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Monthly Archive: February, 2007

February 4, 2007

So Much for a DPRK-Friendly Congress

They’re only bills, so I wouldn’t make too much of them yet …. WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (Yonhap) — U.S. legislators resubmitted resolutions to the new Congress demanding the return of an American naval vessel seized by North Korea and imposition of higher tariffs on imports from non-market economies, including the communist country. Rep. John Salazar (D-Colorado) introduced House Resolution 91 dated Jan. 23 that calls for the return of the U.S.S. Pueblo, a 906-ton naval intelligence ship which was attacked...

Categories Washington Views
February 4, 2007

“Koryo Is Our Land!”

The original photo:  “Mount Paektu Is Our Land!” Photoshop Number One:  “Koryo Is  Chinese Land!” I don’t endorse the claim for an instant, but I can’t deny  some enjoyment at watching the  panicky retreat from Korean nationalists’ latest classless stunt.   Unlike the case with Tokdo, the Koreans have a great deal of their nationhood invested in Mount Paektu.  It would be unbecoming of them to  be as  cowardly in  any real dispute about  Paekdu as they’ve been furious over...

Categories China & Korea/Korean Society
February 4, 2007

Giving Up on the U.N.

Fred Fry has concluded that the U.N. will never do anything to save the North Korean people, and he  thinks it’s time for us to quit expecting otherwise.  He makes a compelling case, and  I’ve cited and quoted  plenty of the sources he quotes.  It’s not a case I can really refute. And still, I hold out hope.  First, some credit is due; the U.N. World Food Program probably did save many lives with its feeding operations between 1998 and...

Categories Famine & Food Aid
February 4, 2007

Meet Lee Won-Bok, the Julius Streicher of Korea

Update 2:   Reading Monnara is translating the entire chapter;  stop by regularly  if your stomach can handle it.   Update:   I’ve just gone though Sonagi’s Flickr page  (see also), and I feel physically ill.  I don’t think I’ve seen anything  this venemous emerging from the civilized  world since the 1930’s, although if you’ve studied the history of those times, it will look more than vaguely  familiar:  the Jews control Hollywood and the media, control all of our foreign policy...

Categories Korean Society
February 4, 2007

Wobble Watch

“Since North Korea conducted a nuclear test, it no longer has the right to the peaceful use of nuclear power,” said the official closely involved in six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, speaking on condition that he not be identified. “It is impossible, and illegal according to international laws, to negotiate nuclear cooperation with a country that does not have the right” to peacefully use nuclear power, he said. It is not wobbly.  Moreover, and remarkably, this statement came from “a senior...

Categories Six-Party Talks
February 3, 2007

Sand???

A sand supplier under virtual control of the North Korean army has notified its South Korean customers that the price of sand exported to South Korea would be going up by 60 percent. On Thursday, the Korea International Trade Association, the Korean Aggregates Association and importers of North Korean sand said that the North recently sent an unexpected notice that it would raise the price of sand next month by W900 (US$1=W937) from US$1.6 (W1,500) to 2 euros (W2,400) per...

Categories NK Economics/NK Military
February 3, 2007

Here Comes the Election!

Update: I’ve been expecting this, and I expect more of it: There is a fourth reason why the P.P. [the new leftist party that will officially replace Uri this month] will recover considerable support, and it’s the timeless appeal of nationalism, particularly in Korea (ht). The P.P. leaders, Comrade Chung and (especially) Kim Geun Tae, show no sign of any ethical, political, or financial restraints to stop them from setting new lows in crass appeals to those sentiments, to include...

Categories Anti-Americanism/Korean Politics/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/UCMJ & SOFA
February 3, 2007

Canadian Report Accuses Chinese Military of Large-Scale Organ-Harvesting

You will recall that last year, the Falun Gong-linked Epoch Times accused the Chinese government of harvesting the organs of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners at a hospital in a place called  Sujiatun.  The story emerged just as Chinese dictator Hu Jin Tao was packing his bags for a trip to Washington.  Eager to avoid diplomatic disaster,* the U.S. Embassy collected a team to inspect the site; after a few days, the Chinese let them in.  Initially, they reported “no...

Categories China/Human Rights
February 3, 2007

Diverted N. Korean Food Aid Traced to Single Recipient

Update 2/5/07: The Joongang Ilbo thinks Kim Jong Nam is on the clock for his father after all: While staying abroad, Jong-nam has been reporting back to his father on the situation here and in the United States,” the source said. “What is important is that he has been allowed by his father to make contact with people from South Korea and the United States at will. This, from an unnamed source. It’s a terrific argument for keeping that $25...

Categories China & Korea/Kim Jong Il/Kremlinology
February 2, 2007

Kim Geun Tae Tourette’s Watch

“Defection is an act of treason against democracy,” Mr. Kim said. He speaks  as an  authority on the subject, of course. This being an election year, I think this has the potential to become a regular feature.  The goal here is to provide a deep enough data pool to support  medical science’s first known  DSM-IV certifiable  diagnosis by a lawyer with no formal education in psychology. You, too, can be a part of medical history.  Submit your entries to onefreekorea@yahoo.com.

Categories Korean Politics
February 2, 2007

Jay Kim’s Irreconcilible Differences

With some Americans disturbing calm waters with the suggestion of an “alliance at risk,” Korea thinks it has found a man — a “former Korean congressman” — who can quietly bridge our widening differences: A former Korean-American congressman launched on Thursday a forum led by first-generation figures like himself to help advance Korea-U.S. relations. Chang-jun “Jay” Kim said the Washington Korea-U.S. Forum will start with 16 participants who are professionally active in political, economic, judicial and academic fields and have...

Categories America/An Alliance?/U.S. & Korea/Washington Views
February 1, 2007

Axis, Schmaxis (6)

North Korea and Iran are cooperating in developing long-range missiles, the deputy director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency said yesterday. Army Brig. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly said during a speech that North Korea test fired a long-range Taepodong missile in July, and Iran is working on a space launcher that would help develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that could hit the U.S. “Not only North Korea, but Iran has shown some significant developments in their [own] missile systems,” Gen....

Categories Axis of Evil/Iran/WMD
February 1, 2007

Czechs End N. Korea Slave Trade

Czech authorities have decided to end the practice of having North Koreans work in Czech factories under what one human rights organization has described as “slave” conditions. “We have decided not to offer new work visas to North Korean citizens and not to prolong the existing visas,” the Interior Ministry official responsible for asylum and migration policy, Tomas Haisman, said in an interview. The ministry announced the decision, citing October’s U.N. resolution condemning and imposing sanctions on Pyongyang because of...

Categories Europe/Human Rights/Human Trafficking
February 1, 2007

Remarkable Sky News Video of the Underground Railroad

Hundreds of refugees are risking their lives attempting to escape a brutal existence in North Korea. Sky News Asia correspondent Peter Sharp reports from China’s northern border where a savage winter is providing an impetus for an exodus of the weak and vulnerable: Hunger is stalking the bleak, windswept hills of North Korea. And for some of  the long-suffering residents of Kim Jong-il’s hermit kingdom it has  proved the final straw.  [read the rest] You can see the video here;...

Categories Famine & Food Aid/Refugees