Search Results for: kaesong

I guess the next step is for South Korea to start calling itself the Outer Koguryo Semi-Autonomous Zone. This story from the Chosun Ilbo is almost too amazing to believe: Military exchanges between Korea and China will intensify to a level similar to those between Korea and Japan, the defense ministry said Monday. “China, more than any nation, wishes for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, so we plan to strengthen our military exchanges with China, including making defense...

I guess the next step is for South Korea to start calling itself the Outer Koguryo Semi-Autonomous Zone. This story from the Chosun Ilbo is almost too amazing to believe: Military exchanges between Korea and China will intensify to a level similar to those between Korea and Japan, the defense ministry said Monday. “China, more than any nation, wishes for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, so we plan to strengthen our military exchanges with China, including making defense...

Asian dictatorships haven’t had an especially good record against the rash of new viruses lately. Now comes word that bird flu has made its way into North Korea, and that the starving nation, which depended on chicken for 13% of its meat supply (how does anyone know this?), has been slaughtering thousands of the birds and burning their carcasses. The latter may be a wise precaution in light of recent reports that starving North Koreans–the vast majority of whom probably...

Asian dictatorships haven’t had an especially good record against the rash of new viruses lately. Now comes word that bird flu has made its way into North Korea, and that the starving nation, which depended on chicken for 13% of its meat supply (how does anyone know this?), has been slaughtering thousands of the birds and burning their carcasses. The latter may be a wise precaution in light of recent reports that starving North Koreans–the vast majority of whom probably...

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill, in a hearing for his confirmation to the post of Assistant Secretary of State for Asian and Pacific Affairs, has given the most explicit signal yet that the Bush Administration will not tolerate the continued lack of progress in the six-party talks. Reuters reports: “[W]e need to see some progress here. If we don’t, we need to look at other ways to deal with this,” said Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to South Korea....

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill, in a hearing for his confirmation to the post of Assistant Secretary of State for Asian and Pacific Affairs, has given the most explicit signal yet that the Bush Administration will not tolerate the continued lack of progress in the six-party talks. Reuters reports: “[W]e need to see some progress here. If we don’t, we need to look at other ways to deal with this,” said Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to South Korea....

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill, in a hearing for his confirmation to the post of Assistant Secretary of State for Asian and Pacific Affairs, has given the most explicit signal yet that the Bush Administration will not tolerate the continued lack of progress in the six-party talks. Reuters reports: “[W]e need to see some progress here. If we don’t, we need to look at other ways to deal with this,” said Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to South Korea....

Add the Asian Wall Street Journal and Thomas Barnett (The Pentagon’s New Map) to the list of those who’ve noticed that the United States and South Korea suffer from a visible lack of common interests and policies these days. The ASWJ said friction between Seoul and Washington was particularly intense over the joint North-South Kaesong Industrial Project. In the first stage of the project alone, 300 Korean companies were scheduled to employ 75,000 North Korean laborers and invest US$9.6 billion...

Add the Asian Wall Street Journal and Thomas Barnett (The Pentagon’s New Map) to the list of those who’ve noticed that the United States and South Korea suffer from a visible lack of common interests and policies these days. The ASWJ said friction between Seoul and Washington was particularly intense over the joint North-South Kaesong Industrial Project. In the first stage of the project alone, 300 Korean companies were scheduled to employ 75,000 North Korean laborers and invest US$9.6 billion...

In the wake of the recent news that Japan has imposed economic sanctions in the disguise of a new insurance requirement for incoming ships, the United States is also looking for ways to amplify the shock. The New York Times reports: In the months before North Korea announced that it possessed nuclear weapons, the Bush administration began developing new strategies to choke off its few remaining sources of income, based on techniques in use against Al Qaeda, intelligence officials and...

In the wake of the recent news that Japan has imposed economic sanctions in the disguise of a new insurance requirement for incoming ships, the United States is also looking for ways to amplify the shock. The New York Times reports: In the months before North Korea announced that it possessed nuclear weapons, the Bush administration began developing new strategies to choke off its few remaining sources of income, based on techniques in use against Al Qaeda, intelligence officials and...

Holding Pyongyang Accountable. Not for the Rev. Jeffrey Park (of whom we’ve heard nothing since this post, and for whom it’s pretty hard to pin responsibility), but for the Rev. Kim Dong-Shik, who by now has probably earned an unwanted distinction–one that carries one of the world’s most abused labels: martyr. Twenty congressmen, including speaker Hastert, have made it quite clear that North Korea will remain on the U.S. terrorism list until North Korea comes clean about his fate. Given...

Holding Pyongyang Accountable. Not for the Rev. Jeffrey Park (of whom we’ve heard nothing since this post, and for whom it’s pretty hard to pin responsibility), but for the Rev. Kim Dong-Shik, who by now has probably earned an unwanted distinction–one that carries one of the world’s most abused labels: martyr. Twenty congressmen, including speaker Hastert, have made it quite clear that North Korea will remain on the U.S. terrorism list until North Korea comes clean about his fate. Given...

Kaesong Update: Will a South Korean-proposed “Kaesong clause” kill the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement? We can only hope so, although South Korea has already signalled that it’s not a deal-breaker (thus proving that they can sometimes be just as bad at negotiating with us as with the North Koreans). Why should we snatch the Axis of Evil from the jaws of death when it’s this intractible on nukes and human rights? As Uncle Vic says, “you wanna play, you gotta...

Kaesong Update: Will a South Korean-proposed “Kaesong clause” kill the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement? We can only hope so, although South Korea has already signalled that it’s not a deal-breaker (thus proving that they can sometimes be just as bad at negotiating with us as with the North Koreans). Why should we snatch the Axis of Evil from the jaws of death when it’s this intractible on nukes and human rights? As Uncle Vic says, “you wanna play, you gotta...

Same paper, same day, same historical dissonance: Headline 1: Ex-Forced Laborer Demands Compensation Headline 2: Tongdaemun Merchants to Build Plants in Kaesong [North Korea] Did the accountants forget something when they calculated the cost of doing business? I’m just saying . . . . If you’re not familiar with the Kaesong Industrial Park project, click here.

Same paper, same day, same historical dissonance: Headline 1: Ex-Forced Laborer Demands Compensation Headline 2: Tongdaemun Merchants to Build Plants in Kaesong [North Korea] Did the accountants forget something when they calculated the cost of doing business? I’m just saying . . . . If you’re not familiar with the Kaesong Industrial Park project, click here.

No, they’re not “officially” taxes; they’re merely mandatory payments the state collects from citizens. Whatever nomenclature you choose, North Korea is sharply increasing them, having already raised prices dramatically in the course of what it has euphemistically dubbed “economic reform.” In actuality, North Korea is a society with deep state-imposed class divisions, which means that the poor inevitably do most of the starving and dying when the state changes its systems for the collection and distribution of capital. This Amnesty...