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September 3, 2006

Breaking the Blockade

[Update: Andrei Lankov has a must-read piece on radio broadcasting in the Asia Times Online.] Where there is demand, there will be a supply, and the trickle of alternative information to North Korea, though small, shows signs of persistence and of having a receptive market. In addition to Radio Free NK and Open Radio for North Korea, there is now a Japan-based broadcaster, Shiokaze. The DailyNK interviews its director. Although their original focus is on sending messages to Japanese abductees,...

Categories Abductions/Activism/Appeasement/Censorship/Democracy/Japan & Korea/Reconstruction/Refugees/Resistance/Uncategorized
August 31, 2006

TKL Interview with Chuck Downs on the Alliance, Diplomacy, Nukes, and Why Kim Jong Il Tested Those Missiles

[Update 2: Thanks to the reader who pointed out that I had accidentally disabled the comments! That’s fixed now; please submit any questions or comments you have.] [Update: This post will “stick” at the top of the page for a couple of days; scroll down for new entries.] Chuck Downs is an author, independent consultant, and former Pentagon official who frequently appears on television news programs to discuss North Korea policy. He has held a number of important positions in...

Categories An Alliance?/China & Korea/Geopolitics/Japan & Korea/Kim Jong Il/Korean Politics/Kremlinology/NK Military/Six-Party Talks/U.S. & Korea/Washington Views/WMD
August 8, 2006

Kim Jong Il Unplugged, Part 3

Two interesting reports from the region this week. One is this report that Japan is considering money laundering sanctions against North Korea, similar to those the United States has used with apparent success. There is also a new report that China, directly confronted by U.S. satellite photos, forced the cancellation of a flight that was to have carried North Korean missile parts to Iran. While I doubt China would sign on to a general boycott or sanctions effort, China is...

Categories Axis of Evil/China/China & Korea/Iran/Japan/Japan & Korea/NK Economics
July 27, 2006

Someone Call Guiness; Ask for the ‘Most Chutzpah’ Desk

[Update: Perfectly on cue, North Korea accuses Israel of “barbaric genocide.” There are times I think they read this blog.] “[This] is a reckless act, an inhumane act unprecedented in the world, and a dire human right violation!” We’re referring to none of the things that have probably crossed your mind by now, but Japan’s decision to deny entry visas to five North Koreans who sought to retrieve the remains of relatives who died in Japan 60+ years ago, and...

Categories "United" Nations/History/Japan & Korea/Unintended Humor
July 21, 2006

‘Truly Evil’

Not starving millions of your own people to build missiles for attacking cities in other nations, but the idea that one of those nations might try to protect its citizens from them. There’s only one way I can make that statement remotely comprehensible — by recalling that Roh won’t protect his own citizens. Just as a reminder, we have 30,000 troops in Roh’s country, with a resulting defense cost savings of $60 billion a year. I wonder how much of...

Categories Appeasement/Japan/Japan & Korea/U.S. & Korea/WMD
July 17, 2006

Japan Considers New Sanctions on N. Korea

These would be severe: Tokyo may ban cash remittances and freeze assets held by North Korea in Japan, according to local media. A ban on bilateral trade is also under consideration. Japan is in a foul mood over North Korea’s threats, and it appears dissatisfied with the limited sanctions imposed by the U.N. Japan has recently coordinated its actions closely with the United States, which causes one to wonder what additional measures the U.S. will impose, and whether it will...

Categories Japan/Japan & Korea/NK Economics/WMD
July 9, 2006

Or Else, What?

Update: Or else, we’ll give you a time-out! Even a very angry letter seems too much for the “United” Nations, an institution whose very name moves it into laughingstock territory these days. South Korea nearly managed to say nothing for a whole week, but then broke its silence long enough to play the role of dutiful North Korean enabler and Chinese lap-dog, opposing any binding sanctions. Americans are entitled to wonder why their soldiers are in harm’s way to protect...

Categories "United" Nations/Appeasement/China & Korea/Diplomacy/Japan & Korea/U.S. & Korea
July 5, 2006

Hey! Over Here!

I suspect South Korea will be in political paralysis and disarray for at least several days with respect to the future of the Sunshine Policy. Clearly, it’s much harder to justify changing North Korea though unconditional aid than it was last week. Whether Roh still clings to his demand to keep Kaesong in the FTA will be a crucial test. After billions in aid, South Korea still lacked the influence to get back its kidnapped citizens, reduce tensions along the...

