kumgang Mountains. “Tourists who were a little noisy as they were touring the mountains were forced by the guides to write a confession,” says one who recently returned. “Isn’t that too much?” As a public service to anyone stupid enough to ever pay good money for this, I present a photo gallery of Thailand . . . the Land of Smiles!

Antti has a very interesting post up about a North Korean refugee who had the brass balls to go to the NK consulate in Beijing and apply for permission to visit his family. Guess who tried to intervene with the paper to stop the story from being told. You’ll never guess. While you’re at his blog, don’t miss these great old photos of Seoul in the 70’s. If you were stationed at Yongsan, there’s plenty to recognize in there. Plenty...

South Korea Wants a Free Trade Agreement. I’m astonished. That we didn’t already have one, that is.

Tommy Chong, political prisoner.

Here’s some interesting follow-up. Back here, I noted that Dr. Norbert Vollertsen was coming back to Seoul for what looked like a short visit. Of course, Norbert had told some of us that he was actually expelled from Korea for his political activities. I e-mailed him and asked him what the deal was. I will print his full letter when I have his permission, but for now, it does seem that Norbert is back in Korea and will not be...