An Appeal What follows is a status report on the most urgent, compelling human rights issue of all–what increasingly looks like the making of the next Great Famine. The last one, which took place in the 1990’s, killed approximately two million people. If you are in a position to take any kind of action–including something as modest as writing your member of Congress or posting a link on your own blog–this is my urgent appeal to raise public outrage to...

On God’s Law, and Godwin’s: Do idiotic statements like this unify us as a society? More importantly, do they have any factual basis? In the course of my work on behalf of human rights in North Korea, some my closest collaborators are members of the “religious right,” not one of them claims a monopoly on piety, and every one of them sincerely welcomes me, even knowing that I’m a non-observant Jew. For the most part, these devoted Christians have made...

For a while, it seemed that South Korea’s hosting of the APEC Summit would be recorded as an unqualified success. The photo opportunities, for all their awkwardness, seemed to go according to well-laid plans. The preponderance of bad press went to Japan, where a popular backlash has also been building. Anti-American protests were relatively muted; those that attracted the most attention in the U.S. media were against competition from foreign imports, along with one against North Korea. Gateway Pundit (thanks...

The timing of the announcement made it difficult for U.S. and Korean media to ignore the extent to which Bush and Roh differed in their self-perceived interests and articulable policy goals. Media on both sides of the Pacific could see stress cracks in the alliance through the diplomatic plaster. The Chosun Ilbo reported it this way: President Roh Moo-hyun . . . told a press conference, “A lot is said about the South Korea-U.S. alliance. Though perceptions may differ depending...

As if Roh’s self-inflicted Iraq faux pas wasn’t enough, this was the week that Seoul abstained yet again from a U.N. resolution that condemned North Korea’s human rights record–this time, before the entire General Assembly (from the Joongang Ilbo’s story): The UN General Assembly’s Human Rights Committee adopted Thursday in New York the measure to show concern over reported torture, public executions and other infringements of basic human rights. The resolution, sponsored by 37 UN nations led by the European...

New Comment Policy: I think the urban planners call this growth management. Please read the new comment policy at the sidebar, right below my bias disclaimers.

[Updated] Thanks for your patience while I spent a day at work catching up on everything I missed yesterday. As noted, I was invited by the North Korean Freedom Coalition to take part in a 30-minute meeting that U.N. Ambassador John Bolton granted us at his office in New York. Present were six members of the coalition, including (left to right) myself, Mariam Bell of the Wilberforce Forum, Rabbi Cooper, Ambassador Bolton, Coalition President Suzanne Scholte, stalwart member Sin U...

Too tired to tell you about it now, but stop by tomorrow and I’ll tell you all about my meeting with U.N. Ambassador John Bolton a few hours ago.

Here is the latest published interview with Chung Dong-Young, North Korea’s Minister for Southern Affairs. SEOUL, Nov 16 (Reuters) – Communist North Korea and capitalist South Korea are likely to have formed at least an economic union by 2020, the South’s unification minister told Reuters on Wednesday. “The vision of the Republic of Korea — my personal vision as a politician — is that by 2020 we will be a welfare state, and also at the same time, the South...

In the interests of rounding out the rather incomplete and skewed record you might see in the Korean press, I publish stories like these when I get my hands on them, which happens occasionally, thanks to a very good friend in Korea. From the Eighth U.S. Army’s Seoul MP blotter: AT 1917 HRS, 13 NOV 05, [U.S. Army Private L] NOTIFIED THIS STATION IN PERSON OF AN ASSAULT CONSUMMATED BY BATTERY. INVESTIGATION BY PATROL 3-3 [ ] REVEALED AT THE...

In spite of the government’s best efforts to eradicate it and its followers, Christianity is spreading. Famine may indeed be harder to face without the belief in an afterlife. Once again, Barbara Demick outstrips her peers. Thanks to Slim for the hat tip. This is a must-read; I wish I had the time to graf it for you.

It’s Official: Seoul will abstain. Not just from one resolution, but from the path that leads to unification, redemption, and taking its rightful place in the world.

John Bolton is dropping public hints about seeking alternatives to the United Nations.

Today, in what seems to be a coordinated response, the Australians (via Andy Jackson at The Marmot’s Hole) and President Bush’s National Security Advisor have both gone on the record as saying that North Korea will not receive “economic aid” before it disarms. Some translation is necessary here. Recall that the Bush Administration’s position is that it does not use food as a weapon, [corrected: I typoed “does use” before–sorry!] and the United States has long been the top donor...

Your North Korean Kremlinology Fix is here at the IHT, via Choe Sang-Hun.

From the Korea Times: The United States will consider expanding its broadcasts to North Korea and providing literature for its people to learn about the outside world, a U.S. government report said Sunday. The State Department report to Congress said non-governmental organizations have proposed a number of ways to reach the people in North Korea, an isolated communist country. They include expanding Korean-language broadcasting, increasing medium-wave radio broadcasts, and providing radios or other devices capable of receiving foreign broadcasts in...

I think the Nomad said this one best this week, in another context: Just when I think South Korea has run out of NORK ass to kiss – someone, somewhere, proves me wrong. This time, it was no one else but a member of the beloved Unification Ministry (are you surprised?). This time, Chung Dong-Young is actually proposing–post-breakdown–that everyone reconsider North Korea’s newest offer, which appears (lack of details notwithstanding) to be completely irreconcilable with the terms to which it...

Park Jin is running for mayor of Seoul. Although I tend not to be comforted by national leaders who write fad diet books–and I like my dolphin mixed with my tuna, thanks!–compared to his peers, Park has been a stalwart on North Korean human rights and speaking honestly about the threat the North represents. Here is Park’s Web site (ht: The Yangban, who has shown some interest in Park’s future). Some grafs, and they’re a mix, but more good than...