May 2, 2007

Anju Links for 2 May 2007: North Korea Denies Abducting Any S. Koreans, May Day in Kaesong, and North Koreans’ Growing Meth Problem

*   It has now been 18 days since North Korea violated all of  the denuclearization commitments to which it agreed last February.   I blame  Bill Richardson, who obviously must have said something tactless and belligerent while being led around the deck of the U.S.S. Pueblo.   It’s time for us to get serious about diplomacy and  offer some carrots.   How many of our soldiers’ lives is Catalina Island really worth?   How many times must the canonballs fly, Bill? *  ...

Categories Anju Links/Diplomacy/Drugs & N Korea/Geopolitics/Human Trafficking/Inside NK/Six-Party Talks
May 1, 2007

Anju Links for 1 May 2007

*   It has now been 17 days since North Korea violated  its Agreed Framework 2.0  denuclearization commitments. *   Appeasing Terror:   The good news is that State’s new terror list is out, North Korea is still on it, and I have more time to produce my promised update to this post.  The bad news:  the section on North Korea has much of its content stripped out, particularly that relating to Japanese abductees, a subject North Korea refuses to...

Categories Anju Links
April 30, 2007

Anju Links for 30 April 2007

1 It has now been 16 days since North Korea violated every single pledge it made in the course of the February 13th agreement, notwithstanding our return of $25 million in proceeds of crime, no strings attached, in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718. Latest word has North Korea’s demand for the return of the money — which was not part of the February 13th deal — evolving into a demand that the United States grant a general amnesty...

Categories Anju Links
April 29, 2007

The North Korean Air Force by Google Earth

[You can see imagery of North Korea’s nuclear sites here, imagery of North Korea’s prison camps here, and more Google Earth imagery of North Korea here.] North Korea’s airfields are some of the most interesting  places to spy on, and often, some of the easiest to spot.  Generally, you can see a large airfield from about 10 miles up, with or without high resolution coverage. Here’s an overview of the North Korean military airfields that can be seen on Google Earth. There is almost...

Categories Google Earth/NK Military
April 26, 2007

North Korea Freedom Week 2007: Bringing Attention to an Unreported Genocide

[Updated below with a report on the Congressional briefing. There was some very chilling testimony today.] [Update, 4/26:  Some great news about refugees in Thailand, and a video link to one of Tuesday’s events.] First, please digg this post, and please tell your friends to do the same. For those who don’t know why this issue needs more attention — including yours — please witness Camp 22 and its horrors, learn the grim fate of refugees sent back to North...

Categories Activism/Human Rights
April 26, 2007

Anju Links for 26 April: Who’s Afraid of Victor Cha, and the Sexual Psychology of Military Parades

*   It has now been 13 days since April 13th, the day North Korea was supposed to have shut down the Yongbyon reactor, begun discussions on the full extent of its nuclear weapons and programs, invited in U.N. inspectors, and rejoined six-party talks (to include actually talking).  North Korea has (surprise!) broken every one of those agreements.  Victor Cha has since reportedly warned them that our patience is limited.  So in Pyongyang they ask …. *   Or Else,...

Categories Abductions/America/Japan & Korea/Refugees/Six-Party Talks/Southeast Asia/Terrorism (NK)/Terrorism/Iraq/WMD
April 25, 2007

Anju Links for 25 April 2007: The Children of Arirang, Questions About Treasury’s WMD Sanctions, and More Blackmail Boasts from Pyongyang

* Arirang, Child Exploitation Tourism: Haven’t you ever wondered about how such young children are taught such precise choreography, and why those robotic smiles are frozen on their little faces? The reality of Arirang is different however, according to vivid testimony of the parents whose children participate in the performance. Their children’s eyes are tense after robust mechanical drilling by their director. The training period for the Arirang is over 6 months. Particularly delicate dancing or movement may require training...

Categories "United" Nations/Human Rights/Human Trafficking/WMD
April 25, 2007

North Korea’s Sponsorship of Terrorist Acts, 1996-2007

As I noted here, at the end of Update 4/24 to my North Korea Freedom Week post, the State Department is now rumored to be seriously considering removing North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. This conflicts with signals State had sent earlier, and as I noted here, would probably trigger a rebellion by conservatives in Congress. With Japan’s Prime Minister set to visit Washington next week, unverified gossip holds that the Bush Administration will put pressure...