Categories Appeasement/Japan & Korea/Korean Politics/U.S. & Korea
June 29, 2006

Just Don’t Call Them Reunions

[Update: This picture from the Chosun Ilbo, taken as Kim watches his family leave Kumgang, says it all.] I sometimes get e-mails from a liberal NGO, asking me to support its North Korean family reunion project. These always leave me feeling divided, because I know for a fact that some of those involved are completely sincere in their concern for the people in North and their relatives on the outside. But then, I see how those reunions always turn out,...

Categories Abductions/Appeasement/Japan/Japan & Korea
June 20, 2006

The End of Sunshine?

[Update 6/20: As predicted, the North Koreans aren’t taking this well.] “We have the right to speak.” — North Korean government official, talking about South Korean politics Has international pressure has finally forced South Korea to abandon years of official apathy about the phobocracy that is North Korea? Finally, South Korea declares, it will ask the North to treat the lives of its people with a modicum of respect.

Categories Activism/Europe/Human Rights/Japan/Japan & Korea/Korean Politics/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/Uncategorized
May 17, 2006

The UniFiction Church Choir

Progress at Last! The last seven years of the Sunshine policy have finally secured a legacy Roh can campaign on. Goodbye “sea of fire,” hello, “deluge of fire!” I’d like to see those neocon skeptics deny that “deluge” beats “sea” any day of the week! This from the lovable North Korean site “Within Our Race” (a rough translation). ================ Who Stopped My Peace Train? My money is on this not being the last obstacle that bars the path of Kim...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Appeasement/Blogs & Blogging/China/China & Korea/Diplomacy/Europe/Human Rights/Humor/Satire/Japan/Japan & Korea/Korean Education/Korean Law/Korean Politics/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/Unintended Humor/WTF?
May 16, 2006

Korea Diary, 17 May 06

If you need an even better illustration of the idiocy of the Tokdo distraction, read this moving story about the families of two hostages, one Japanese and one South Korean, who married during their captivity in North Korea. Yokota expressed gratitude that his son-in-law was a South Korean. “I am so lucky to have a South Korean son-in-law, not a North Korean. I am so happy that I can hope that our families may meet one another again. He said...

Categories Abductions/Activism/An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Appeasement/Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/Drugs & N Korea/Europe/Famine & Food Aid/Human Rights/Inside NK/Islam/Japan/Japan & Korea/Korean Politics/News Links/NK Economics/Proliferation/Refugees/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/Uncategorized/WMD
May 16, 2006

Choi Yung Hun Still Sits in a Chinese Prison

Congratulations, to those of you whose letters, calls, and other hard work led to the admission of the first six North Korean refugees into the United States. I hereby declare an end to the congratulation period (I can do that, right?). Life Funds for North Korean Refugees (which we must have forogotten to blogroll) gives us fresh reasons to write your local ChiCom Embassy (chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn; or go here) and tell them why you won’t be attending the 2008 Olympics.

Categories "United" Nations/Activism/China/China & Korea/Human Rights/Japan & Korea/Refugees
May 15, 2006

Growing U.S.-Japanese Fracas Over Yasukuni Visits

Yesterday, I added the following “Link of Interest:” Rep. Henry Hyde, Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, has a message for President Junichiro Koizumi. Hyde, a veteran of the Pacific Theater of World War II and no fan of Japan’s revisionist view of history, suggests that Koizumi won’t be invited to address the House during his upcoming state visit if he intends to visit the Yasukuni Shrine this summer. . . . I swear there must be a clock...

Categories Diplomacy/History/Japan/Japan & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
May 13, 2006

Japanese Coast Guard Searches N. Korean Drug Ship

They also arrested two people believed to have been part of the smuggling operation. The men are accused of helping smuggle several hundred kilograms of amphetamines from North Korea to Japan, Jiji Press and public broadcaster NHK said. Tokyo police arrested Woo Si-Yun, an unemployed 59-year-old South Korean living in Japan, and alleged Japanese gangster Katsuhiko Miyata, 58, the news organizations said. Woo is believed to be the owner of a mobile phone recovered from a North Korean spy ship...

Categories Drugs & N Korea/Japan & Korea/U.S. Law
May 5, 2006

Had Enough Tokdo Yet?

Time Asia does a spot-on summary, if you can bear it. According to a report by Peter Beck, the Northeast Asia project director for the International Crisis Group, “One would be hard pressed to find a single Korean over the age of five willing to admit that control of Dokdo does not matter.” By contrast, says Hideshi Takesada, a professor of Korean politics at Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies, “most people in Japan have no knowledge of the issue,”...

Categories Japan & Korea/Korean Politics/Unintended Humor/WTF?