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January 26, 2007

Kim Jong Il, Defender of Free Speech

North Korea said on Friday the South Korean government was violating the public’s basic right to information by blocking access to Web sites sympathetic to the North. South Korea has denied access to more than 30 Web sites that it has designated “pro-North Korea” since 2004, including the North’s official KCNA news agency’s Web service and sites operated outside. “This is a fascist action against democracy and human rights as it infringes upon the South Koreans’ freedom of speech and...

Censorship/Deprogramming

January 26, 2007

Scandal

Why on earth has it taken this long to let our soldiers kill the people who are killing them? Micromanaging their fight against a hostile force transforms the rules of engagement into a suicide pact. The Bush administration has authorized the U.S. military to kill or capture Iranian operatives inside Iraq as part of an aggressive new strategy to weaken Tehran’s influence across the Middle East and compel it to give up its nuclear program, according to government and counterterrorism...

Iran/Terrorism/Iraq

January 26, 2007

This Could Only Mean that All South Korean Soldiers Are Infected with Abnormal Sexual Desires

Here. I’m linking this because you’ll never hear the American or Korean press, other than the Stripes, breathe a word about it or project its significance upon thousands of other people. (Those of you (a) have no irony gene, or (b) who don’t get the reference, click here before you spit fire in my comments.)

Media Criticism/UCMJ & SOFA

January 26, 2007

Shenyang Six Update

LiNK sends: Hello Friends, …. It feels strange to be back here in Washington at LiNK headquarters, typing away at a computer. For those of you who have been following the news, the past few weeks have not been calm and restful- they have been rather dramatic and urgent. On December 21, 2006, myself, two LiNK field workers and 6 North Korean refugees were caught and imprisoned by Chinese authorities. I was taken into custody in Beijing, and...

Activism/China & Korea/Human Rights/Refugees

January 26, 2007

Coup Rumors Swirl in North Korea

Update: More coup rumors. Thanks to a friend for alerting me to this one, although it doesn’t seem to have worked out the way I hoped: The South Korean government on Friday denied a Japanese report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il could be ill or faced a military coup. Japan’s Jiji Press reported that Kim may be under house arrest at his villa in Wonsan along the east coast. “The Japanese report on Kim Jong-il seems groundless because...

Kim Jong Il/Kremlinology

January 25, 2007

Axis, Schmaxis, Part 5

This blog has previously tracked reports of nuclear and missile co-development between Iran and North Korea; London’s Daily Telegraph is now reporting a widening expansion of Iranian-North Korean nuclear cooperation. North Korea is helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one Pyongyang carried out last year. Under the terms of a new understanding between the two countries, the North Koreans have agreed to share all the data and information they received from their successful test last...

Axis of Evil/Iran/Terrorism/Iraq/WMD

January 25, 2007

KTU Update

Korean Education takes another small step toward reform. The ministry said soon all bonuses will be performance-related. The seniority system will also disappear. With recognized capabilities, teachers in their early 40s can become vice principals, whereas long-serving teachers with low scores will miss out on promotion. Parents and pupils will now get to evaluate teachers, which is curious from a social perspective, because the status of teachers has traditionally been so high in Korean’s highly Confucian society that the idea...

Korean Education

January 25, 2007

N. Korea Denies Misuse of UNDP Funds

Update 1/26: The UNDP North Korea program has pretty much hit the wall. The UN says it will “adjust the North Korea program and delay its implementation” until “approved,” which most likely means until the audit is completed. The U.S. annual allocation to the UNDP remains, but it has decided to withhold all of those funds for the time being, and may propose an end to all UN programs in North Korea, except the humanitarian ones. Here’s the one that really...

"United" Nations/Famine & Food Aid

January 25, 2007

Lawless Will Stay

No link, because I’m passing along informed gossip from after-dinner conversation (no names, and no, this was NOT from a certain off-the-record event). Indeed, his portfolio there will reportedly be enhanced to add Afghanistan and Pakistan to his area of interest. If this is in fact the case, it suggests that USFK restructuring will proceed as previously planned. The other informed gossip is split: on the question of whether we are at the cusp of some kind of graceful-exit deal...

