Diplomacy – Page 35

July 3, 2007

Anju Links for 7/3

Forgive the light blogging of late, the result of competing obligations, a bigger project I hope you’ll see here soon, and frankly, a lack of interesting fodder in the news recently. * When I read that South Korea was already preparing to ship fuel oil to North Korea (see also), even before Yongbyong is shut down, I thought that seemed a bit overconfident. AF 2.0, as explained by Chris Hill to the Congress, specified that the first 50,000-ton delivery...

An Alliance?/Anju Links/Appeasement

June 25, 2007

House Moves to Cut Funds for UNDP, Human Rights Council

Each entity has recently brought particular discredit on itself, and in each case, there is a North Korea nexus. The UNDP recently failed a UN internal audit after U.S. diplomats outed the organization for allowing its Pyongyang operations to become, as a U.N. staffer put it, “an ATM machine” for the regime. It turns out that North Korea used some of the funds to buy overseas real estate and dual-use equipment, and that the U.N. even had a stock of...

"United" Nations/Famine & Food Aid/Human Rights/Korean Education

June 24, 2007

Vanishing Goalposts and a Fool’s Errand

The minute we have bilateral talks, the six-party talks will unwind. That’s exactly what Kim Jong Il wants. — George W. Bush seemed to understand the stupidity of holding both multilateral and bilateral talks with North Korea when John Kerry was proposing them back in 2004. To truly discredit that idea, however, Bush had to flip-flop and try it on himself. Now we know what the worst of both worlds looks like. First, we got together with the representatives of...

Anju Links/Appeasement/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks/WMD

June 16, 2007

Dude, Where’s My Spine? Agreed Framework 2.0 at Four Months

Yesterday, the press reported that after months of multilateral bungling, we had finally transferred either 20 or 25 million dollars of frozen assets to the disposal of Kim Jong Il for whatever purposes he chooses. Those assets had gathered in a shady Macau Bank known as Banco Delta Asia until September 2005, when the Treasury Department published an interim rule noting that they were, in large part, laundered proceeds of counterfeiting and drug dealing. Does anyone think Kim’s purposes will...

Appeasement/Six-Party Talks/WMD

June 7, 2007

More Missile Launches

The news is breaking over the TV that North Korea has launched more short-range missiles. A cry for help, no doubt. Could it be more obvious that AF 2.0 will not work unless North Korea has a fundamental change of attitude, and that North Korea has not yet had that epiphany? Update

Diplomacy/WMD

June 1, 2007

‘[W]e believed the United Nations could save us.’

I wonder how many mass graves could be marked with those words. That quote — it would be funny, though epitaphs seldom are — comes from this testimonial of a Yodok survivor, via the International Herald Tribune. In 1999, a group of seven North Koreans fleeing their country was intercepted in Russia. The Russian authorities, rejecting appeals from the United Nations and human rights groups, sent them to China. China returned them to North Korea. In the ensuing uproar...

"United" Nations/Human Rights/Refugees

May 29, 2007

Wachovia Backs Off of North Korea Funds Transfer

State must really regret having let the Banco Delta issue enter the mainstream of our nuclear diplomacy with the North Koreans. What a terrifically mangled excuse it has become for North Korea’s nonperformance. The United States believes a banking dispute blocking a nuclear disarmament accord will drag on and has pressed North Korea to start shutting its reactor in return for a firm US promise of a solution, a report said Monday. [AFP] This is just odd. You’d think that...

Appeasement/Diplomacy/Money Laundering

May 21, 2007

Frostbrain

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A snag in what is probably the easiest phase of the North Korea nuclear agreement has sparked new criticism of the Bush administration but U.S. officials appear committed to pursuing a solution, even if it reverses previous policy. More than a month after Pyongyang was due to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear complex under a Feb 13 deal, it has not done so, insisting it first receive $25 million in once-frozen accounts. “It’s tricky but I think...

Appeasement/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks

May 14, 2007

One Man’s Diplomacy Is Another Man’s Conspiracy (or Chris Hill, Call Your Lawyer)

Whoever [in the United States or in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States] knowingly engages or attempts to engage in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000 and is derived from specified unlawful activity, shall be punished as provided in subsection (b). — So here’s something I though I’d never see: U.S. government officials more-or-less openly engaging in a conspiracy that would land anyone else in a federal prison for...

