Category: Uncategorized

An unnamed LiNK correspondent from Seoul sent me some, umm, links to press coverage of the human rights symposium. I will put these into the blender with other comments I’ve received. The Joongang Ilbo gave the meeting generally favorable coverage; the South Korean students, however, seem disinterested by all accounts, even LiNK’s. I also smirked a little at this quote from Park Il-Hwan, one of the good guys: “Students in Korea look at the North Korean situation differently from Korean...

I promised you a run-down of coverage and reactions to the LiNK symposium in Seoul, and I’ll keep my word, but not tonight. Work was crushing today. Undone tasks missed me too much over the long weekend. I even worked for nearly two hours on the train and another hour at home while Judgment at Nuremberg played in the background. My rest? A couple of hours wolfing down leftover turkey and a few minutes lying on the living room floor...

Today Singapore, tomorrow Zimbabwe. The gulag labor juggernaut rolls on . . . but fast enough to save Kim Jong Il from that new urban underclass?

As self-parody goes, this effort by North Korea’s official quisling, Alejandro Cao de Benos, is a beaut. When he’s not ransacking hotel rooms, he’s patiently explaining the unworthiness of mere mortals. In a sort of Torquemada-meets-Jerry Lewis way.

I promised you a run-down of coverage and reactions to the LiNK symposium in Seoul, and I’ll keep my word, but not tonight. Work was crushing today. Undone tasks missed me too much over the long weekend. I even worked for nearly two hours on the train and another hour at home while Judgment at Nuremberg played in the background. My rest? A couple of hours wolfing down leftover turkey and a few minutes lying on the living room floor...

Here is today’s list of unsubstantiated rumors and CIA disinformation about North Korea. Always happy to pass those along, in addition to chucking a little more gasoline onto the stove burners. First entry: In a sign of investor concern about North Korea, rumors swirled in financial markets in Tokyo and Seoul that leader Kim Jong-il had been shot dead. But a diplomat in Pyongyang said nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be happening, a view shared by a Japanese...

Today Singapore, tomorrow Zimbabwe. The gulag labor juggernaut rolls on . . . but fast enough to save Kim Jong Il from that new urban underclass?

As self-parody goes, this effort by North Korea’s official quisling, Alejandro Cao de Benos, is a beaut. When he’s not ransacking hotel rooms, he’s patiently explaining the unworthiness of mere mortals. In a sort of Torquemada-meets-Jerry Lewis way.

Vote here. And for G-d’s sake, vote carefully. I nearly voted for Michael Phelps accidentally. Scroll down through the pictures on the left side of the screen, then make your selection. Once you see his name displayed, you can vote. Early and often, as they say. For those of you who don’t know who Pat was, he turned down a multi-million dollar NFL contract to join the Army after 9/11. Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan this year. More here.

Vote here. And for G-d’s sake, vote carefully. I nearly voted for Michael Phelps accidentally. Scroll down through the pictures on the left side of the screen, then make your selection. Once you see his name displayed, you can vote. Early and often, as they say. For those of you who don’t know who Pat was, he turned down a multi-million dollar NFL contract to join the Army after 9/11. Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan this year. More here.

Every Korean knows the name Yi Sun Shin. It is a shame that few outside Korea have heard of him. Yi Sun Shin was an ancient Korean admiral who changed naval warfare in Asia and defended the independence of his nation from a Japanese invasion. Koreans revere him for thwarting Emperor Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea in 1592, when his small navy sank 73 Japanese ships despite overwhelming advantages in numbers, manpower, and finances. Yi’s innovative genius is such that his...

Every Korean knows the name Yi Sun Shin. It is a shame that few outside Korea have heard of him. Yi Sun Shin was an ancient Korean admiral who changed naval warfare in Asia and defended the independence of his nation from a Japanese invasion. Koreans revere him for thwarting Emperor Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea in 1592, when his small navy sank 73 Japanese ships despite overwhelming advantages in numbers, manpower, and finances. Yi’s innovative genius is such that his...

Those of you who attended–or those who’ve attended other LiNK events–are encouraged to post comments on what you observed, and what signs you saw that those events (1) persuaded fence-sitters, and (2) encouraged the persuaded to get active.

After taking a low profile strategy for years, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul is now making an issue of China’s forced repatriation of North Korean defectors. For the last six months, there’s been a perceptable drip of coverage in the South Korean media. With time, it might sway enough people away from the discredited idea that not talking about human rights is the best way to improve them.

Those of you who attended–or those who’ve attended other LiNK events–are encouraged to post comments on what you observed, and what signs you saw that those events (1) persuaded fence-sitters, and (2) encouraged the persuaded to get active.

After taking a low profile strategy for years, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul is now making an issue of China’s forced repatriation of North Korean defectors. For the last six months, there’s been a perceptable drip of coverage in the South Korean media. With time, it might sway enough people away from the discredited idea that not talking about human rights is the best way to improve them.

On the one hand, South Korea dodged a bullet. On the other, the possibility would have been unthinkable just five years ago.

Norbert will also be at the symposium in Seoul on the 27th, and we already know he never goes anywhere quietly. Among the highlights from his message: The Chinese are apparently holding another South Korean activist for aiding North Korean refugees. He also claims that the South Koreans have issued an arrest warrant for an organizer of protests against Kim Jong-Il. Now, South Korean politics can be pretty rough, and I have no details whatsoever on this, so I’ll just...