Categories Abductions/Appeasement/Japan & Korea/Six-Party Talks/Terrorism (NK)/U.S. Politics/WMD
April 25, 2007

400 N. Korean Refugees on Hunger Strike in Thai Jail

Roughly 80% of the refugees — 314 to be exact — are women. The refugees, arrested by Thai police over the last three months, face almost certain death if sent back to North Korea. They are demanding that they be allowed to travel to South Korea. An NGO representative accuses South Korea of failing to help them: However, “For whatever the reason, the South Korean government is not bringing these refugees who have been waiting for release even though the...

Categories Refugees/Southeast Asia
April 24, 2007

Kaesong, Kim Jong Il, and Killing the Goose

Update: South Korea may be reconsidering the expansion plans after all.The Kaesong Slave Labor Park may want to reconsider its expansion plans in light of the Daily NK’s new breakdown casting doubt on just how successful the existing venture really is. Of 23 businesses that were supposed to have started operations at Kaesong since 2005, 4 have abandoned their space reservations; 1 or 2 more are considering abandoning their reservations; 4 have placed their space reservations on hold; 6 or...

Categories Appeasement/Human Trafficking
April 24, 2007

Anju Links for 24 April 2007: China and South Korea Claim Their Largesse Has Limits, Another Fresh-Faced Septuagenarian Rises in Pyongyang, and Why the Defunding Debate Should Focus on the U.N., Not Our Troops

*   North Korea is now eleven days past the April 13th deadline by which  it agreed to shut down and seal the Yongbyon reactor, make a meaningful showing at another session of six-party talks,  begin discussions about the full extent of its nuclear programs, and invite U.N. inspectors back in.  As of today, it has failed to fulfill any of those conditions.  I  just  wanted to point that out in case Chris Hill is reading or Kim Jong  Bill...

Categories "United" Nations/Appeasement/China/China & Korea/Human Rights/Human Trafficking/Kremlinology/NK Economics
April 23, 2007

Anju Links for 23 April 2007

*   The Ides of April.   I’ve previously blogged about the replacement of Premier  Pak Pong Ju with Kim Yong Il.  Now, we learn that Kim Kyok-Sik is taking over as the new “military first,” to borrow a tired  expression,  which technically makes him second only to Korigula himself (ht: Richardson).  Two other old party hacks have gone off to that Eternal Party Congress chaired by Mephistopheles himself, or soon will:  Foreign Minister  Paek Nam-Sun  and Marshall Cho Myong-Rok.  All...

Categories "United" Nations/Appeasement/Diplomacy/Drugs & N Korea/Korean Society/Kremlinology/Money Laundering/Six-Party Talks/Southeast Asia/Uncategorized/WMD
April 20, 2007

Rhetoric and the Record on North Korean Human Rights

[Update:   video of the event and full text of the speech below]   So I went to this  yesterday, thanks to the kind invitation of the organizers, and left with the usual sense of  guilt I feel every time I meet Jay Lefkowitz.  Lefkowitz has acquired  an understandable “Oh sh*t, not that guy again” expression whenever he sees me.  If I were him, so would I.  Even when I’ve been critical of him, I’ve said that  Lefkowitz is sincere,...

Categories Human Rights/Washington Views
April 20, 2007

The Last Word

[Update:   Link fixed; sorry!]   My good friend Adrian Hong of LiNK fame  has  ended the  debate on the anti-Korean backlash (that never was) with this piece in the Washington  Post.    Korean Americans do not need to apologize for what happened Monday. All of us, as fellow Americans, feel tremendous sorrow and grief at the carnage. Our community, as it should, has expressed solidarity with and sent condolences to the victims, and as Americans, Koreans certainly should take...

Categories America/Korean Society
April 19, 2007

Anju Links for 19 April 2007

*   Cho Myong Rok, who is probably the second or third-most important North Korean official, is reported to be dying.  Cho is the one Kim Jong Il designated to visit Washington and meet with President Clinton years ago.  Doctors expect the 79-year-old vice marshal to live another month or two, as he already had one of his kidneys removed 10 years ago, and has gone through treatment for cancer in his intestines, the organization said.  Here’s a brief Global...

Categories "United" Nations/Korean Society/Kremlinology/WMD
April 18, 2007

‘So many people died, they wrapped bodies in plastic sheets and buried them in a mountain.’

Human Rights Watch, one of the industry bigs that (until now)  had been mostly absent from the discussion of human rights in North Korea, has made an important entry into that discussion, via this  Washington Post op-ed by Kay Sok.  Ms. Sok makes several important points here, and the first of these is how North Korea’s version of socialism is a recipe for selective deprivation as a weapon of class warfare: Many of these North Koreans crossed the border because...

Categories Human Rights/Refugees