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Monthly Archive: May, 2011

May 25, 2011

On Behalf of Freedom and Human Rights for North Koreans

There are a handful of NKHR-related events going on the next few days in Seoul.  Of particular interest may be the last one on Saturday evening, at which two South Korean college students who happen to be former North Korean refugees will talk about their experiences and share their opinions.  There also is a concert at the National Assembly’s Memorial Hall on Thursday afternoon, a documentary screening Friday night (in Korean – alas, no subtitles), and a flea market fundraiser...

Categories Human Rights/Refugees
May 25, 2011

Defectors Accuse North Korea of Killing Handicapped Kids

I have no way of knowing whether reports like this can be true, but one thing I can say with confidence is that the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, and Jimmy Carter will not demand an independent investigation to find out: Free North Korea Radio, run by North Korean defectors, reported last Tuesday on the murderous acts toward disabled children by the country’s own government. Disabled children who are born in the city of Pyongyang are taken...

Categories Activism/Human Rights/The Camps
May 20, 2011

Close Kaesong, Then Pass the FTA

I’m a fan of the Heritage Foundation’s Bruce Klingner, consider him a friend, and can’t remember the last time I disagreed with him about anything, but when he writes, using unusually strong language, that the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement won’t help North Korea, I continue to harbor doubts. First, North Korea has become adept at selling its products under false labels. Second, some South Koreans — including some who could end up governing South Korea after the 2013 elections...

Categories NK Economics/Sanctions/U.S. & Korea
May 18, 2011

Open Sources: The Rodney Dangerfield of American Politics

That would be Jimmy Carter, who having recently snubbed by Kim Jong Il and Lee Myung Bak, gets no respect from Hillary Clinton. _____________________________________ So, the North Koreans are unhappy with Fox News for reporting that North Korea is growing more dope than ever, and we get to witness a case study of how North Korea strong-arms foreign journalists (I use the term loosely). Personally, I’m a little hesitant to endorse the conclusion that North Korea is increasing the production...

Categories Anju Links
May 16, 2011

U.N. Report Implicates China in N. Korea-Iran Missile Transfers; China Tries to Block Said Report

If Iran, Iraq, and North Korea are an Axis of Evil, then China must be the Limited-Slip Differential of the Axis of Evil: North Korea and Iran appear to have been regularly exchanging ballistic missile technology in violation of U.N. sanctions, according to a confidential U.N. report obtained by Reuters on Saturday. The report said the illicit technology transfers had “trans-shipment through a neighboring third country.” That country was China, several diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity. [Reuters] China...

Categories "United" Nations/Axis of Evil/China/Missiles/Proliferation/WMD
May 10, 2011

Committee for Human Rights in N. Korea to Release Report on Abductions

I’ll simply post the press release and let it speak for itself: Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 1725 Eye (I) Street, NW “¢ Suite 300 “¢ Washington, DC 20006 “¢ (202) 349-3830 www.hrnk.org PRESS RELEASE ****For Immediate Release**** On Thursday, the Washington-based bipartisan Committee for Human Rights in North Korea will release an extraordinary report, “TAKEN! North Korea’s Criminal Abduction of Citizens of Other Countries. The report, three years in the making, is based on numerous sources never...

Categories Abductions/Activism/Anju Links/Human Rights
May 9, 2011

See, kids? I told you marijuana was bad for you!

There’s no audio, so you can’t hear him singing along to “Sugar Magnolia” and barking at his wives for more potato chips: At the risk of starting a global conspiracy theory here and now, this video looks like it could have been made at a homeless shelter in Oakland. OK, maybe none of the neighbors really did know they were living next to the world’s most wanted mass murderer, but anyone who got a look at this dude ought to...

Categories Terrorism/Iraq
May 7, 2011

Too Little, Too Late, But Better than Nothing: Amnesty International on North Korea’s Political Prison Camps

Six years after it breathlessly declared Guantanamo Bay “the gulag of our time,” Amnesty International has gotten around to concluding that North Korea “can no longer deny the undeniable:” “These are places out of sight of the rest of the world, where almost the entire range of human rights protections that international law has tried to set up for last 60 years are ignored. “As North Korea seems to be moving towards a new leader in Kim Jong-un and a...

Categories Activism/Human Rights/The Camps
May 3, 2011

Learn about North Korean Human Rights Crisis at JFNK Volunteer Orientation

For those of you in Korea, if you don’t know much about the human rights crisis that is North Korea (and spilling into China and South Korea) and/or if you want to learn how to get involved, there’s a great opportunity for you this Saturday in English or next Saturday in Korean (please encourage your Korean friends. coworkers, students to attend!). I volunteer with Justice for North Korea, and we’re holding our third round of informational orientation sessions for volunteers...

Categories Activism/Defectors/Human Rights/Refugees
May 2, 2011

Osama Bin Laden Thread

Just a few observations: 1. It’s particularly satisfying in some evil way to think of Osama bin Laden not as “elusive” or “shadowy,” but as “shark food.” 2. I don’t think the location where bin Laden was hiding leaves any question that Pakistan was sheltering him. This wasn’t some mountain cave in the tribal territories that the Pakistani government doesn’t control. It was a house near a military academy in a town right near Islamabad. I was on the fence...

Categories Terrorism/Iraq
May 1, 2011

Announcing the Jimmy Carter-Kim Jong Il Habitat Foundation*

Hello, Jimmy Carter here. Some of you may remember me for my successful negotiations that preceded the freeing of American hostages from our embassy in Iran, brought peace to the Middle East and free elections to China, and secured the peaceful nuclear disarmament of North Korea. But of course, you say, I’m remembered for something else, too — for my tireless campaigning on behalf of the downtrodden and oppressed everywhere from 1973 to 1975, and since 1983. As my covenant...

Categories Humor/Satire/Useful Idiocy