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We Are (Not) One, Part 2

According to this unscientific-looking survey, half of the North Koreans living in South Korea would prefer to live in the United States, despite differences of language and culture and a lifetime of anti-American brainwashing. Why? A survey conducted by the Chosun Ilbo on Monday among 100 North Korean refugees who settled in South Korea found that 50 would go to the U.S. given a choice and 46 South Korea. The others were not sure. Of those who chose the U.S.,...

Defectors/Human Rights/Korean Politics/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized

HRC Update

Arguably, nothing South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission does matters more than documenting and trying to prevent human rights abuses in North Korea. The HRC has often seemed reluctant to do that, and its priorities have sometimes seemed wildly disproportionate to the gravity of the matters it investigates. This time, however, it is actually looking into the impending execution of a North Korean prisoner. It’s a small step in the right direction.

Human Rights/Korean Law

Kaesong Absurdities

[W]e have signs to believe that there are certain incentives for North Korean laborers working at the Kaesong complex, such as there are no complaints from workers who are asked to work overtime. — Unification Ministry Official As long as the UniFiction Ministry speaks, this blog will never lack for exquisite fisking material. With the White House standing firmly behind Human Rights Envoy Jay Lefkowitz’s concern that Kaesong fails to comply with international labor standards, (I would also raise U.S....

An Alliance?/Appeasement/Human Rights/Korean Politics/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized

Refugees Reax, Part 2

We have learned, via the Donga Ilbo that the arrival airport was Los Angles. The Donga also speculates about the meaning of the U.S. decision to comply with its own law and concludes that the admission of “common” refugees means that the U.S. is also preparing to clamp down hard on North Korea diplomatically and economically. While I hope that’s indeed the case, the conclusion ignores the fact that plenty of those in Congress (Leach and Lantos, to name two)...

"United" Nations/China & Korea/Defectors/Human Rights/Human Trafficking/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized

May 7, 2006

The Battle of the Hump, Part 3: Reestablishing the Rule of Law

[Updated below; S. Korean prosecutors are seeking to court-martial civilian demonstrators, and I’m not entirely comfortable with that.] There are some encouraging signs that the government and Korean society are losing patience with violent protests. Violent attacks on U.S. troops in Korea are old news, of course, but now that the red guards have attacked Korean troops (and even the mothers of riot policemen) the soldiers’ parents have had it. Have a look at the ineptitute and weakness of this...

Democracy/Korean Law/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea

May 7, 2006

Links of Note

The Political Pendulum: The Chosun Ilbo thinks that the Korean blogosphere is turning right. Although the report depends on readers’ ideological self-identification, I do see modest signs that in South Korea, the pendulum is swinging away from the far left. The problem for the Korea right continues to be that it has articulated no vision that has appeal for younger voters. In a word, it’s reactionary. ====================== Engaging the People: American cartoonist Ranan Lurie wants to bring “uniting artwork” to...

Appeasement/Blogs & Blogging/Korean Law/Korean Politics/News Links

May 7, 2006

Reaction to the Arrival of North Korean Refugees

The arrival of the first six North Korean refugees — including survivors of concentration camps and sexual slavery — could mark a tipping point in the politics of North Korean human rights. The timing of the arrival is either a fortunate coincidence or the height of shrewdness. Local elections are coming up in South Korea on May 31st, and with the human rights issue having created a clear schism (see here, here, and here) between the United States and South...

An Alliance?/Defectors/Human Rights/Korean Politics/Refugees/Six-Party Talks/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views

May 6, 2006

Why We Signed

I grow weary of sounding the death knell of the U.S.-Korea alliance now that it’s just a question of being how fast and how ugly. If anyone is smart and honest enough to offer a cogent defense of it, it’s U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow, who has made plenty of enemies in Korea by speaking his country’s views plainly. Now we know that the best justification he can offer is as light, flavorless, and indigestable as styrofoam, and just as easily...

An Alliance?/China & Korea/Diplomacy/Geopolitics/North Korea/Proliferation/Six-Party Talks/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views/WMD

May 6, 2006

So Much for ‘Ein Volk, Ein Reich.’

Viewed in its historical context, this is only the latest wave of, umm, intercourse between Korea and its neighbors. In the county, with a population of about 25,000, 150 couples were married last year. Forty-four of the marriages were international ones, mostly between Korean men and Southeast Asian women. In other words, about three of 10 Korean men in the county who married last year had foreign brides. Korea’s proud identity of “one blood, one nation” is becoming outdated.

Korean Society

The Battle of the Hump, Part 2

They’re ba …. ack! A day after the Defense Ministry forcefully evacuated protesters from an area in Pyeongtaek slated for the relocation of U.S. military installations, about 2,500 activists staged abrupt demonstrations by cutting through the fences built around the site of the future base. About 2,000 protesters from around the nation broke through the police line to seal off the area from outsiders. They marched three hours to join about 500 other protesters who had been scouting in Daechu...

An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Law/Korean Politics/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/Uncategorized/Washington Views

Had Enough Tokdo Yet?

Time Asia does a spot-on summary, if you can bear it. According to a report by Peter Beck, the Northeast Asia project director for the International Crisis Group, “One would be hard pressed to find a single Korean over the age of five willing to admit that control of Dokdo does not matter.” By contrast, says Hideshi Takesada, a professor of Korean politics at Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies, “most people in Japan have no knowledge of the issue,”...

Japan & Korea/Korean Politics/Unintended Humor/WTF?

Silent Majority Back U.S.-Korea FTA

This is interesting. According to this new Joongang Ilbo poll, more than 60% of Koreans (voting age? registered voters?) support the FTA.

Humor/Satire/Korean Politics/Media Criticism/NK Economics

Headine of the Day

Reds Waive Bong; Will Return to Korea — headine, Donga Ilbo Following the North Korean delegation’s visit to Amsterdam, members could not explain their sudden weight gain or the source of the mysterious burn marks on their thumbs and forefingers . . . .

Unintended Humor/WTF?

Whoa! Watch Where You Point That Thing!

The U.S. military has captured the rest of the video Abu Musab Zarkawi recently released — the parts Zarkawi didn’t want shown on TV. I dedicate this post to James, who actually knows how to operate firearms. Zarkawi, incidentally, seems to be having a rough time lately, judging by the reports and the quality of his followers’ military skills. Like a jihadi “Reno 9-11.”

Terrorism/Iraq/Unintended Humor

Source: First N. Korean Refugees to Arrive in U.S. Within Days

Via a trusted source, the first group of North Korean refugees will arrive at an undisclosed U.S. airport, escorted by personnel from an American embassy in Southeast Asia, within the next few days. There will be six refugees in the initial groups. Larger numbers are expected to follow in the next few weeks. All are currently under the protection of a U.S. consular facility in Southeast Asia. Among those expected to arrive later are concentration camp survivors. The refugees all...

Refugees/Southeast Asia/Uncategorized/Washington Views

Battle at the Hump: You Can Keep the Place

“During the May 1 North-South Workers’ Rally in Pyongyang, the workers of North and South agreed to unify to carry out the anti-American struggle”¦ The center of that struggle with the United States is Daechu-ri, Pyeongtaek. — Kim Tae-Il, “General Secretary” of the Korea’s largest labor group, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions As predicted, South Korean police have cleared out a group of several hundred local area residents and violent anti-American activists — many from the radical KCTU — who...

An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/Uncategorized