Anju Links for 24 April 08

THAT’S MORE LIKE IT:

South Korean human rights groups said Thursday they will block the Olympic torch relay in protest at China’s alleged human rights violations against Tibetans and North Korean defectors. The torch for the 2008 Beijing Olympics is scheduled to reach South Korea on April 27 and be passed on to North Korea on the following day. It will arrive in Beijing in early May. “We urge China, as a host of the Olympic Games, to abide by the common values of humankind and respect the human rights of the weak,” said Christian Accountability for Society, Save North Korea and Helping Hands Korea in a joint press conference held in front of the World Peace Gate at Seoul’s Olympic Park. “China must stop its forceful repatriation of North Korean refugees and its violent crackdown on Tibetan protestors. [Yonhap]

SPEAKING OF THE CHICOMS SHOOTING THEMSELVES IN THE FEET, I’d say that stories like this aren’t going to do good things for the tourist trade this summer. Not only does it look like a bad time to be a white  person in China, it seems to be an especially bad time to be there if you’re French or want to catch a taxi. It’s been pointed out elsewhere that Olympic protests have given the ChiCom regime propaganda fuel, which is true. But what a gift this regime has for hitting itself when it swings blunt instruments.  The result of the regime’s self-serving incitement  is stories like these, which could crush foreign attendance at the Olympics to an ever greater degree than the protests themselves.  Now watch how quickly the regime cracks down on the new Boxers it has incited.

ANOTHER WAY TO VIEW THIS: watch how much smarter Hu Jintao still is than Roh Moo Hyun, whose own brand of incitement, usually through surrogates within his own party, earned Korea more enduring ill will than his successor will easily overcome.

EXPECT TO HEAR MORE REPORTS of North Korean spy arrests in South Korea. Unfortunately, Yonhap’s report is too badly translated for us to know if that will mean better enforcement or just better publicity.

PYONGYANG SOJU IS ARRIVING in the United States, in spite of the reported arrest of the importer. This is the thin end of the wedge in the State Department’s plan to respond to North Korea’s behavior, no matter how reprehensible and uncooperative, with cash.