Appeasement/Money Laundering/Six-Party Talks

May 14, 2007

Surprisingly Strong Criticism of AF 2.0 on WaPo, NYT Editorial Pages

It’s a surprising reversal to see the Washington Post in particular speaking so critically of the results of something for which it spent so many years and so much ink advocating. North Korea first made clear that it would take no action until the banking issue was settled by the unfreezing of its accounts. The administration conceded that. Then Pyongyang demanded all of its money back, including that linked to criminal activity. Again, the administration gave in; on April 10,...

Appeasement/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks

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...

An Alliance?/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks/U.S. Politics

May 6, 2007

North Korea Demands That U.S. Launder Its Counterfeiting Money

What do you get for making concessions to North Korea? Demands for even more ridiculous concessions! North Korea has demanded the United States allow it to open an account at a bank in New York and its funds at a Macau bank be transferred there, a Japanese daily reported in Sunday. …. “The United States hurt the credibility of North Korea by imposing financial sanctions. The United States must correct this,” the source quoted an unnamed North Korean official as...

Appeasement/Diplomacy

May 5, 2007

A Denuclearization Agreement, But Without the ‘Denuclearization’ Part

It’s Day 21 since Peace in Our Time Day, and here’s the latest “peace in our time” update: Yonbyong is running; no IAEA inspectors have gone to North Korea and none have been invited; there have been no substantive six-party sessions since March; North Korea denies having the uranium program it previously admitted; North Korea may or may not be running away with the ransom in dirty money that held this deal up, even though it wasn’t part of the...

Appeasement/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks/Uncategorized

May 5, 2007

Who Still Wants the Alliance?

Because of Agreed Framework 2.0, South Korea thinks it’s set for the duration of the Bush Administration — which it is — so it now feels free to demand our taxpayer dollars rather than ask for them politely. There are unpleasantries like Washington’s decision to sell off its ammunition stockpiles in Korea, but no matter; South Korea is certain war will never come (no, we still can’t leave). South Korea also feels free to ignore our requests not to give...

An Alliance?/Diplomacy

May 2, 2007

Anju Links for 2 May 2007: North Korea Denies Abducting Any S. Koreans, May Day in Kaesong, and North Koreans’ Growing Meth Problem

* It has now been 18 days since North Korea violated all of the denuclearization commitments to which it agreed last February. I blame Bill Richardson, who obviously must have said something tactless and belligerent while being led around the deck of the U.S.S. Pueblo. It’s time for us to get serious about diplomacy and offer some carrots. How many of our soldiers’ lives is Catalina Island really worth? How many times must the canonballs fly, Bill? * ...

Anju Links/Diplomacy/Drugs & N Korea/Geopolitics/Human Trafficking/Inside NK/Six-Party Talks

April 26, 2007

Anju Links for 26 April: Who’s Afraid of Victor Cha, and the Sexual Psychology of Military Parades

* It has now been 13 days since April 13th, the day North Korea was supposed to have shut down the Yongbyon reactor, begun discussions on the full extent of its nuclear weapons and programs, invited in U.N. inspectors, and rejoined six-party talks (to include actually talking). North Korea has (surprise!) broken every one of those agreements. Victor Cha has since reportedly warned them that our patience is limited. So in Pyongyang they ask …. * Or Else,...

Abductions/America/Japan & Korea/Refugees/Six-Party Talks/Southeast Asia/Terrorism (NK)/Terrorism/Iraq/WMD

April 25, 2007

Anju Links for 25 April 2007: The Children of Arirang, Questions About Treasury’s WMD Sanctions, and More Blackmail Boasts from Pyongyang

* Arirang, Child Exploitation Tourism: Haven’t you ever wondered about how such young children are taught such precise choreography, and why those robotic smiles are frozen on their little faces? The reality of Arirang is different however, according to vivid testimony of the parents whose children participate in the performance. Their children’s eyes are tense after robust mechanical drilling by their director. The training period for the Arirang is over 6 months. Particularly delicate dancing or movement may require training...

"United" Nations/Human Rights/Human Trafficking/WMD