The Fifth Column

August 7, 2006

Fifth Column Watch

Conspiracy theories always labor against a presumption of neurotic inspiration, but even paranoid people have real enemies, and some conspirators make the error of supporting such theories with their own words. (In the conspiracy business, Rule Number One is, “Be discreet.”) Recently, I finally got around to compiling some of the public statements by leaders of South Korean labor unions and political groups that would support a reasonable inference that those groups were either willing servants of the North Korean...

Anti-Americanism/Korean Politics/The Fifth Column

July 26, 2006

Reading, Writing, Rodong

One reason I don’t think the North Koreans would invade South Korea is the simple fact that their infiltration of the South has been so successful as to render war unnecessarily strenuous. Now, the powerful and well funded Korean Teachers’ Union — remember them? — is caught in the act of flogging juche to its members. The ultimate recipients would have been South Korean kids. Although the KTU didn’t disclose the source of its information, this should have been a...

Anti-Americanism/Korean Education/Korean Politics/Korean Society/The Fifth Column

July 15, 2006

But What if One Hits Tokdo?

“We should put up banners to welcome it,” the group said in a statement posted on its Internet site. “North Korea’s missiles are the last fortress of peace to deter a U.S. invasion. We should celebrate.” [Link]

The Fifth Column/WTF?

June 30, 2006

Collaborators, You Say?

I’m certainly no expert on those who collaborated to enslave their brothers under fascist tyranny six decades ago. Some may have done genuinely awful things; others may have been “mere” profiteers. Some may have acted more voluntarily than others. The passage of six decades certainly complicates such questions. That’s why there are statutes of limitations. On the other hand, I can’t help but note the absence of any official list with more contemporary application, so here’s my effort at a...

Anti-Americanism/The Fifth Column

December 1, 2005

How North Korea tried to subvert the ROK democracy movement

(By guest blogger, Andy Jackson) This is the second in a four-part series on lectures concerning human rights in North Korea delivered at Sogang University in Seoul on November 26, 2005. The text in block quotes were taken from my notes of the translation of the lecture. Any inaccuracies in the text are strictly my own. As I mentioned at the end of my previous post, Kang Chol-hwan cut his lecture short and gave about a third of his allotted...