Page 175

October 9, 2008

Rosett: ‘Bordering on Tyranny’

Claudia Rosett goes to the increasingly porous border between China and North Korea — for those with money, anyway. This has to be one of the few places where one could see the Chinese side as a land of relative freedom, but that wouldn’t be true if China didn’t prop up so many exceedingly noxious satellite regimes.

China & Korea

October 9, 2008

S. Korean JCS Chair: N. Korea Building Lighter Nuclear Warheads for Missiles

You might have thought that an agreement whose nominal objective is nuclear disarmament ought to be reasonably clear about dismantling, disabling, or dissing those arms in some specific way. If so, you thought wrong, and here are the consequences of that. In fact, Chris Hill’s February 2007 disarmament deal was intentionally vague about North Korea’s existing nuclear arsenal. Until this summer, State had insisted that the North’s nuclear weapons were covered by the phrase “all nuclear programs,” although North Korea’s...

Appeasement/Diplomacy/NK Military/Proliferation/Six-Party Talks/U.S. & Korea/WMD

October 8, 2008

Did They or Didn’t They? (Pt. 2)

You’d think that if Chris Hill and the North Koreans had made up, the North Koreans wouldn’t be launching missiles again. The new launches appear to have been short-range missiles launched from the island naval base at Cho-Do, which you can see in full Google Earth color here. One thing this illustrates is why North Korea always seeks to narrow the focus of talks: while they sell temporary concessions on plutonium, they pursue a uranium program at full speed; then,...

Anju Links/Appeasement/Diplomacy/NK Military/Six-Party Talks

October 8, 2008

Lee’s N. Korea Policy Will Be, as Lee Says, ‘Pragmatic.’

Suzanne Scholte has accepted the Seoul Peace Prize, offering this prescient comment in her speech: “When all the atrocities committed by North Korean dictators are exposed in the future, people will assess how adequately the Seoul government then responded,” said Scholte, referring to the current administration. “Consider the judgment of history.” [Chosun Ilbo] I’m hoping to have a guest post from a reader who was there. Warning: this post will now enter a stream of consciousness. You can already see...

Activism/Human Rights/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Politics

October 7, 2008

How Many Divisions Does Ban Ki Moon Have?

Since October 2006, U.N. Security Council resolution 1718 has prohibited North Korea from trafficking in major weapons systems or WMD techonology. So sit down for this one: “The Middle East remans on the receiving end of the DPRK’s reckless activities,” Israeli delegate David Danieli told the meeting, referring to North Korea by its acronym. “At least half a dozen countries in the region … have become eager recipients” of the North’s black market supplies of conventional arms or nuclear technology,...

"United" Nations/NK Military/Proliferation

October 7, 2008

The Lewinsky Effect

NORTH KOREA SPY WON JEONG-HWA, who exchanged sexual favors for information from South Korean officers and who plotted to assasinate South Korean officials with poisoned needles, is awaiting sentencing. The L.A. Times covers the story in considerable detail and publishes photographs of Won and her passport. On a personal note, I realize that standards of beauty are subjective in any culture, but if there’s apparently not much to be said for Ms. Won’s personality, I remain unable to explain her...

ROK Military/The Fifth Column

October 7, 2008

Well, That Settles Nothing

Numerous international press reports say that Kim Jong Il made a public appearance at a soccer game, thus ending a long absence from public view. The problem with those reports is that all of them are sourced back to Radio Pyongyang and KCNA, which provided no details on where or when, and were not accompanied by photographs or video.

Kim Jong Il

October 7, 2008

Did They or Didn’t They?

I took a few days off from blogging and figured by today I’d know if Chris Hill had succeeded in giving away the store to the North Koreans, but the reporting today is ambiguous. The New York Times says that Hill left Pyongyang with the main “issues unresolved” but quotes or cites no hard authority to substantiate this. The Chosun Ilbo quotes “observers” who see “signs” that Hill’s visit “produced some results,” and also quotes or cites no hard authority to...

Appeasement/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks

October 3, 2008

If only America was watching ….

Or, to put it another way, if the media had reported other aspects of George W. Bush’s presidency the way they’ve mischaracterized his failed North Korea deal as a “rare triumph of diplomacy,” or so says the cliche-o-meter, Bush would probably have a 60% approval rating right now.* The Weekly Standard blog also digs at Chris Hill’s “choreography” and links to Mike Chinoy’s unintentionally damning description of just how chummy Hill has become with the Heydrichs and Eichmanns of Pyongyang...

