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Monthly Archive: May, 2009

May 11, 2009

John Kerry: Clueless About North Korea

History will deservedly remember John Kerry as a failed poseur, a man too self-important and detestable to unseat George W. Bush in 2004, and one of my least favorite American politicians of all time.  We are still burdened with Kerry as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in which capacity he spirited the incompetent and congenital liar Christopher Hill to confirmation as the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq.  In that capacity, Kerry seems to have learned much from the nominee’s...

Categories Diplomacy/U.S. Politics
May 10, 2009

N.Y. Times: It’s Safe to Ignore North Korea Again!

It’s odd, though, how my mind can’t let go of what’s gone down the New York Times memory hole — alarmist warnings about North Korean nukes, peddled with the meme that George W. Bush transformed a contained North Korea into a grave national security threat.   I still remember Nick Kristof warning us of a nuclear 9/11 if the Bush Administration failed to appease North Korea with aid, in the same way that worked so brilliantly for Roh Moo Hyun. ...

Categories Media Criticism/Proliferation/WMD
May 8, 2009

China’s “missing women phenomenon” fueling bride trafficking of North Korean refugees

I’ve been reading a few of the articles to come out of North Korea Freedom Week which was April 26-May 2 in Washington, D.C. and among them was particular story focusing on the bride trafficking industry in China. Not surprisingly, China’s history of favoring baby boys over girls, coupled with its one child policy, has resulted in a severe shortage of women for a generation of bachelors. This shortage is referred to as “the missing women phenomenon” by the World...

Categories Human Trafficking
May 6, 2009

Silent vs. Vocal Diplomacy: More Thoughts on How the State Department is Approaching the Saberi and Lee-Ling Hostage Cases

[OFK:  It’s my great honor to present this first guest post from Jodi, formerly the author one of my very favorite K-blogs, The Asia Pages.  The end of the Asia Pages left many of us missing the warmth, compassion, honesty, and elegance of Jodi’s writing. I hope this will be just the first of many posts, and I hope you’ll join me in welcoming her.] The United States is in an uncomfortable position: Three of its reporters have been detained...

Categories Diplomacy
May 6, 2009

Oberdorfer to Be Inducted Into Irrational Exuberance Hall of Fame

I like Don Oberdorfer as a person, but he really should ask the Council on Foreign Relations to put this link in a more obscure place: This morning when I turned on the BBC, the newscast started by saying that the last days of the Cold War may be near. They were talking about the developments regarding North Korea at the Six-Party Talks and signing of the latest agreement between North and South Korea looking toward an eventual peace treaty,...

Categories Washington Views
May 5, 2009

South Korea: Always There When They Need Us

South Korea, whose main contribution to the war in Afghanistan so far has been to pay the Taliban a $20 million ransom, has ruled out sending troops there to help fight them. Who still thinks that the unsound fundamentals of the US-ROK alliance have suddenly renewed under President Lee, or doubts that Lee’s decision was an acknowledgement of the anti-American sentiments of South Korean voters, sentiments that can only remain latent for so long?  Who still thinks that Obama’s election...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/ROK Military/U.S. & Korea
May 4, 2009

N. Korea: Obama Just Like Bush!

Someone still isn’t feeling the hope and change: North Korea blasted U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday as no different from his predecessor in trying to “stifle” countries that are uncooperative with the U.S., referring to Washington’s move to punish Pyongyang’s rocket launch.  [….] “With nothing can the U.S. justify such illegal provocation as forcing the UNSC to table the issue of the DPRK’s (North Korea) launch of a satellite for peaceful purposes and issue ‘a presidential statement,’” the North’s...

Categories "United" Nations/Diplomacy/Japan/Missiles/Proliferation/U.S. Politics
May 4, 2009

ROK Navy Saves N. Korean Freighter from Pirate Attack

The spirit of 2000 isn’t quite dead yet: A South Korean naval unit rescued a North Korean freighter from being hijacked by suspected pirates in Somali waters on Monday, a Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official said. The incident, which took place at 5:40 a.m. (Somali time) 37 km south of the Yemeni port city of Aden, came amid chilled relations between the Koreas that have been technically at war for over five decades.  [Yonhap] The freighter arrived safely in...

Categories Humor/Satire/North-South
May 3, 2009

A Redefined Alliance With South Korea as Necessary as Ever

I can’t resist returning to the Weekly Standard piece I linked here to quote one very interesting passage for special mention.  After calling for a strengthening of our military alliance with Japan, it says: Second, we should redefine our alliance with South Korea. The North’s primary threat to the South is its arsenal of hundreds of artillery systems that could devastate Seoul. Rather than a U.S. presence that still includes ground forces, the primary focus of our military cooperation with...

Categories An Alliance?/U.S. & Korea
May 2, 2009

N.Y. Times: It’s Safe to Ignore North Korea Again!

It’s odd, though, how my mind my mind can’t let go of what’s gone down the New York Times memory hole — alarmist warnings about North Korean nukes, peddled with the meme that George W. Bush transformed a contained North Korea into a grave national security threat. I remember Nick Kristof warning us of a nuclear 9/11 if the Bush Administration failed to appease North Korea with aid, in the same way that worked so brilliantly for Roh Moo Hyun,...

Categories Media Criticism/Proliferation/WMD
May 2, 2009

At The New Ledger: On the New Hostage Diplomacy

I have a new piece up at The New Ledger: As President Barack Obama basks in the adoration of the media, the captivity of three of their colleagues — one in Iran and two in North Korea — now looks very much like a calculated test of whether terrorism will be restored to its former place as a tolerated method of diplomacy. The new administration’s reaction thus far has seemed paralyzed and unprepared for the test that Joe Biden, after...

Categories Media Criticism/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics
May 2, 2009

Obama Policy Watch: Reality Sinking In?

There have been several signs this week that the Obama Administration is reaching an early recognition of the realities that eluded the Bush Administration for most of its two terms. Recent statements from the new administration reflect a growing acknowledgment that unconditional aid and easy concessions have failed as tools for the “management” of Kim Jong Il. That acknowledgment would not have been possible without the inspiration of Kim Jong Il. I will give you some quotes, and then I’ll...

Categories U.S. Politics/Washington Views
May 1, 2009

But at Least They Didn’t Waterboard Her

You need to see the picture to believe this. Bang had formerly been an actress with the propaganda squad of the Musan Mine. She fled the North with her children when her husband starved to death in 2002, but soon fell victim to human traffickers. She was arrested by Chinese police and was sent back to the North, where she was tortured. In 2004, she escaped again. Bang testified that one 21-year-old pregnant woman who had fled to China and...

Categories Human Rights
May 1, 2009

All About Kim Jong Un

Ken Gause may be the best open-source expert on North Korean kremlinology who writes in the English language, and he has an extensive survey of what we know about Kim Jong Un at Foreign Policy: In February 2009, Yonhap reported that Jang (director of the KWP’s Administrative Department, which oversees much of North Korea’s security apparatus) had shifted his support to Kim Jong-un in light of Kim Jong Il’s “special affection” for his third son and out of consideration for...

Categories Kremlinology
May 1, 2009

NOOOOO!

Chung Dong-young, the former DP presidential candidate who lost to President Lee Myung-bak in 2007 in the presidential race, will now represent Deokji in Jeonju, North Jeolla. Following his defeat against Lee Myung-bak in 2007, a power struggle with the Democratic Party and his subsequent defection, Chung has scored a successful political comeback with 72.3 percent of the vote. [Joongang Ilbo] This, of course, follows Chung’s much-discussed failure to be named to the National Defense Committee after March’s Supreme Peoples’...

Categories Korean Politics