Category: Korean Politics

Korean Woman Charged in Yongsan Fire

Via the Stars and Stripes. South Korea’s violent, anti-American political subculture found a willing host in the woman, whom the authorities claim to be mentally ill. Although she set the fire to “punish” the United States for its “terrorism,” she ended up burning three Korean workers severely. There were suggestions that the fire had been accidental. At least the Koreans are prosecuting her and asking for hard time, although I doubt that would happen today if this woman were affiliated...

Election Watch: A Race to the Bottom

Despite Roh’s and the Uri Party’s difficulties, the GNP will be unable to provide a viable policy alternative. Although the GNP’s surging approval ratings after the by-elections provided a strong boost to GNP chairwoman, Park Geun-hye, and her 2007 presidential candidacy, they reflect an electorate rebuff to Roh rather than a shift toward the GNP. . . . Park will likely overplay her hand, misinterpreting the elections as a vindication of her conservative policy and party stewardship. — Bruce Klingner,...

One Big, Leaky Basket

South Korea has arrested a Taiwanese man for spying for North Korea. What’s not entirely clear is whether the man was spying for prodigal son Kim Jong Nam, and what JN’s relationship is to North Korea these days: The information sent to the North, according to prosecutors, included Newsweek Korea magazine’s coverage of the detention and expulsion of Kim Jong-nam from Japan in 2001 after he tried to enter that country on a fraudulent passport. The man also forwarded tapes...

The FTA Debate Is Turning Ugly

FTA negotiations will likely magnify “anti-American” sentiments in the short run and unleash a backlash in America. — Balbina Hwang, March 2, 2006 There are really three premises to this post, all of them leading to one conclusion: First, a Korean-American free trade agreement would be a good thing for both countries, but particularly for Korea. Second, despite that being demonstrably the case, the usual suspects see the FTA as an opportunity to ride to power on the shoulders of...

The Death of an Alliance, Part 36: FTA Meets WTF

Move over Weekly World News: Beware of the dragonfly: it may be a bugging robot disguised as a harmless insect. No, the advice does not come from a mental patient convinced the government is spying on his laundry bills: it was one of the security tips issued during last week’s two-day workshop for 120 Korean delegates in the nation’s impending free-trade negotiations with the U.S. The workshop was designed to help delegates guard their negotiation strategies from prying ears when...

Links of Interest

The Flying Yangban has lots of good stuff up today. If you’re in or near Seoul and aren’t working with LiNK yet, they’re holding another meeting Saturday afternoon. Andy also links to an analysis from the International Crisis Group, giving the encouraging conclusion that the U.S. will never allow anything made in Kaesong to be included in a free-trade agreement. He also informs us of the latest machinations in South Korean politics. Yet more calls for America to disengage from...

Oranckay on Kaesong and Workers’ Rights

I’m sure Pete and I disagree as much as any two people in the Korea blogosphere, but you’ve got to read what he has to say about the Hanky’s anti-human rights / anti-workers’ rights editorial. The Oranckay has a long history with the Korean unions, which I’ve called out for their hypocrisy for being absent from the Kaesong debate. Kudos to pete for being willing to risk burning bridges for the sake of advocating a consistent view that’s true to...

A Brief History of Insincerity

As a young activist, Roh Moo Hyun called for the expulsion of U.S. forces from Korea. As a candidate, Roh Moo-Hyun rhetorically moved his nation from America’s tit to its feet and promised not to “kowtow” to its long-time protector and benefactor. Speaking before the United Nations last September, President Roh Moo Hyun said this before the entire UN General Assembly: The world must completely divest itself of mindsets and vestiges reminiscent of imperialistic tendencies that appear to linger in...

Comrade Chung to Visit Kaesong

Must be an election coming . . . . He said he would also ask opposition party leaders to join the trip, and was pushing for a meeting with Kim Jong-il and other senior North Korean leaders.  The Grand National Party dismissed Mr. Chung’s invitation yesterday, calling a trip to North Korea an old-fashioned way for politicians to promote themselves before an election. As OFK alumni already know, Chung has a signed  pact with Satan, and I have the photo...

What Ban Would Bring to the U.N., and to His Party

The U.N.: No Values Necessary What could say more about what’s wrong with the United Nations when a candidate for its top post – an experienced diplomat – would say this publicly? “I don’t think a specific issue like North Korean human rights has a direct connection to the bid for the UN secretary-general’s seat,” Ban told reporters. Asked by a CBS reporter whether the way the South Korean government handles human rights conditions in North Korea could hurt his...

A Modest Drumbeat

The Chosun Ilbo and the  Donga Ilbo are looking at their calendars and seeing a slew of events that will further publicize human rights conditions in North Korea.  Will this be the year our nascent movement finally demonstrates some media sophistication? March:  The State Department  will publish its new human rights report (although I don’t have any reason to suspect anything earth-shaking to come of it).  March 23rd:  European Parliament hearings on North Korea; Freedom House conference in Brussels (we’re...

Europe Takes Up N.K. Human Rights Mantle

The EU’s human rights dialogue with North Korea’s regime may be predictably “moribund,” but  a new report shows that Europe is outperforming the United States in accepting refugees: Seven European nations have granted asylum to 280 North Korean defectors since the mid-1990s, Radio Free Asia reported on Saturday. RFA said Germany, Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway gave asylum to 280 out of 700 North Korean refugees who applied there. Germany topped the list, accepting 232 out of...

Sec. Rice: Lefkowitz Will Be More Vocal

It’s the latest suggestion that the Administration is less worried than ever about upsetting Kim Jong Il: The United States will have its North Korea human rights envoy become more active in coming days to get more international attention on the issue, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday. “We are going to get him out more,” Rice said at a U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee hearing. “We need the rest of the international community to also...

Comrade Chung Dong Young Wins Uri Leadership

Via Kyodo news, Comrade Chung has won an early test of his strength going into the 2007 presidential race. Chung, former unification minister, was elected by a vote at the party’s national convention in Seoul, defeating seven other candidates. He garnered 4,450 votes, beating his main rival and former Health and Welfare Minister Kim Geun Tae who obtained 3,847 votes in the eight-man race, according to Yonhap News Agency. “The Uri Party and I will fiercely compete with the (opposition)...

Cartoon Idiocy, Part II

After learning that South Korea was in danger of losing the title for “Hub of Petty Despotism,” President Roh Moo Hyun launched his own cartoon war of sorts this week. No embassies were harmed in this production; the only violence was that done to freedom of the press: President Roh Moo-hyun yesterday filed a second libel suit against the mainstream Chosun Ilbo newspaper, saying a cartoon defamed him by circulating false facts. The cartoon, titled “The lie is detected fast,”...