April 23, 2009

North Korean Military Service Loses Its Luster

In Hoeryong, a group of North Korean children has been sentenced to a life of laboring on collective farms for refusing to join the army: As a result of a first-of-its-kind refusal to sign an army enrollment petition, students soon to graduate from a middle school in Hoiryeong, North Hamkyung Province have been ordered by the Party to work on collective farms for life. Furthermore, during this process the parents of some of the students protested after the children of...

Categories NK Military
April 23, 2009

Telling Half the Story at Yongbyon

The Washington Post reassures us that North Korea’s threat to restart plutonium processing is mostly empty because of the current condition of its 5-MW reaction. Not only do I agree that the reactor is probably a wreck, I believe that was also true before the North Koreans sold us their scrap heap for such a high price. Funny, I don’t remember Siegfried Hecker telling us that in 2007 when the State Department was telling us what a breakthrough this deal...

Categories Media Criticism/WMD
April 22, 2009

Trouble at the DMZ

Those North-South Korea talks lasted just 22 minutes, all of them tense, and hopes that they would end with make-up sex were not realized.  It looks like there’s trouble at the DMZ: North Korea accused South Korea of a “serious provocation” by moving a marker on their heavily guarded border, raising tensions after rare talks between the two ended without agreement.”This serious military provocation is a wanton violation of the Armistice Agreement and a deliberate and premeditated action to escalate...

Categories Uncategorized
April 22, 2009

Chris Hill Slips Through; New Bills in Congress Would Roll Back His Unilateral Concessions

[Update:   I have the House bill, too.  Scroll down for the link.] The AP is reporting that Christopher Hill is now confirmed as Ambassador to Iraq.  Having managed to inflict a slight flesh wound on Hill, we can at least claim to have alerted potential critics to some of the less desirable aspects of his character, which (I fear) will reveal themselves again in due course when he opens secret talks with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.  Don’t say I...

Categories Appeasement/Diplomacy/U.S. Politics
April 21, 2009

Stand With Sam Brownback

According to my latest information, which is just short of a day old now, the nomination of Chris Hill was to go to the Senate floor yesterday, where it was expected to get more than enough votes to close debate.  Under Senate rules, Senator Brownback now has his chance to go to the floor and speak, to see if he can change a few more minds.  I’ve passed him as much ammunition as time has allowed.  Now, the rest is...

Categories Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics
April 21, 2009

Banzai for Nuclear Japan!

Japan should consider possessing nuclear weapons as a deterrent to a neighboring threat, former Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa suggested Sunday. In a speech in Obihiro, Hokkaido, in reference to North Korea’s rocket launch earlier this month that many believe was a ballistic missile test, the hawkish lawmaker said: “It is common sense worldwide that in pure military terms, nuclear counters nuclear.” In Sunday’s speech, Nakagawa said he believes North Korea has many Rodong medium-range missiles that could reach almost any...

Categories Asia/Geopolitics/Japan/Proliferation
April 20, 2009

20 April 2009

THE STATE DEPARTMENT given the North Koreans a stern talking-to.  Because, you know, they’re still reeling from that U.N. presidential statement. OH, GOODY:  North Korea wants to talk to South Korea about God-only-knows what. IT NEVER FAILS TO AMAZE ME how North Koreans, including defectors, often continue to revere Kim Il Sung, even after the break with the system.  Don’t underestimate the ability of reverence and skepticism to coexist. NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES you hear that the Pentagon and...

Categories Anju Links
April 20, 2009

The “Realism” Fad, Truth in Labeling, The Obama Doctrine, and Godot

Jeff Jacoby asks how many Democrats still believe in the moral superiority of democracy.  Nowadays, I wonder.  I frequently hear it said, especially by adherents of the fad mislabeled as “realism,” that nations have the “right” to choose their own way.  The problem with this argument is that invariably, “nations” really means a tiny clique of thugs and oligarchs with the keys to the helicopter gunships, who exercise that “right” by proxy and do the choosing for everyone else.  I’ve...

Categories Geopolitics
April 19, 2009

Joining the Great North Korea Debate

I’m gratified to see that my latest New Ledger article has picked up so much linkage and circulation, including at Instapundit, Real Clear World, the Memeorandum, Pajamas Media, Rantburg, Google News, and even the Puffington Host.  I doubt that I’ve done much harm to Chris Hill’s chances of being confirmed, but it’s gratifying to see my ideas debated by people not necessarily predisposed to agree (which must be nearly everyone, given that I’ve been highly critical of Presidents Clinton, Bush,...

