Monthly Archive: February, 2006

Yoduk Story’s web site is still down. [Update: Brendan Brown reports no problems accessing the site from Korea, but I’m still not getting in from the U.S. Odd.] Meanwhile, pro-North Korean professor Kang Jeong-Koo (Remember him? He called the North Korean invasion of June 1950 a “War for Reunification” and General MacArthur a “war criminal”) has been suspended from giving lectures, not for reasons related to academic standards–the man teaches things that are demonstrably false–but because his views embarrassed the...

Yes, Muslims follows the Old Testament. Now, check this out–the most inflammatory of the “cartoons” was fabricated from a photograph of a French pig-calling contest, by a Muslim imam. It would be funnier if people weren’t dying over it. Those who brought forward the lie are a body among yourselves: think it not to be an evil to you; On the contrary it is good for you: to every man among them (will come the punishment) of the sin that...

Found here.

Things will get much worse with North Korea within the next 30 days. How do I know? Because things will be much worse with Iran within the next 30 days. These things always seem to work in tandem.

[Post moved up] OFK, Jan. 20, ’05: “Down with Kim Jong-il! Let’s all rise to drive out the dictatorial regime!” OFK, Dec. 12, ’05: The North Korean Revolution, Coming Soon to a Border Post Near You. Donga Ilbo, Feb. 7 ’06: North Korean Border Posts Attacked Did I just feel the earth twitch? Unidentified armed men carried out a series of attacks on North Korean border guards along the country’s border with China right before the lunar New Year, according...

First, the obvious: the prognosis is bleak for the six-party talks. This from Democratic staffer Frank Januzzi. Januzzi spins this as Congress and the President (read: Republicans) avoiding responsibility, but a much more likely explanation is that Congress hates the deal so much that it won’t appropriate the funds to buy tribute for Pyongyang, particularly without forthcoming admissions about uranium and counterfeiting. You can’t blame any political party for North Korea’s intransigence and dishonesty. The same argument can be reversed:...

Daily NK on Child Slavery Anti-Slavery International’s Norma Kang Muico talks about child slave labor in North Korea in the Daily NK, an online newspaper written and edited primarily by North Korean defectors. _____________ China, Our Strategic Partner, Part I The deputy editor of Chinese newspaper the Taizhou Evening News, Wu Xianghu, has died of a beating allegedly carried out by police, a report said. The 41-year-old was beaten in October when about 50 police officers stormed the newspaper’s offices...

The ROK National Assembly has rejected “strategic flexibility” for the USFK, thereby depriving the Pentagon of any basis for a USFK budget request for FY’08. Seriously. Why appropriate funds for a part of your military that you can’t even use?

Amidst all the shouting over North Korea’s counterfeiting and denials thereof, and how it could all spoil our six-party warm fuzzies, one can almost forget that North Korea still denies even having a uranium enrichment program. Some apologists continue to buy into the North Korean version in spite of evidence proving the contrary beyond any reasonable doubt. Richardson patiently, methodically delivers a lethal fisking to Tim Beal.

Answering thuggishness with masochism. It makes me feel ill. (Original Post here, where I asked whether Europe can defend its liberal values.) Update: The Big Hominid gives us 100% fatwa fearless parodies. When the milk stops coming out of your nose, read this. Kevin’s take on the Great Cartoon War of 2006 may be the best I’ve seen anywhere on the blogosphere. Update 2: At last! Intelligent life!

A tip of my hat to the Nomad for pointing out this series in the World Peace Herald, which I’m obliged to point out was founded by the Rev. Sun Myung-Moon. The Rev. Moon, as regular readers know, has gone from uncompromising right-wing cold warrior to being one of Kim Jong Il’s favorite investors. Moon purchased a large parcel of land near Pyongyang for his own personal Vatican (fourth item) and even signed a deal to build a ski resort...

Spotted in Seoul: Brack Power condoms! Found at the photo album of Newley Purnell.

South Korea’s intel chief is wrestling with the fact that even his own agency has previously found that North Korea is counterfeiting U.S. currency. As I predicted, fear of offending Kim Jong Il triumphs over facts that not even the puppetmasters in Beijing can deny. Seoul is now back to pretending not to be sure.

North Korea is accusing the United States of nuclear proliferation.

Although I’m a fan of departing USFK Commanding General Leon LaPorte, I think he’s fallen victim to the bureaucratic tendency to preserve and expand one’s own organization while missing the fact that the same tendency may work against the whole government’s greater good: The outgoing commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, Gen. Leon LaPorte, on Friday called on supporters of the Korea-U.S. alliance to speak out. LaPorte warned the alliance faces difficulties ahead in both countries from those who think...

I’ll just let you read this entire piece and ponder the following: How long will Sin Gwang Su be treated like a hero in Pyongyang, now that the word is out that he fingered the Dear Leader himself under questioning? How forthcoming were the South Koreans with this information? Have the North Koreans admitted to abducting this poor soul? Sin entered Japan in a spy ship on the coast of Miyazaki Prefecture in April 1980 and kidnapped Hara, who was...

The low characters of the Muslim world are rioting and burning while their statist overlords quietly applaud, titter, and observe from their balconies. In response to cartoons drawn by Danish artists, printed in a Danish newspapers distributed in Denmark, and as a protest against the very portrayals of Islam (and its prophet) the defenders of the faith set out with such determination to reinforce. . . . Caricature (ht Gaijin Biker): Reality (ht Small Wars Journal): The charicature is relative...