31 March 2010
Nearly a year after voting for UNSCR 1874, Russia gets around to implementing anti-proliferation sanctions. Let’s hope that Russia takes enforcement more seriously than China, though I’m not particularly optimistic.
Projection: “The south Korean conservative regime is no more than a marionette as it acts according to the script written by outsiders, bereft of any independence. This reactionary ruling group is bound to go to a ruin any moment as it goes against the requirements of the times and the desire of the people.“
Take a drink!
The imperialists’ loud-mouthed “guarantee of peace” is nothing but a synonym for aggression, war and intervention, it notes, and goes on:
The reality clearly proves that the imperialists never change their aggressive nature and regard it as their physiology to launch a brigandish war of aggression and resort to military blackmail in order to achieve their avaricious and hegemonic aims. There is no change in the real nature of imperialism in the past or in that of modern imperialism. If there be any change, imperialism has become craftier and more vicious and diverse in its methods of aggression and plunder.
Their “peace” ballad is just like a sort of narcotic to create illusions among people. [KCNA]
Funny thing is, John Feffer and Christine Ahn are probably the only two people in America talking about that now.
[T]he Central Party carefully monitors the public sentiment “missing the time of the Great Leader. One party official in Pyongyang commented that “in times of the Arduous March, many people yearned for the Great Leader’s time. Since 2000, the Central Party has absolutely prohibited such public sentiment because it means we are doing worse than the period of the Great Leader. Thus, it is a real problem that such public sentiment is arising again.” [Good Friends]
The Korea Herald: “N. Korea Hints at Continued Uranium Enrichment.” But isn’t this all a mistranslation? Isn’t this really just another case of the neocons in the Obama Administration banging their war-drums to justify their hard-line policies and enrich the military-industrial complex? I’ll let you cogitate on that on your own.
I almost had to duct-tape my head together before writing that — aside from the cheap attempts to blame President Lee for the Cheonan incident — I agreed with much of what Kim Jong Dae writes here in the Hankyoreh about reforming the ROK military registered with me:
But there is one truth that we must face squarely with this incident. Not long ago, when the crashes of an air force fighter and an army helicopter took place in succession, I had a vague sense of unease about the South Korean military. This continuation of incidents where vessels that leaked and should have been repaired instead were sent into action and sank provides concrete confirmation of a deep-rooted vice that runs through all branches of the military.
This vice is the disappearance of humanism from national defense. We are witnessing a phenomenon in which “internal risks” that have grown as antiquated equipment remains in operation without being screened out are now threatening human lives. What is the real reason that the military possesses weapons that have passed through their life cycle? It stems from an obsession with maintaining numbers. If the numbers of weapons drop, the number of units and personnel must also drop, so each branch considers such a drop in weapons numbers taboo. The results have been a paradox in which internal risks become greater than the threat of the enemy. [Kim Jong Dae, The Hanky]
Let me admit up front that I may be reading too much into the word “humanism,” but it suggests one of the things I learned in the Army that I’ve tried very hard to carry into civilian life: the culture of officers and NCO’s caring about the welfare of their soldiers. That’s a key part of the morale and unit cohesion of our professional army, and it’s what kept the Army glued together with high reenlistment rates through the recent wars. In my many conversations with ROK soldiers, I did not get the impression that they felt valued or cared for by their officers and NCO’s. The only cohesion was among soldiers of equal rank, which may be a function of Confucian culture, but isn’t enough to hold a unit together under the stress of severe combat.
The flaw in Kim’s argument is that this isn’t a Lee Myung Bak problem, but one that persisted during the liberal presidencies of Kim Dae Jun and Roh Moo Hyun. It’s firmly rooted in the ROK military’s culture.
Kim goes on to criticize the MOD for overspending on new weapons. My own observation, admittedly a few years old now, is that the ROK military does have a lot of old equipment that needs replacing and adds to its maintenance burden. On the other hand, when I read about South Korea embarking on expensive R&D programs for indigenous weapons systems, I always doubt that South Korea will build or export enough of those fancy new toys for it to be worth the expense. But I’m sure it’s great for Korea’s national pride.
You’re dead on in the last paragraph. That’s my exact impression from being an exchange student with the ROKAF. Heck, they only started issuing Kevlar helmets in the last 2-3 years but are spending tons of money on the new K-2 tank. The older K-1A1 way overmatches any nK tank (or Chinese one for that matter).