Categories Appeasement/Diplomacy/Missiles/Six-Party Talks
April 17, 2009

17 April 2009

U.S., JAPAN MOVE TO ENFORCE SANCTIONS: Japan and the US have submitted to the UN the names of North Korean companies they believe to be associated with the country’s weapons programme.  The list of companies has been sent to the UN’s Security Council’s sanctions committee for consideration. The move to enforce sanctions against North Korea follows the country’s long-range rocket launch on 5 April.  Diplomats say China, which has a lot of trade with North Korea, will want to study...

Categories Anju Links
April 17, 2009

North Korea’s Terror De-Listing: Six Months Later

It has now been just over months since President Bush, true to his June announcement, removed North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.  To calm skeptics of the move who noted that North Korea had neither renounced terrorism nor performed meaningfully on its Agreed Framework II obligations, Bush said this: The six-party process has shed light on a number of issues of serious concern to the United States and the international community.  To end its isolation, North...

Categories Uncategorized
April 17, 2009

Christopher Hill: Deep Kimchee for Iraq

Of the many things that will be written about North Korea this week, the least likely of these is, “Now there’s the kind of diplomacy we need more of.” Consider just the events of the last few days: the missile test itself, which may have hit closer to home than originally thought; the failure of the United Nations to enforce two of its violated resolutions; the broader failure of deterrence and counter-proliferation; and North Korea’s final repudiation of a February...

Categories Appeasement/Diplomacy/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics
April 14, 2009

Open Radio Comes Into Its Own

Open Radio for North Korea is getting plenty of publicity recently, and it’s also cranking out plenty of interesting reporting about (and often from) North Korea. First, I’ll link to a CNN interview with Open Radio’s founder, Young Howard, a/k/a Ha Tae-Keung a story on Open Radio at the L.A. Times. By far the most popular program for Howard’s station is “Unsent Letters,” which broadcasts messages from outsiders seeking to get word to friends and family in North Korea. It’s...

Categories Deprogramming/Drugs & N Korea/Kremlinology
April 14, 2009

Dozens Shocked by North Korea’s Repudiation of Disarmament Agreement

So much for George W. Bush, Condi Rice, and Chris Hill’s last-minute legacy grasp, the February 2007 deal with North Korea hereinafter referred to as Agreed Framework 2.0. Following a long rejection by the corpus of North Korean belligerence, Agreed Framework 2.0 has ceased to be: North Korea vowed Tuesday to restore the nuclear facilities that it had been disabling and boycott international talks on its nuclear weapons program to protest against the U.N. Security Council’s reaction to its recent...

Categories "United" Nations/Appeasement/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks
April 13, 2009

“United Nations,” “International Community,” and other oxymorons

“This provocation underscores the need for action–not just this afternoon at the U.N. Security Council, but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons,” Mr. Obama said. “Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something. [Barack Obama, April 6, 2009] It will soon be official: the rules are not binding, violations will not be punished, and our words mean nothing. It seems incredible that any American statesman still needs one more object lesson in...

Categories "United" Nations/Diplomacy/Missiles
April 11, 2009

China’s Fingerprints Are All Over North Korea’s Missiles

Not long before the United Nations went limp in the face of North Korea’s missile launch, our own high priest of Smart Diplomacy called on our friends the ChiComs to do their part to restore the rule of law we know them to treasure as we do: “China could do a great deal more,” [Vice President Joe] Biden said, without elaborating. [AFP] On the contrary, according to this report, it appears that China has done quite enough: The rocket launched...

Categories China/China & Korea/Missiles/Proliferation
April 10, 2009

Don Kirk: We Can’t Trust North Korea

Long-time Korea and Asia correspondent Don Kirk, who broke the story that Kim Dae Jung used illegal payments to buy the summit that won him the Nobel Prize, comments on the self-evident pointlessness of negotiating with North Korea: North Korea’s latest missile test raises a critical question. Why should anyone consider giving aid to this regime that has already squandered hundreds of billions of dollars on firing off missiles and producing nuclear warheads? Here’s an impoverished country, the single biggest...

Categories Appeasement/Diplomacy