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June 25, 2010

Some Korean War Anniversary Links

On this, the 60th anniversary of the Korean War, it’s gratifying to see that not all Korean films are anti-American propaganda harangues: The 15-year-old boy prayed silently beside a freshly dug grave as he and other prisoners waited to be shot by a North Korean firing squad. Kim Man-kyu, barely taller than his M-1 rifle, had fought with other South Korean student volunteers in an 11-hour battle before being captured just weeks into the 1950-53 Korean War. “Suddenly, a fighter...

Categories Korean War
June 24, 2010

Lee, Bush Commemorate 60th Anniversary of the Korean War

Golly, this was a nice thing of President Lee to say: As we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Korean War, I offer our deepest, most sincere gratitude to all the American veterans and their families for what they did. The friendship and bond that we share is reinforced by the strong and robust military alliance, which in turn was the basis for the Republic of Korea’s remarkable twin achievements of the past six decades, namely achieving economic growth and...

Categories An Alliance?/Diplomacy/Korean War/U.S. & Korea
March 26, 2010

Don’t Know Much About History

Just the latest example of historical myopia from the kids in South Korea. As the university was announcing the plans, the Chosun Ilbo reported a Gallup poll in Korea that showed 62.9 percent of teens and 58.2 percent in their 20s did not know when the Korean War broke out. Also, only 43.9 percent of those surveyed said North Korea is to blame for starting the Korean War, with the figure among teenagers 38 percent and 36 percent for 20-somethings....

Categories Anti-Americanism/Korean Education/Korean History/Korean War/U.S. & Korea
March 10, 2010

Newly Released Soviet Report Details Atrocities in North Korea

Something tells me the Putinjugend Nashi web site isn’t going to feature, by popular demand, this newly released 1945 report by a Soviet Lieutenant Colonel who drove through Hwanghae and North and South Pyongyan provinces just after the war’s end. The officer’s detailed, 13-page report on the behavior of Russian soldiers in North Korea makes drunk G.I.’s in Itaewon look like Mormon missionaries by comparison: The handwritten document in Russian was discovered by the Woodrow Wilson International Center, a U.S....

Categories History/Korean History/Russia/Russia & Korea
February 24, 2010

The History of North Korea’s Political Prison Camps

Open News has an interesting history of the camps that, among other interesting educated guesses, suggests that 50% of the largest camps’ (kwan-li-so) population is composed of people who are merely family members of those accused of disloyalty to the state: The North Korean regime, as it consolidated its power, killed religious leaders, the pro-Japanese, and landowners, while imprisoning their family members in the so called “forced labor camps. In 1947, there were 17 of these forced labor camps. Between...

Categories History/Human Rights/The Camps
January 26, 2010

Glenn Beck: “Revolutionary Holocaust”

There’s plenty to criticize in Glenn Beck’s documentary “Revolutionary Holocaust,” starting with Beck himself, whose Obama=Stalin schtick is only the polar opposite of Michael Moore’s reductio ad Hitlerum against Bush. Notwithstanding some of the disturbing associations in Obama’s not-so-distant past, Beck’s comparisons are overwrought and mostly groundless — I’d go as far as entirely groundless but for the fact that Anita Dunn wasn’t canned immediately (or ever) after making this contemptible statement (just imagine the reaction if Karl Rove had...

Categories History
December 29, 2009

Don Kirk’s Korea Betrayed is changing the way I think about Kim Dae Jung

And unless you already believe that DJ was a closet commie, Korea Betrayed might change the way you think, too. Kirk, whose research of his subject is extensive, describes in detail how in his early life, DJ flirted with a number of leftist political organizations and unions, some of which were also linked to North Korea, but none of those associations necessarily linked DJ to the North Koreans. After all, North Korean troops almost shot DJ in 1950, and only...

Categories Books & Films/Korean History/Uncategorized
November 11, 2009

At the New Ledger: Thoughts on the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Sorry for forgetting to link this yesterday. Speaking of Europe, can anyone name one great and positive European contribution to global culture since the end of World War I? After weeks of thought, I’ve come up with just two: the Soviet composers of the 20th Century, and Legos. Sure, I guess it depends on your standards for artistic and cultural merit, but I’ve spent the last month mulling that over and coming up with a nearly blank slate. What also...

Categories Europe/Geopolitics/History
September 4, 2009

The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights Holds a Discussion of its Archives

On August 26, the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) held a discussion about its Archives of North Korean human rights violations. The three-hour event took place at the Korean Bar Association, located near the Seocho subway station in southern Seoul. NKDB has catalogued thousands of incidents from thousands of individuals, and is constantly interviewing recent defectors. In addition, they have a consultation and support program for North Koreans and also for South Koreans who spent time against...

Categories Human Rights/Korean History
August 19, 2009

Color Footage of Seoul, 1938

According to the YouTube caption, this video was taken by Swedish diplomat Thor Wiestlandt in 1938. The caption also diagnoses Wiestlandt with “orientalism,” whatever the f**k that means … probably some hippie sociologist’s P.C. tag for what others might more sensibly explain as interest and curiosity in a foreign culture that your average 1938-model Swede wouldn’t have experienced. Enjoy: And if you wonder why I moderate my comments, just have a gawk at the comments on any YouTube thread for...

Categories Korean History
July 29, 2009

Chosun Ilbo Profiles Hannah Kim

Miss Kim is the very young woman I wrote about the other day who single-handedly obtained a presidential proclamation thanking Korean War vets for their service and honoring the sacrifices of those who died in the war.  The picture accompanying the Chosun’s article confirms that the creator of the proclamation is the same woman I briefly met at a function in Washington about a year ago (also the only time I’ve met Jodi in person). Kim established a group called...

Categories Korean War
May 27, 2009

And in Other News, The Korean War Is On Again

It would be too unfair to entitle this post, “Obama restarts Korean War,” even in jest, but on the other hand, we may now safely abandon all hope that his election would pleasure the world with a gentle warming sensation, release our tensions, and leave us in a state of affectionate post-coital afterglow.  The world does not work that way.  I knew we were in for something like this as soon as Obama threw Kim Jong Il below the fold...

Categories History/Korean History/Korean War/North-South
March 17, 2009

GNP Lawmaker: Roh may have tried to force N. Korean bomber to retract her accusation of Kim Jong Il

I figured we’d find out a lot of disturbing things about Roh Moo Hyun’s strange affinity for the North Korean regime after he left office. This alleged effort to hijack history suggests that that affinity exceeded his affinity for the lives of South Korean airline passengers: The ruling Grand National Party will hold a National Assembly hearing about allegations by the surviving bomber of Korean Air flight 858 that the previous government bullied her into backing a conspiracy theory surrounding...

Categories History/Korean Politics/The Fifth Column