Monthly Archive: October, 2005

As Carlos Mencia would ask, “Why the F*ck Is this News?” Perhaps because this ranks as one of the most significant measurable accomplishments of eight years of appeasing North Korea: WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) — A group of South and North Korean diplomats had a rare meeting at a restaurant in Washington on Thursday, according to sources. . . . . The diplomats from the two Koreas agreed to make joint efforts for the peaceful solution to the nuclear crisis,...

Hu Jintao is in North Korea, along with his Foreign Minister.

This interview was conducted entirely by e-mail because Norbert moves around so much. I believe he’s been in Pakistan helping earthquake victims there, or had at least been planning to do so with the Korean Medical Assocation, as he did after the Tsunami in January. Unfortunately, my e-mail truncated my last few questions, including the ones where I asked what was about to go down during the Arirang Festival up in the Emerald City. I’ve asked that question, and a...

First, I strongly recommend Andy Jackson’s district-by-district rundown of this week’s bi-elections at The Marmot’s Hole, although I could summarize by saying that, the Uri and DLP lost everywhere they should have won, and also lost everywhere else. Here’s a breakdown of the composition of the new National Assembly: 144 Uri Party (leftist) 127 Grand National Party (conservative) 11 Democratic Party (fmr. Millenium Democratic Party, center-left) 9 Democratic Labor Party (stark-raving pinkos) 3 United Liberal Democrats 5 Independents ———————————————————————- 150...

If this happened, it will cost people their lives. If it was intentional, the person did it should be shot: The personal information of thousands of North Korean defectors living in South Korea has been revealed, hurting their remaining family members in the North, according to a petition filed at the National Human Rights Commission of South Korea. The commission announced on October 27 that Han Chang Gwon (44), the executive director of the Gyorye Missionary Society (a North Korean...

Donga Ilbo on the American Backlash: You’ve read it all here before, but just in case you’re wondering if anyone in Korea has noticed, here is your answer: There are signs of anti-Korean sentiment among Washington D.C. intellectuals. Unprecedented mockery and criticism against Korea has appeared, and anti-Korean sentiment, usually seen among Republicans, is showing signs of spreading to Democrats as well. Even pro-Korean people do not deny the recent spread of anti-Korean sentiment in Washington. I see Hillary Clinton...

As Carlos Mencia would ask, “Why the F*ck Is this News?” Perhaps because this ranks as one of the most significant measurable accomplishments of eight years of appeasing North Korea: WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) — A group of South and North Korean diplomats had a rare meeting at a restaurant in Washington on Thursday, according to sources. . . . . The diplomats from the two Koreas agreed to make joint efforts for the peaceful solution to the nuclear crisis,...

Hu Jintao is in North Korea, along with his Foreign Minister.

This interview was conducted entirely by e-mail because Norbert moves around so much. I believe he’s been in Pakistan helping earthquake victims there, or had at least been planning to do so with the Korean Medical Assocation, as he did after the Tsunami in January. Unfortunately, my e-mail truncated my last few questions, including the ones where I asked what was about to go down during the Arirang Festival up in the Emerald City. I’ve asked that question, and a...

It Was a Busy Day Today. But you’ll get your money’s worth yet. Check back tomorrow and I’ll have an interview with Norbert Vollertsen up. What he calls his “Germanenglish” needs some edits.

The proper rejoinder to the plaintive whine, “Why do they hate us?” is “Are they nuts?” The Chosun Ilbo is the latest publication to beg the question after attending the international propaganda fiasco known as “Arirang.” In this case, the answer probably has a lot to do with the participants’ sheer terror of making the slightest mistake. The show aims to convince the audience that ruler Kim Jong Il and his late father, Kim Il Sung, have brought peace and...

Shame on Roh Moo Hyun for yet another act of historic moral cowardice. Can I say this really surprises me? I mean, are you surprised? The bright side to this, if there is one, is that there’s a rapidly growing audience watching it all. Someone in South Korea must make a national issue of the human cost of appeasement. Someone must do what is right today, rather than rue this day before the next “Truth Commission” fifty years hence. Meanwhile,...

N. Korean Man in Mexico to Seek Asylum in the United States The Hankuk Ilbo report said the 46-year-old man, who escaped from North Korea into China and then to Mexico, said he planned either to apply for refugee status at an American consulate there or cross the border illegally. If the man decides to apply for asylum, his would be the first such application since the passage of U.S. legislation intended to ease the way for North Koreans seeking...

When I say reliable, you’re just going to have to trust me on this, because this person, M, has received the full Judith Miller no-rat guarantee. This person is telling the truth, and has a sufficient basis of knowledge to know what the truth is. M is a member of a Christian charity who recently returned from North Korea. The charity has multiple facilities that produce and/or distribute food. Recently, the charity was informed by the NK authorities that most...

They’ll get three when this translates to action, but a new draft U.N. resolution, to be introduced to the General Assembly by the EU at the end of this month, is an outstanding new beginning after years of failure: The draft resolution, exclusively obtained by the Chosun Ilbo, expressed serious concern about North Korea’s rejection of UN humanitarian deliveries from the end of the year and urges the North to give humanitarian groups full access to the country so they...

Latest Bi-Election Results–Another Uri Beating: Uri has lost all 4 seats that were up for grabs, 2 of which changed hands from Uri to GNP. In a likely upset, the far-left Democratic Labor Party appears to have lost a seat in a working-class area of Ulsan to the GNP. The results almost certainly marked the second successive lockout for President Roh Moo-hyun’s Uri Party in by-elections. In April, six vacant seats were contested; the Grand National Party won five, stripping...

Hwang Jang Yop Calls for One Free Korea: Mr. Hwang noted that it took the South decades to surpass the North economically but the North needed only five years to “occupy the ideological encampment” of the South. Warning that Seoul needed to recognize the North’s true strategy, he said it was time to raise the issue of North Korean human rights while working toward unification.

Does anyone still remember the Millenium Democratic Party?