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April 30, 2006

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...

Categories Anti-Americanism/Korean Law/Korean Politics/Korean Society/U.S. Military
April 29, 2006

First N. Korean Gets U.S. Asylum, But What Does This Really Mean for NKHRA Compliance?

Updated 4/30; scroll down “We can and will do more to protect North Korean refugees. . . . We hope that very, very soon, we can welcome North Korean refugees here in the United States.” — Amb. Jay Lefkowitz, April 28, 2006 WASHINGTON, April 28 (Yonhap) — The Los Angeles Immigration Court has granted asylum to a North Korean defector after he awaited a decision in the U.S. for the past 20 months, his lawyer said Friday. The final ruling...

Categories Defectors/Human Rights/Refugees/U.S. & Korea
April 29, 2006

Nationalism Meets Socialism: North Korean Propaganda Extols Racial Purity

As one who takes the position that our problems with North Korea will only end with the inevitable destruction of its regime, it’s moments like this when I have to pause to thank the Korea Central News Agency for giving me gems like this one (ht to the Marmot): A strange farce to hamstring the essential characters of the Korean nation and seek for “multiracial society” is now being held in south Korea. In this regard Rodong Sinmun today runs...

Categories Anti-Americanism/Appeasement/Korean Society/Racism
April 29, 2006

Ma Young Ae Update

The Daily NK is offering up some investigative reporting to back up its skepticism about Ms. Ma’s asylum claims. Ms. Ma, a former North Korean counterintel agent who worked in China until her defection in 2000, is petitioning for political asylum in the United States because of alleged South Korean persecution. Read and decide for yourself, but one point in the Daily NK’s favor: threatening people to silence them is persection; offering them fat bribes to keep quiet (even if...

Categories Censorship/Defectors/Korean Law/Refugees/Uncategorized
April 28, 2006

NK Freedom Week 2006, Part II

The events have not yet concluded, and an all-night prayer vigil at the Chinese Embassy is underway. For various reasons, all of us missed the first half of the week. In my case, that was due to a family visit to South Korea (observations to follow later). Still, the events that are capable of being described at a forum like this one can be described now. Here is the week’s enduring image, one that creates a hopeful contrast to when...

Categories Activism/Human Rights/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized
April 28, 2006

N. Korea Freedom Week Updates

First, please join us on the West side of the U.S. Capitol today, starting at 11:30. The rally will last well into the afternoon, with plenty of opportunities to frighten powerful and cynical people throughout the day. Some of us may even make a special appearance at the South Korean Embassy later this afternoon. At 6 PM, Suzanne Scholte of the North Korean Freedom Coalition will lead a rally at the Chinese Embassy that will become an all-night prayer vigil....

Categories Abductions/Activism/Appeasement/China & Korea/Defectors/Democracy/Human Rights/Japan/Japan & Korea/Korean History/North Korea/Refugees/Resistance/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
April 15, 2006

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,...

Categories Korean Politics
April 13, 2006

Links of Interest

* The United States wants South Korea to join it in imposing sanctions against North Korean shipping. South Korea will not agree, though the move would be almost exclusively symbolic. * LiNK will hold a fund-raising happy hour at the K Street Lounge, 1301 K St. NW, Washington, DC, on April 20th at 6 p.m. Join us as LiNK DC hosts the K Street Lounge Happy Hour! With free first drinks, we promise a great time networking with like professionals...

Categories Activism/An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Appeasement/Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/Korean Law/Korean Society/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/WTF?
April 13, 2006

Also Turning Ugly: USFK Relocation

I wish I had the time to cover the latest Camp Humphreys relocation protests in the detail they deserve, given that I spent seven months of my life there defending young, misunderstood soldiers who were wrongly accused of various things. Humphreys, one of the least pleasant sites in the USFK portfolio, has its advantages: cheap land, proximity to Osan Air Base, and a location south of Seoul and out of artillery range. It makes sense to move most of the...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/UCMJ & SOFA/Uncategorized
April 12, 2006

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...

Categories Appeasement/Korean Politics/Kremlinology/NK Military/North Korea/ROK Military/Washington Views
April 12, 2006

Shin Sang-Ok Dies

The South Korean film-maker and his actress wife were best known for having been kidnapped by Kim Jong Il to make movies in North Korea, most infamously the stoner cult classic “Pulgasari.” In Shin’s observations about the emperor and his court feature prominently in the writings of North Korea Kremlinologists, including Jasper Becker’s Rogue Regime. Apparently at the orders of Kim Jong-il, then North Korea’s heir apparent and a film buff, both he and his wife, the actress Choi Eun-hee,...

Categories Abductions/Kim Jong Il/Korean Society/Kremlinology/North Korea
April 10, 2006

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...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/China & Korea/Diplomacy/Korean Education/Korean Politics/Media Criticism/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized
April 9, 2006

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...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Diplomacy/Humor/Satire/Korean Politics/Korean Society/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Unintended Humor/WTF?
April 9, 2006

Links of Note

Thanks for the readers who forwarded: The Hines Ward story made the Washington Post. It doesn’t add too much new information, but I do like to see the issue get covered here. Transparency is a mixed blessing for China on the Sujiatun story: It appears the claims by Falun Gong have been at least substantially exaggerated. Initial investigations by researchers for a US congressional committee have identified the site at Sujiatun as a hospital, where it is suspected organ harvesting...

Categories Censorship/China/Human Rights/Korean Society/Media Criticism/WTF?
April 7, 2006

Daily NK on Ma Young-Ae

The Daily NK is clearly skeptical about Ms. Ma’s claim for asylum from South Korea: We do know that the South Korean government does not consider the North Korean democratization movement as good, and tries interrupting the movement by taking every opportunity. However, the South Korean government does not imprison and torture activators like the past administrations. We understand Ma Young Ae could be afraid of the government, yet many activators who got even more severe threats and interruptions are...

Categories Defectors/Korean Law/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized