December 28, 2006

N. Korean Soldiers Repatriated

Previous post here.  In this photograph, one of them is being escorted by a U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and a South Korean First Lieutenant — without the use of a Baby Bjorn, which is not authorized with the uniform.  He looks thrilled to be on his way home, which is what you’d expect for a guy found  adrift and near death on a raft  in  the Sea of Japan  in December.     I’m sad that our Army had any...

Categories NK Military/U.S. Military
December 28, 2006

Mercurial Politics Watch: Light Entertainment for a Long Year

I didn’t bother fisking  President Roh’s latest attack of the vapors, because I didn’t  have to.  “It’s evident that any missiles North Korea fires won’t target South Korea. So why should the government step forward and tell people to stock up on instant noodles and buy gas masks in preparation for missile attacks from the North?” Referring to parliamentary confirmation hearings of ministers-designate who were asked what caused the Korean War, he complained that lawmakers evidently take him for a...

Categories Korean Politics
December 23, 2006

A Highly Successful Conclusion to the Six-Party Talks

It’s  the best result we could possibly have hoped for from this worn-out  charade. The U.S. delegation seems to have gone out of its way in the talks. Hill was quoted by China’s People’s Daily as saying his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan “is obviously professional, and he has a lot of experience, so because he has more experience than I do in nuclear negotiations, it made me have to work hard. I have to do a lot of homework...

Categories Uncategorized
December 22, 2006

Roh Learns Bitter Lesson About the Futility of Appeasing Implacable Foes

… inside his own party. The president also laid into three aspiring candidates in next year’s presidential election, describing his appointment of the moderate Goh Kun as his first prime minister as “a failure. “I chose Goh in the hope that he would become a bridge bringing me closer to conservatives, but it alienated me and the government from them instead,” Roh said. His decision to appoint Uri Party hopefuls Kim Geun-tae and Chung Dong-young as health and unification ministers...

Categories An Alliance?/Korean Politics/ROK Military/U.S. Military
December 22, 2006

The Talks Aren’t Over Until Chris Hill’s Plane Takes Off

Despite this AP report that the talks are over, I’ll refrain from publishing my draft post until Hill actually leaves Beijing on Saturday, and possibly until his plane lands.   While hopes for a successful outcome are high — and to me, that means continued  impasse with maximum cosmetic value — it would be just like the North Koreans to revert to their bottom line negotiating position after all of the other delegates had packed their suitcases, especially right before Christmas. ...

Categories Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks
December 21, 2006

Slavery, Then and Now

Apparently,  North Korean restaurants are popular in China, for everyone except the young women who are forced to work in them.  Fortunately, China is a good enough neighbor to help North Korea hunt the absconders down.     Remind you of anything?     This is about as clear a case of human trafficking as you’ll ever see.  In a just world, China would get sanctions for this.  In the world in which we really live, the James Bakers and...

Categories China/China & Korea/Human Rights/Human Trafficking
December 20, 2006

Bangkok Post: Thai Military Gov’t Orders ‘Offensive’ Against N. Korean Refugees

Thanks to a reader for forwarding this.  Chiang Rai _ Immigration authorities in the North are going on the offensive to try to stem the influx of North Korean migrants by tipping off China where the migrants are hiding before they enter Thailand illegally. Pol Col Jessada Yaisoon, the immigration checkpoint chief for Mae Sai district, said immigration officers would use more pro-active measures which necessitate approaching China, the ”upstream country” of the problem. The government has been alarmed by...

Categories China/China & Korea/Human Rights/Refugees/Southeast Asia
December 20, 2006

OFK Exclusive: N. Korea to Charge Crafty Yodok Inmates With Running International Counterfeiting Ring

The U.S. has said the question of North Korea’s frozen accounts in the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia could be resolved early if North Korea punishes counterfeiters of U.S. dollars and destroys their equipment.  [link] Firing squads and bloody handshakes to follow, and my sources tell me there may  even be a ceremonial steamrolling of the HP Laserjet that was  the center of this dastardly plan.  I dare you to  figure out where the  satire ends and the “news” begins: Ever...

Categories Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/Money Laundering/Six-Party Talks
December 19, 2006

If I Were a Member of the North Korean Elite, I, Too Would Be Buying Up Gold and Chinese Real Estate

One of the least recognized moral responsibilities assumed by authoritarian states is the responsibility for misspent words and wealth they choose to get into the business of controlling. For example, when the South Korean government dabbles in the control of objectionable speech, whether for political or nationalistic reasons, it assumes responsibility for the decision to license, by omission, (and sometimes, even to subsidize) other objectionable or controversial speech. To a much greater extent, North Korea, which aspires to a higher...

Categories "United" Nations/China & Korea/Famine & Food Aid/Human Rights
December 18, 2006

Phillip Buck Featured in WSJ

Underground railroad worker Phillip Buck,  recently released from a Chinese prison,  has told Melanie Kirkpatrick  about his activities, his  arrest, and even his new identity: Pastor Buck is nothing if not determined. In 2002, while in a Southeast Asian country with a group of refugees he had guided there, his apartment in Yanji city, in northeast China, was raided. Nineteen refugees were captured and a copy of his passport was confiscated. With his identity now compromised, Mr. Buck returned to...

Categories China & Korea/Human Rights/Refugees/Uncategorized
December 18, 2006

Wobble Watch: Desperation Isn’t Enough

My fear:  the U.S., desperate for the appearance of a last-minute  diplomatic success, would sign up for Agreed Framework II at Beijing.  The reality:  the North Koreans and the Americans are both acting as if they expect the other to give more, with the North Koreans enjoying a clear advantage in chutzpah: North Korea defiantly declared itself a nuclear power Monday at the start of the first full international arms talks since its nuclear test and threatened to increase its...

Categories Six-Party Talks