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Category: Diplomacy

February 5, 2006

Springtime in the Gulag: S. Korean Gov’t Says Play ‘Dwells Too Heavily on Negative Aspects’ of Concentration Camp Life

Update: Welcome Instapundit readers! So it has come to this: it is no longer legal to criticize the human rights record of North Korea in Seoul, South Korea. For those who would defy the rising vicarious control of North Korea’s Ministry of Public Security on the streets of Seoul, here is what happens next: A planned musical about human rights abuses in North Korea’s Yoduk concentration camp has run into massive obstacles, not least from officials fearful of upsetting the...

Categories Appeasement/Censorship
June 27, 2005

THE PRICE OF A NUCLEAR FREE NORTH KOREA & REUNIFICATION

A major justification of South Korea’s unification policy is that by continuing to help North Korea, through the “Sunshine Policy,” they are facilitating both an atmosphere conducive to good relations and a way to help North Korea rebuild itself. The idea is that if North Korea is more prosperous, it will be able to rebuild some of its own infrastructure, thus reducing the cost of reunification in the future. Besides overlooking the glaringly obvious fact that if North Korea is...

Categories Appeasement/NK Economics/Six-Party Talks
June 24, 2005

U.S. CALLING CHINA TO THE COURT – WILL IT DO ANY GOOD?

Today’s Washington Post has the story, “U.S. Says China Should Prod N. Korea on Talks,” which does report the president’s position, even if trying to blame him at the same time; The Bush administration blamed China yesterday for not doing enough to cajole North Korea back to nuclear talks… Undersecretary of State Robert Joseph, who recently replaced John R. Bolton… said China, which is a close ally of North Korea and which supplies the impoverished state with oil and food,...

Categories China/Six-Party Talks
June 23, 2005

SIX-PARTY TALKS – TALKS ARE CHEAP

Kwon Ho-ung, the chief North Korean delegate in Seoul for Cabinet-level talks, today echoed comments made by Kim Jong-il to South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, on 17 June, concerning North Korea’s willingness to return to talks, and ultimately to give up nuclear weapons. A South Korean spokesman quoted the Northern delegation as having stated: “If the United States treats the North in a friendly manner, we will possess not one nuclear weapon. Kim Jong-il reportedly said that if the...

Categories Six-Party Talks
June 20, 2005

SIX-PARTY TALKS HOPES – DEJA VU, AGAIN

Once again South Korean hopes have been raised that the Six-Party Talks will soon re-start, again. On 17 June, Kim Jong-il told South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young that ““ if the U.S. “recognizes and respects“ North Korea — talks could begin by July. I am not sure how many times we have been down this path since it is nearly pointless to keep count. The U.S. position has stayed the same: talks should begin immediately, and without pre-conditions. By...

Categories Six-Party Talks