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June 12, 2007

Win the Battle, Lose the War: How South Korea’s Brilliant Negotiation Skills May Have Killed the FTA

[Update:   The USTR will reportedly call for renegotiation of the entire deal, in part to make the draft FTA compliant with U.S. labor standards.  More at the bottom of this post.] Absolutely stomach-turning.  After all of the Bush Administration’s brave rhetoric about  “forced labor” and  “material support” for  “atrocities,” it ended up signing a free-trade  agreement that could very well have allowed slave-made, axis-of-evil  Kaesong imports into the United States.  Then, because there was no denying the staggering hypocrisy...

Categories Anju Links/Human Rights/Human Trafficking/NK Economics/U.S. Politics
June 12, 2007

Republicans Rebel on N. Korea Policy, Demand GAO Money Laundering Inquiry

You may recall that in this post and in this piece for Front Page Magazine, I suggested that our own State Deparment’s attempts to return $25 million to the North Korean regime — much or most of it proceeds of crime — could violate U.S. money laundering laws, as well as two U.N. resolutions the United States successfully lobbied for less than a year ago.  As it turns out, great minds think alike. Now, with Russia about to step up...

Categories Counterfeiting/Money Laundering/U.S. Politics
May 14, 2007

FTA Update

The N.Y. Times reports: Peru and Panama are considered most likely to win early Congressional approval. Colombia is more problematic, because Democrats are demanding that, besides the new measures, more protections be added to prevent violence against activists trying to organize workers. The South Korea accord, if put in place, would lead to the largest amount of increased trade. But it is opposed in its current version by Democrats who want greater access to that country’s markets for American beef,...

Categories NK Economics/U.S. Politics
May 7, 2007

So Much for ‘Hawk Engagement:’ Victor Cha Steps Down

The proponent of the “hawk-engagement” theory of North Korea policy looks to be the first casualty of the unraveling of Agreed Framework 2.0.  The AP  tries to shoehorn this into its standard anti-Iraq War meme, but it’s a strained fit for  on Cha,  an architect of  a soft-line diplomatic approach that is clearly failing:  Cha leaves amid concerns over  North Korea’s failure to comply with deadlines to eliminate its nuclear weapons programs.  [AP] Reporter  Matthew Lee’s story is  what you’d...

Categories An Alliance?/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks/U.S. Politics
May 5, 2007

How Feminist Liberalism Supports Misogynist Terror

It’s very simple. Step One, rig a girls’ school with explosives. Step Two, blow up the school and a few dozen little girls, and bask in the fascination (three parts horror, one part masochistic adoration) of news media everywhere. Step Three, wait for for Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and Barbara Boxer to declare you the victor. Wait for atrocities to be rewarded and mass murder to be misdiagnosed as a liberation struggle. Wait for Michael Moore to call you and...

Categories Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics
April 25, 2007

North Korea’s Sponsorship of Terrorist Acts, 1996-2007

As I noted here, at the end of Update 4/24 to my North Korea Freedom Week post, the State Department is now rumored to be seriously considering removing North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. This conflicts with signals State had sent earlier, and as I noted here, would probably trigger a rebellion by conservatives in Congress. With Japan’s Prime Minister set to visit Washington next week, unverified gossip holds that the Bush Administration will put pressure...

Categories Abductions/Appeasement/Japan & Korea/Six-Party Talks/Terrorism (NK)/U.S. Politics/WMD
April 11, 2007

Anju Links for 11 April 2007

*   Are You Effing Kidding Me?   The Bush administration, reversing a six-year-old North Korea policy based on deep mistrust, said it will now rely on Pyongyang’s “good faith” to ensure that funds released yesterday from a Macao bank are not misused…. Mr. McCormack said the North Koreans had promised “to spend the money for the betterment of the North Korean people,” and not for the personal benefit of its officials. [Wash Times] Stupidity with malice aforethought is its...

Categories Activism/Anju Links/Appeasement/Kremlinology/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics
April 8, 2007

Why Moonbats Will Never Run the World

The “Crawford Peace House” run by Kim Jong Il’s unwitting ally, Cindy Sheehan, is the latest victim  of financial irregularities, unmedicated emotion, and  a characteristic  absence of any moral perspective:  “There are people who have said, `Don’t say anything because you’ll hurt the peace movement,’” Oliver said. “But if the peace movement isn’t pure and transparent and holy as it can be at its heart, then it’s just like George Bush:  lying, thieving, conniving, backstabbing bastards.” This is certainly a...

Categories Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics/WTF?
April 8, 2007

John Bolton on Agreed Framework 2.0

“I think this deal will inevitably fail,” Bolton said. “That day cannot come too soon in my view.”  [CBS] That was John Bolton speaking at the American Enterprise Institute on Thursday (I was home sick).   If you were to ask me the reasons why I think AF 2.0 is a flat-out capitulation —  one that will make our world more dangerous,  hurt our friends, and reward our enemies before it fails — all I have to do is look who...

Categories Appeasement/U.S. Politics
April 4, 2007

Richard Lawless Resigns

Lawless was responsible for pushing the South Koreans into USFK restructuring and cost-sharing agreements, and unlike years of predecessors, had been tough enough to sit down and negotiate as firmly as his counterparts.  No one pushed Richard Lawless around.  As a result, the Korean government and press were not fans.  See, e.g., this picture the Joongang Ilbo printed.  “Hulk angry!” Lawless cited personal reasons for his resignation, according to one official. He will leave his post in a few weeks,...

Categories An Alliance?/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/U.S. Politics
April 3, 2007

FTA Hits Opposition in U.S. Congress

The Economist’s blog reports, After a long drawn out, and highly fraught, negotiation that pushed right up against the deadline, America and South Korea have inked a new trade deal. It is the largest America has signed since NAFTA. However, tensions between the Bush administration and resurgent protectionists in America’s new Democratic Congress make it highly uncertain that the pact will be ratified. I don’t yet know if the opposition will be enough to defeat the deal, but some key...

Categories Human Trafficking/Korean Politics/NK Economics/U.S. Politics
April 1, 2007

FTA Agreement Reached FTA Talks Near Failure: The Death of an Alliance, Part 66

[Update 2: Well, as it turns out, the two sides did reach an agreement, although it’s not clear how comprehensive. Both sides — mainly us — made major last-minute concessions. Talks were ongoing until minutes before the legal deadline. Beef tariffs will be phased out over 15 years, which is a long time. (We’ll see if the Koreans actually accept the next shipment.) Korea also gets to protect its rice market. There’s really only one bright spot I can see:...

Categories Anti-Americanism/Korean Politics/NK Economics/The Fifth Column/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Politics
March 31, 2007

An FTA Pre-Post Mortem

At this hour, it looks like free trade talks with South Korea are about to fail, despite their extension for another 48 hours.   It may be  a bit  early for  the Chosun Ilbo  to have  published this post-mortem, but any free-trade agreement we reach now will be unworthy of the name and hardly worth doing from an American perspective.  Yes, I still  believe an US-Korean FTA is a good idea, but it’s pretty hard to  write a good one when...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Politics/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Politics
March 16, 2007

Congressional Conservatives Threaten Rebellion on N. Korea Policy

A reader and friend forwarded me a press release by three conservative Republican members of Congress (thanks), including the Ranking Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.  The press release accompanies a letter that urges “caution” on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in attempting to normalize diplomatic and trade relations with the North too quickly.  The clear subtext is that conservatives think that Rice may not be demanding enough of North Korea in meeting the necessary prerequisites on disarmament, terrorism,...

Categories Appeasement/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks/U.S. Politics