Washington Views

January 24, 2007

What Jim Webb Should Have Said

[Welcome Instapundit readers.] My fellow Americans, We have have a long and glorious history that I join you in celebrating here tonight. Let me share with you this deguerrotype of my great great great great grandfather, a penniless drunkard and street-corner pugilist who sat in a Dublin jail, until he was paroled and came to Virginia in 1724, just in time to join in the massacre of the peaceful Massapequasimolie Indians. I would hope you draw strength from this...

Terrorism/Iraq/Washington Views

January 23, 2007

Lebanon on the Altar

Michael Totten reports, and has some pretty shocking pictures, and it’s depressingly doubtful that democracy can survive there. The Cedar Revolution will become a victim of Iranian infanticide and the amivalence of Europe, the United States, and other democracies to support it in its hour of need. The lesson comes through clearly: investing your nation’s survival in the United Nations and its French peacekeepers is like investing your savings in a partnership with that exiled Nigerian general who keeps e-mailing...

"United" Nations/Iran/Islam/Terrorism/Iraq

January 23, 2007

al-Yahoo Update

[Update: Another misleading headline from AP, here. I suppose if you’re going to lament the terrible quality of our intelligence, you have to be even more depressed about the quality of the information we often get from our news media. It strikes me as hypocritical for those responsible for the latter fiasco to be caustic in their criticism of the former fiasco. At least the CIA can say that it’s not easy to unveil the deceptions of secretive tyrannies. ...

Media Criticism/Terrorism/Iraq

January 23, 2007

That’s funny. I thought the main sticking point was the fact that North Korea built and tested nukes.

South Korea recently asked the U.S. to consider selectively unfreezing at least five of North Korea’s 50 accounts with the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, saying part of the US$24 million North Korean accounts were acquired legitimately, it emerged Monday. The issue has been the main sticking point in international efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis. [link] … not to mention all of North Korea’s extended absences from the talks, and breaking its last three four nuclear agreements.

Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks/WMD

January 22, 2007

Phoney War (I)

It is a natural tendency of people to accomodate themselves emotionally to conditions they cannot change. At its most extreme, accomodation can explain an abused child’s seeming acceptance of an abuser’s predations. At its most benign, it can be a mostly beneficial tendency to compromise with opposing views. But there is a difference between being open-minded and fooling one’s self. I’m still leaning against belief that a Democratic Congress with a narrow margin is going into an election year with...

Appeasement/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks/Washington Views/WMD

January 22, 2007

So I Guess Charlie Rangel Is Voting for the FTA, Then

United States Congressman Charles B. Rangel received the Distinguished Order of Diplomatic Service from the Korean government on Korean-American Day (January 13) at the Colden Center for the Performing Arts theater, Queens College, New York. Congressman Rangel said that he was honored to receive the award and that his achievement is the achievement of all his Korean friends. The medal was awarded to him by the consul general in New York, Moon Bong-ju. It is given to non-Koreans who have...

U.S. & Korea/Washington Views

January 22, 2007

Wobble Watch

Here I go again, elevating my metabolism about the latest U.S.-North Korean “breakthrough” that will probably amount to nothing. North Korea has reportedly agreed to halt nuclear activities including operations at a reactor in Yongbyon, and allow on-site monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency as the first steps to abandoning its nuclear program. The agreement came during a meeting of the chief nuclear negotiators of the U.S. and North Korea that ended Friday in Berlin, sources said. According to...

Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks/WMD

January 22, 2007

It’s All a Matter of Perspective

Does it sometimes seem to you like we are two ships that pass in the night? The South Korean government should not disgrace itself by obeying foreign powers and imposing sanctions on its brethren…. South Korea’s political parties, groups and the public in all walks of life should be aware of the maneuvers of conservatives to take power …. South Koreans should form a broad anti-conservative alliance to destroy pro-American and anti-unification politicians and their conspiracies. You say that like...

Anti-Americanism/Appeasement/WTF?

January 22, 2007

Ban Ki Moon Orders Review of U.N. Programs

Update 2: Reuters reports that Ban is now backtracking and saying that the new audits will focus only on programs where the financial practices are shady. Monday’s U.N. statement said Ban would assign auditors only to U.N. funds and programs “in countries where issues of hard currency transactions, independence of staff hiring and access to reviewing local projects are pertinent.” Audits would be “simultaneously carried out in select cases of countries” identified by the funds and programs, it said. Funding...

"United" Nations/Famine & Food Aid/Washington Views