Appeasement/Regime Change/Six-Party Talks

October 2, 2008

Anju Links for 2 October 2008

AS FAMINE STALKS NORTH KOREA, A BUILDING BOOM hits Pyongyang. So where is the money is coming from, and why are pastel pink apartment blocks and skyscrapers built on mud the best use for it in such times? What is mysterious is that North Korea appears to be as broke as ever. The country’s economy went into a free fall in the early 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union and other communist allies, and it has barely recovered....

Anju Links

October 1, 2008

CHRNK Updates “Failure to Protect”

Recall that I characterized the original report as “the ultimate must-read” on human rights in North Korea. The report was “sponsored” by Vaclav Havel, Kjell Magne Bondevik, and Elie Wiesel, but actually written by the law firm DLA Piper, in close cooperation with scholars from the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. The original 2006 report called for the U.N. to impose Chapter VII sanctions if the regime did not progress toward ending the mass murder and starvation of...

"United" Nations/Activism/Human Rights

September 30, 2008

Korean Kids Face Twin Perils: Poisoned Chinese Milk, Moms Who Use them as Human Riot Shields

Update, 12/08: Here’s how history will record this whole ridiculous episode. BY NOW, WE KNOW THAT THERE WAS NEVER ANY SCIENTIFIC SUBSTANCE BEHIND all of those “Mad Cow” protests in Korea over the imports of U.S. beef. So why so little protest over melamine contamination in food imported from China poses an actual, no-sh*t health risk to Korean kids who drink powdered milk? It might even be a greater risk to the health of Korean kids than strapping them...

Anti-Americanism/China & Korea/Korean Society/The Fifth Column

September 29, 2008

Interesting, in the unlikely event it’s authentic …

Just as I question those detailed reports on the progress of Kim Jong Il’s purported illness and recovery, I question the sourcing for this anecdote. Still, it’s entertaining enough to warrant posting: On September 2nd, Chairman Kim of the National Defense Committee received a recent report on the food crisis. It was reported to him that many regions are suffering from severe food shortages. Apparently, he was even shocked to receive word that emergency measures are especially necessary because the...

Famine & Food Aid/Kim Jong Il

September 29, 2008

Chris Hill prepares to sell us out one last time

[Update: I guessed right. Have a barf bag ready for this one, particularly when you get to the part where David Albright says that our proposed verification plan would have infringed on North Korea’s “sovereignty.” Remember Albright? He’s the guy who was accusing the Bush Administration of trumping up charges that the North Koreans were enriching uranium … until we found enriched uranium all over the same documents and aluminum samples North Korea submitted, in part, to prove that it...

Appeasement/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks

September 29, 2008

Do the Koreans Have a Future?

We’re all familiar with many of the ways in which the lives of North and South Koreans differ. The Economist has published an interesting new piece describing some of these way, but which eventually focuses on the demographics of both nations and the greater region. No doubt, from those differences arise very different reasons why the populations of both nations are declining. As to why the South’s population is declining at one of the fastest rates in the OECD, it’s...

China & Korea/North Korea/South Korea

September 25, 2008

N. Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act Passes

Some preliminary details here, but some important differences of interpretation have already arisen as to the role of the Special Envoy. I may find some time to write about those later.

Activism/Human Rights/U.S. Politics/Uncategorized

September 25, 2008

War on Prostitution Not Working So Well in North Korea, Either

As with their southern bretheren, the North Koreans are being reminded of the persistence of the oldest profession, largely because of the traditional confluence of state power and corruptable masculine hydraulics. The Daily NK reports that some twenty North Korean officials in the city of Hamhung were removed from power — and several senior military officers were shot — over a whorehouse patronage scandal: The Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights (NKnet) reported in its journal “NK In...

Kremlinology/NK Military

September 23, 2008

Anju Links for 24 Sept 08

YOU DON’T SAY! (Pt. 1): “Nuke Deal Not Likely by End of Bush Term.” The interesting take away from Nicholas Kralev’s piece is that the North Korean efforts to reconstitute their plutonium program are not focused on the old 5-MW reactor, but on the fuel fabrication plant. That would be consistent with my pet theory that the North Koreans are content to retire the old 5-MW model and start up the new 50-MW reactor instead. This also provided some amusement:...

Anju Links