The ROKAF for its part looses pilots at an alarming rate because of the way they are treated. For example, when we lived in a ROKAF apartment it was 600 sq ft. They also have to pay most of their PCS costs of out their own pockets and they PCS almost every year. But it’s not just the money-from what I understand, it’s mostly that they can’t stand working for incompetent superiors. The ROKAF system promotes mostly on the basis of interpersonal skills, not leadership and technical competence. I’ve met many a ROKAF O-5/6 who despite being fighter pilots, know very little about the employment of airpower.
Knowing how Korea works, they most likely were NOT promoted on the basis of “interpersonal skills” but on the basis of what Elementary, Middle or High School they went to or what university they graduated from (if not from the Academy).
Hey Josh,
You can get drunk on me. Here is a list of every mention of “Brigandish” used by KCNA since 1996: http://tinyurl.com/yja8l57. This will take several bottles of Soju.
-Curtis
Maybe they have become so dependent on Uncle Sam being there that the need to upgrade equipment and infastructure does not compare to the need to stroke an ego that likes very much to be petted. As you implied, it would be very unlikely for ROK to have a big enough market demand for indigenous Korean made weapon based systems abroad.
Off topic, but still just as relevant – has the Obama administration found a way to get fuel and food to NK’s vulnerable yet?!
Irene: thanks for the “relevant” question. Can YOU suggest a way to get fuel and food to NK’s vulnerable? Surely you realize that simply letting the NK regime handle distribution means that the regime distributes as they see fit, first to soldiers and party loyal, primarily to prop up the regime, and that the regime has a proven track record of not using donated fuel and food to increase the quality of lives of the vulnerable, but instead uses it to siphon off the small amount they would otherwise use to import food to instead build weapons of mass destruction.
Given this situation, where fuel and food given to the regime doesn’t help the vulnerable, but only prolongs the regime, thereby actually HURTING the vulnerable, and given that the regime won’t allow fuel and food to be distributed directly to the vulernable by international organizations, what is your specific suggestion for the administration?
Thank you.
PS: I think the comments to the other post were closed largely to protect you.
Right now, I feel even tinier than any politician or government – but surely we (the USA) can try to find a “creative” way, given the technology at our disposal, classified and otherwise – just some food for thought, Biff and shouldn’t this be a priority in an agressive humanitarian approach to denuclearising the Korean peninsula aka undermining the present regime and its “stabilzation” strategy that you and “everyone” refers to – how about thinking ouside of the box, for once, especially with respect to this entity we call NK?
[OFK: Comment edited. Last warning: I’m not interested in hosting personal arguments here.]
Fully agree with the last post, there is simply NO point sending fuel and food to NK because it only ends up with crooks and government gansters. That is exactly the problem. It’s not like no one has ever contemplated sending food, as a matter of fact, SK provided the Norks with a blank cheque for over 8 years and see how that’s been ‘reciprocated’ : missile tests, nuclear tests, closing tourist sites and for good measure shooting an actual tourist. Kaesong is a case in point too.
Just best to ignore the muppets in Pyongyang and hope they all go to hell one day. It will happen, just have to be a bit more patient, especially the North Korean people. But the good thing is, most of the people don’t buy the Great Leader crap anymore, and have better access to markets than 10 years ago. Patience then.
Apologies… wrong thread.
Double apologies, right thread.
Irene, if you REALLY want to help the victims of Jucheism, then donate to the Christian missionaries risking their life on the Sino-Korean border who assist defectors ensnared by human trafficking, those who brave border crossings to smuggle in humanitarian assistance, and the intrepid defectors who launch helium balloons with Gospel leaflets into the DPRK. Not a penny of your donations will fall into the hands of the KWP, the KPA, or any ‘relevant organ’ of the DPRK. It will all go to free North Korean victims of Juche.
I am beginning to wonder if I am sitting on elbow here… wot’s happened to my remark asking [Irene] why she should expect others to finance her generosity?
Here’s an example of how foreign governments show their gratitude for $1 billion of US aid. And, in shameless self-publicity, here a tale of what happened to another aid programme.
Thanks KCJ, as a private citizen, I have, as much as I’m able – the question is, if Carter can raise over $30 million for the Cambodian refugees why can’t the “other” democrats, including the present “leader”?
In addition to KCJ’s and biff’s advice, it would pay everybody who feels the need to post handwringing comments here to first really read up on the 10+year timeline of outside efforts to aid the vulnerable in North Korea and the regime’s abuse and obstruction of that work.