Monthly Archive: October, 2005

The Reality of Famine: This report is two years old, but I don’t recall having seen it before. The witness is a Japanese-Korean who escaped after the last great famine: “In winter during the peak of the famine in 1994, I remember seeing heaps of bodies being thrown off at a station. They had died on the journey. “There were dead bodies everywhere that winter, children, women and especially the old. “The bodies would be left over the winter. The...

I think Andy Jackson, a/k/a the Flying Yangban, has more work for the Human Rights Commission: When my wife and I went up to the loan officer and asked about it. He politely informed us that foreigners can’t get loans. He was so confident in that assertion he didn’t even have to consult anyone. Because my wife isn’t working (baby due in January) she couldn’t get a loan either. I’m dead serious about this. I hope he files a complaint,...

A Chinese warship has aimed one of its guns at a Japanese P-3 near a disputed gas field. I suspect we haven’theard the last of this.

Either you believed North Korea’s markets and food price hikes represented reform, or you believed they represented the state’s attempt to stay ahead of the disintegration of its own failing system. To the extent there was reform, the L.A. Times reports that the experiment appears to be over: SEOUL — Rolling back some of its economic reforms, North Korea is banning the sale of rice and other grains at private markets and strengthening its old communist-style public distribution system under...

As much as I sympathize with the court’s sentiment, this NY Times story suggests activism in the extreme: TOKYO, Sept. 30 – A Japanese court on Friday handed a rare victory to opponents of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visits to a war shrine, ruling that the visits violated Japan’s constitutional separation of religion and the state. Experts said the ruling by the Osaka High Court probably would not force the Japanese prime minister to stop visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, which...

It has all the outward signs of a classic Washington leak: The U.S. Forces Korea are reportedly mulling additional troop cuts after Seoul announced it will trim its own forces down from 680,000 to 500,000 by the year 2020. “When the government announced its plans to cut 180,000 men from the armed forces, the USFK internally started to acknowledge the need for cuts as well,” a high-ranking government source said Monday. The source said there were some among USFK brass...

We are still reaping the harvest of all that sunshine: [Abductee rights activist] Choi Sung-yong said Monday an NIS official told him on Sept. 29 “that my office in Seoul is exposed to a threat of terrorist attacks from North Korea. He said he had information and phone calls from North Korean defectors saying the North is trying to harm me. Choi had several warnings of a possible North-Korean terrorist attack from the NIS, but last week’s warning was the...

A Chinese warship has aimed one of its guns at a Japanese P-3 near a disputed gas field. I suspect we haven’theard the last of this.

Nicholas Eberstadt is no fan of the “breakthrough” agreed statement with North Korea: Contrary to conventional wisdom, which holds the North Korean state to be an unremittingly hostile “negotiating partner,” history actually demonstrates that Pyongyang can be a highly obliging interlocutor under certain very specific conditions. All that is necessary to “get to yes” with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is to concede every important point demanded by the North Korean side while sacrificing vital interests of one’s...

Soon-Hee Park, the refugee who crawled out of North Korea on the stumps of her amputated feet has sent out a letter: “That b***** will try to run away to South Korea unless her feet and calves are rotted and crumbled,” the prison guards used to say while mercilessly striking me. Each time I swore to myself, “I will crawl to the South, if I have to, and tell about today. I will tell all the crimes committed by this...

Norbert Vollertsen sends: The leader of an underground church and his familymembers were arrested last July. The details are as follows: Place: Peeyeong Gun, North Pyongan Province Arrested: Moon, Seong Jeun(age 64), the leader of the church and some or all of his 8 brothers and sisters. Arresting Authority: Local branch of the State Security Agency. Charge: Attempt to overthrow the government. Moon was regarded as the “ringleader of their clandestine activities. Status: Interrogation was nearly completed as of early...

The more I read about Seoul Mayor and presidential aspirant Lee Myung-Bak, the less I like, chiefly because I have absolutely no idea of where the man’s principles or moral center lie. And then, he says stuff like this: Is there some project you are thinking of should you become a presidential candidate? Some are talking about the construction of a “Seoul-Busan Canal” linking the Han and Nakdong rivers. “The biggest problem facing out society at the moment is employment;...

OECD Declares Korea ‘Hub of Inhospitability’ South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun denied the report, claiming that the OECD has simply misunderstood Seoul’s efforts toward peaceful reunification, which Roh claimed had required South Korea to permit itself to be penetrated by an axis of evil. “We believe that if we spin our new ‘Hub-and-Axis policy’ furiously enough, the entire world will eventually be balanced on the center of Korean influence and power,” widely believed to be the Osan Base Exchange.

Of All of Petty Irrelevancies. Well, I propose we file a class action on behalf of all descendents of General Sherman crew members. You know, to make sure we leave no historical grievance unaired. With all the time some people have on their hands, you’d never guess that most of Korea’s land and a third of its people were under the occupation of a Stalinist crime syndicate with nuclear weapons.

“N. Korea Shows Robust Trade Suplus in Chutzpah“

Hyundai Asan Update. We’re starting to learn more about the corruption of Kim Yoon-Kyu, Hyundai Asan’s ousted VP and Kim Jong Il’s favorite business partner: A Hyundai Asan source said, “Last July, during Hyundai Groups internal audits, Kim was accused of 10 instances of malfeasance including receiving kickbacks from construction in Mt.Kumgang, subcontracting corruption related to two joint construction projects and putting exorbitant sums of money on company expenses.” Background here. Expect Kim to get a swift presidential pardon before...

South Korea’s answer to Noam Chomsky, Kang Jeong-Koo, has opened his mouth again: “People say that U.S. intervention saved South Korea from becoming communist — and people say that things turned out well — but the people of Korea liked communism much more than they liked capitalism,” he said. Thanks for clearing that up for us.

China Cracks Down: Daily NK is also reporting a new Chinese crackdown on refugees, with a focus on North Korean military deserters. I would not be surprised if the major focus was on the North Korean officer alleged to have taken that beating video. He might be in a position to authenticate it. A Chinese police officer said, “the surveillance intensified in search for a military possessing a gun whose name is Park 00. It seemed as though he is...