April 19, 2006

‘No Evidence’ Backs FLG Sujiatan Accusations

When shocking reports first emerged that China was mass-harvesting the organs of thousands Falun Gong members, the U.S. government called on China to allow international inspection of the facility in question. China wisely decided to do just that — though not quite immediately — and embassy staffers who visited the location have found the evidence for the reports lacking. Officers and staff from our embassy in Beijing and consulate in Shenyang have visited the area and the specific site mentioned...

Categories China/Human Rights
April 16, 2006

Chris Hill on North Korea’s Creative Financing

“They might have thought they were a small country that could get away with it “¦ but when you get involved with nuclear weapons, you get looked at,” said Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who was on his way home from an academic conference in Tokyo, where he briefly saw his North Korean counterpart. “They should not be surprised”¦. This is life in the fast lane.” Link here. While I don’t actually agree that Amb. Hill is the good...

Categories Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/NK Economics/Six-Party Talks
April 15, 2006

Election Watch: A Race to the Bottom

Despite Roh’s and the Uri Party’s difficulties, the GNP will be unable to provide a viable policy alternative. Although the GNP’s surging approval ratings after the by-elections provided a strong boost to GNP chairwoman, Park Geun-hye, and her 2007 presidential candidacy, they reflect an electorate rebuff to Roh rather than a shift toward the GNP. . . . Park will likely overplay her hand, misinterpreting the elections as a vindication of her conservative policy and party stewardship. — Bruce Klingner,...

Categories Korean Politics
April 14, 2006

Meet Your New Censors

They have won, and you have lost. On Wednesday, Comedy Central forced South Park to censor out one single, innocuous image of Mohammad. Because I think this is a much greater issue than just one TV show, I’m going to print Comedy Central’s entire response to an angry comment I sent that very night. Within the response, I will add my own comments. Thank you for your correspondence regarding the “South Park” episodes entitled “Cartoon Wars.” We appreciate your concerns...

Categories Censorship/Islam/Terrorism/Iraq/Uncategorized
April 13, 2006

Links of Interest

* The United States wants South Korea to join it in imposing sanctions against North Korean shipping. South Korea will not agree, though the move would be almost exclusively symbolic. * LiNK will hold a fund-raising happy hour at the K Street Lounge, 1301 K St. NW, Washington, DC, on April 20th at 6 p.m. Join us as LiNK DC hosts the K Street Lounge Happy Hour! With free first drinks, we promise a great time networking with like professionals...

Categories Activism/An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Appeasement/Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/Korean Law/Korean Society/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/WTF?
April 13, 2006

Also Turning Ugly: USFK Relocation

I wish I had the time to cover the latest Camp Humphreys relocation protests in the detail they deserve, given that I spent seven months of my life there defending young, misunderstood soldiers who were wrongly accused of various things. Humphreys, one of the least pleasant sites in the USFK portfolio, has its advantages: cheap land, proximity to Osan Air Base, and a location south of Seoul and out of artillery range. It makes sense to move most of the...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/UCMJ & SOFA/Uncategorized
April 12, 2006

Show Mohammad

In tonight’s second installment of the two-parter, “Cartoon Wars,” Comedy Central censored out an image of Mohammad. South Park has thus far parodied sexually abusive Catholic priests, blacks, Asians, Jews, the handicapped, illegal immigration, Osama bin Laden, and even the Holocaust. You may not consider any of that funny, but that’s not the point. You have the freedom to change the channel, and I have the freedom to watch. Parker and Stone finally picked targets that Comedy Central feared, however;...

Categories Censorship/Humor/Satire/Islam/Uncategorized
April 12, 2006

One Big, Leaky Basket

South Korea has arrested a Taiwanese man for spying for North Korea. What’s not entirely clear is whether the man was spying for prodigal son Kim Jong Nam, and what JN’s relationship is to North Korea these days: The information sent to the North, according to prosecutors, included Newsweek Korea magazine’s coverage of the detention and expulsion of Kim Jong-nam from Japan in 2001 after he tried to enter that country on a fraudulent passport. The man also forwarded tapes...

Categories Appeasement/Korean Politics/Kremlinology/NK Military/North Korea/ROK Military/Washington Views
April 12, 2006

Shin Sang-Ok Dies

The South Korean film-maker and his actress wife were best known for having been kidnapped by Kim Jong Il to make movies in North Korea, most infamously the stoner cult classic “Pulgasari.” In Shin’s observations about the emperor and his court feature prominently in the writings of North Korea Kremlinologists, including Jasper Becker’s Rogue Regime. Apparently at the orders of Kim Jong-il, then North Korea’s heir apparent and a film buff, both he and his wife, the actress Choi Eun-hee,...

Categories Abductions/Kim Jong Il/Korean Society/Kremlinology/North Korea
April 11, 2006

Plenty of Room on the Stage

Oranckay has finally done it. In the span of a day, he’s joined the bulk of the IKK into a single, in-bred borg. Today, he goes to The Marmot’s Hole to defend his latest post, which links OFK posts by myself and Andy Jackson, who now co-blogs at the Hole. Someone ought to wake Dr. Hwang from his alcoholic fog to tell him a greater crime has finally been committed against nature. I make no argument with much of what...

Categories Activism/Human Rights
April 10, 2006

The FTA Debate Is Turning Ugly

FTA negotiations will likely magnify “anti-American” sentiments in the short run and unleash a backlash in America. — Balbina Hwang, March 2, 2006 There are really three premises to this post, all of them leading to one conclusion: First, a Korean-American free trade agreement would be a good thing for both countries, but particularly for Korea. Second, despite that being demonstrably the case, the usual suspects see the FTA as an opportunity to ride to power on the shoulders of...

Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/China & Korea/Diplomacy/Korean Education/Korean Politics/Media Criticism/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized
April 10, 2006

Links of Interest

Kamerad! It was all too predictable: France has surrendered to the mobs in the streets. The good news is the decline of Chirac and De Villepin; the bad news is that France’s own economic decline is now increasingly assured. Mary Robinson Wouldn’t Approve. I have three words to say about Zacharias Moussaoui’s date with Hell: Pay-Per-View. Bring beer; Cheetos are on me. The Skirt Defense. This is without question both the strangest and most contemptable rape defense I’ve ever seen:...

Categories News Links
April 10, 2006

Charles Jenkins in OhMyNews

This one is a must-read. The portrait you get is of a man broken in every way possible, yet almost inexplicably, alive. I’ll give you two quotes and let you read the rest yourself: He believes there are more Americans in the country. “I know they’re there but can’t prove it. They’re left from the Korean and Vietnam wars. There is a place there where they got Americans farming.” . . . . Jenkins secretly indulged his love of American...

Categories Abductions/Famine & Food Aid/Inside NK/Japan/Japan & Korea/U.S. Military/Uncategorized
April 10, 2006

Please Don’t Print the ‘R’ Word

South Korea is considering an untried new approach to secure the release extradition of its abductees those who rallied to the workers’ paradise. (We have learned that how such things are characterized in the South Korean press can be a matter of some sensitivity to the governments of both North Korea and South Korea.) And the untried new approach? Paying ransom protection money brotherly assistance. Well, almost untried. OK, tried that. And yet, despite my better judgment, I favor it....

Categories Abductions/Appeasement/NK Economics