December 4, 2006

So Much for Excellence: John Bolton Steps Down

Ambassador John Bolton, the most effective U.N. Ambassador the United States has had in two decades, has announced that he will step down  when his current term ends.  His remarkable accomplishments  on Resolutions 1695 and 1718  on North Korea, Resolution 1706 on  Darfur,  and his valiant efforts at reform all  notwithstanding, Bolton became a victim of partisanship and a target of UN-topians  for his refusal to acquiesce to evil or surrender U.S. interests to its foes.  Although no Democrat on...

Categories "United" Nations
December 4, 2006

EU Investigating Forced N. Korean Labor

Update:   More at the Daily NK.   You may recall my previous post (and R. Elgin’s) about the use of female North Korean slave laborers to stitch upholstery for German luxury sedans, which certainly brings back a few memories about the golden age of German business ethics.  It looks like that source of income will soon come to an end, as the European Parliament is now investigating the conditions under which North Koreans labor in the Czech Republic and...

Categories Europe/Human Rights/Human Trafficking
December 3, 2006

If the Alliance Has a Future …

Several new articles give us some idea of what it might look like. The first item is the alliance’s reason for being, part of which involves dealing with life after Kim Jong Il: OPLAN 5029. Back in April 2005 the South Koreans unilaterally pulled out of planning for it for fear of pissing off North Korea. A month later, talks seemed to be on again, but with no word on progress until now. A government source on Thursday said then-defense...

Categories An Alliance?/Reconstruction/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
December 3, 2006

N. Korea Arrests Hoeryong Protest Leaders

You will recall my post regarding the merchants’ protest in Hoeryong, against the closure of a market for which the merchants had already rented stall space from the authorities.  The Daily NK reported that a hundred people protested the decision at the market management office.  Since then, a subsequent report suggested that the authorities might cave.  Any such hope has proven premature.  It’s still North Korea up there. The Daily NK now reports how the chapter closed:  one dead, 20...

Categories Inside NK/Resistance
December 2, 2006

Must-Read: On the Underground Railroad

The Times of London spent months trying to interview one of the conductors of the underground railroad.  This remarkable report tells us what North Koreans suffer to escape from hell on earth: He muffles his face and hides in the back of a car. Every Chinese checkpoint is a challenge. North Korean agents are out to kill him. Chinese-Korean gangsters hate him for rescuing women doomed to sexual slavery. Nam made his own escape after his wife and younger son...

Categories China/China & Korea/Human Rights/Refugees
December 2, 2006

John Bolton on North Korea Sanctions

While looking for something else, I picked up this exchange, which I thought might interest you: Reporter: The North Korean — DPRK Sanctions Committee is going to meet today, and they seem to be rather slowly getting up to speed on their reporting and all the other work they have to do, and it’s kind of dragging on for a while. There’s some indication that perhaps some countries might be delaying action in the Sanctions Committee. Do you have a...

Categories "United" Nations/WMD
December 2, 2006

N. Korea Has 1M Tonne Food Shortfall

The U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that this year’s harvest in North Korea will be 1 million tonnes short of domestic needs. Despite an overall satisfactory food supply situation in the subregion, food shortages and emergencies persist, at national or subnational levels due to natural disasters and civil unrest. In DPR Korea, harvesting of the 2006 main season crops of rice, maize, and potatoes is underway. Lower output than last year is expected, as a result of severe floods...

Categories "United" Nations/Famine & Food Aid
December 2, 2006

The Death of an Alliance, Part 61: S. Korea’s Withdrawal from Withdrawal

I agree with GI Korea on this: Iraq won’t even miss the Zaitun “division.”  Although numerically large, Korea’s contribution was militarily nil. The troops did not patrol, conduct raids, or guard anything except their own base, which sat in the most secure area of Kurdish Iraq. The deployment was a translucent veil for Korea’s ingratitude for the sacrifice of other nations, chiefly that of the United States, for its own survival. Locals joked that South Korea was a member of...

Categories An Alliance?/ROK Military/Terrorism/Iraq
December 2, 2006

What Can We Expect from Silvestre Reyes?

Reyes, a Democrat from Texas (he’s the one on the left, next to Curt Weldon), has been picked to lead the House Intelligence Committee. First, let’s heave a sigh that Nancy Pelosi’s first choice, Alcee Hastings, hit the “WTF!?” wall hard. The choice of Hastings was Pelosi’s second major personnel stumble since her selection as majority leader, before even taking up the post. Before he was elected to Congress, Hastings had been a federal judge. In 1988, he was overwhelmingly...

Categories Diplomacy/Washington Views
December 1, 2006

Where I’ve Been

I liked Richardson’s map post, despite my envy that he has five percent on me (that should only be taken as a reference to countries visited).  So here’s mine.  create your own visited country map I think we should make this a tagging exercise.  And feel free to post the html of your own map in the comments.  We can even make this competitive.  A few rules:  any overland border crossing, however slight, counts.  Airport stops don’t count unless you...

Categories Miscellaneous
December 1, 2006

N. Korean Refugees Continue Flooding Into Thailand

Thailand is annoyed, and has just sentenced dozens more to short jail terms for illegal border crossing.  This from Reuters and the Bangkok Post, dated November 30, 2006. The Foreign Ministry complained yesterday that local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were hampering Thailand ‘s efforts to prevent illegal entry by North Korean defectors. The ministry’s complaint came after police rounded up 59 North Koreans in Pathum Thani province on Tuesday, the third mass arrest in four months. The UNHCR, which...

Categories Refugees/Southeast Asia
December 1, 2006

Full Court Press

Roh Moo Hyun is recruiting for a new cadre of proxy censors in his war against a critical press: Continuing his battles with the media, President Roh Moo-hyun sent an e-mail yesterday to about 500,000 government officials, encouraging them take action against any media they believe acted wrongly, including taking them to court. In principle, I’m not opposed to the government having some appropriate way to address its  grievances against inaccurate press coverage.  And this, friends, is not an appropriate...

Categories Censorship/Korean Politics/Miscellaneous
November 30, 2006

Cindy Sheehan, Kim Jong Il, and Me

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. — Martin Luther King, Jr. I will restrain the expression of  views on  Cindy Sheehan herself.  I’m one who makes allowances for the fact that she’s traumatized by her son’s death, an event that quite obviously and understandably blew a few of her circuits.  And while I’m sure that Casey  Sheehan  wouldn’t appreciate his mother’s hard work to render his sacrifice meaningless, I’m just as sure...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/The Fifth Column