Update 9/16/05: We have solved the mystery of where Park gets his MacArthur quote–a history textbook from North Korea whose poisonous content found a willing host in the radical politics of South Korea. Must read to believe. _______________ Park Seong-Hwan, the epic poet who (may or may not have*) brought us “Fucking USA“* has penned a new ditty that will soon hit Korea’s Top 40, and it’s a real piece of historical scholarship: Between verses two and three, Park adds...

Meet the Ambassadors of the Month.

Korea wants a seat on the U.N. Security Council.* * Not a parody. But it’s only for a non-permanent seat, which probably means Roh is positioning himself to run interference for Kim Jong Il when the six-party talks finally break down. And whose seat does Korea want to occupy, you ask? It will be interesting–and extremely telling for the state of US-Korea relations today–to see how much support Korea gets from the United States. _____________________ A Setback for the Mt....

Have I ever mentioned that my other Korea interest is building Korean furniture (redesigned according to my wife’s specs and my tastes)? Been meaning to show some pictures of the cradle I built for my baby daughter for some time. She turns one next week, and as luck would have it, this kid is the one that eats, and she’s already outgrown it. I’d show you the completed version, but it’s full of laundry (sigh). At least my wife is...

AFP reports: North Korea is continuing to build nuclear reactors that could produce weapons-grade plutonium, risking the future of six-way talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, a report on Sunday quoted a Japanese government source as saying. A US spy satellite has confirmed several times in August that the seclusive Stalinist country is building reactors at Yongbyon and Taechon, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun quoted the unnamed source as saying.

NK Bars Chosun Ilbo Reporter: There’s no clear explanation, but one strong possibility is that they didn’t care for the coverage of this concert and the audience’s reaction to it, something that doesn’t surprise me in the least. The other possibility suggested is that it’s for trying to break the hermetic seal around Kaesong during a recent visit. So much for “window to the world.”

Kaesong Update: North Korea’s latest shakedown is aimed at the investors . . . which is at least an improvement over shaking down the workers. They have the chutzpah to call it “insurance.” I would complain with extreme caution if I were you, gentlemen.

You Are Asking Too Many Questions, You Puppet of the Imperialist Dungeon-Masters! The gentle charms of North Korean dining, courtesy of the Associated Press.

Marcus Noland and Stephan Haggard have a new report out for the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. It appears to be extremely detailed and rigorous–just what you’d expect from Marcus Noland. There is much to read and I haven’t been through all of it yet, but what they’re essentially saying is that the famine is a part of North Korea’s machinery of oppression (a drum I’ve been beating for some time now). Here’s an executive summary, kindly...

Thanks to Freedom House’s Jae Ku, who accompanied Kang, for the tip. The picture, from the Foreign Ministry’s site, shows Kang with British Secretary Jack Straw, who made this statement: ‘It was an honour to meet Mr Kang Cheol Hwan, who has experienced at first hand the despicable human rights abuses committed by the North Korean regime. North Korea is rightly considered to have one of the worst human rights records in the world, with arbitrary detention, political executions, torture,...

The U.S. government is also talking about this issue publicly, but for reasons that are probably beyond anyone’s control, it’s not having the desired effect here. Given the scale of what’s happening along the Gulf Coast, you can’t really blame either the State Department or the media for not paying more attention to this. Give Secretary Rice credit for making her first sincere effort to make a public issue of human rights. First, the : SECRETARY RICE: Good morning. I...

But where can the farmers send their claims? South Korea has sent a letter of protest to North Korea after water released without warning from a dam north of the border flooded farmland in the south, officials said Tuesday. Seoul’s Unification Ministry said the Imjin River that runs into the south from the north burst its banks last week causing more than 80-million won ($78 430) in flood damage to South Korean farmers and fishermen. We may soon learn the...

From the same N.Y. Times story that covered the Leach-Lantos visit comes what is arguably a bigger story, the North’s continuing demand for the departure of international food aid workers, something I first noted here, and which World Food Program officials later denied. The two congressmen also met with aid groups that provide food and other support to the North Korean people. In the past week, North Korean officials informed the groups that they should finish their aid work by...

One person can’t create a cultural rebirth alone, but as North Koreans try to grasp the conscience of South Korea by the collar, it’s good to see them begin the participate in Korea’s cultural life and break the stereotype that North Koreans are all soulless, deadened automatons. Right after graduating from elementary school, he made the first attempt to escape from North Korea and sneaked into Chinese territory. But he was caught by Chinese police and sent back. Since then,...

So far, it floats like a trial balloon: A ruling Uri Party MP [Rep. Kim Sung-Gon] said he believes it is possible to bring about 1,000 troops home from Iraq as other countries are also considering downsizing their troop presence. “It is unavoidable to reduce the number of troops, considering the worsening public sentiment about the troop dispatch and the fact that other coalition nations, such as the United States and Britain, are also pushing for withdrawing or reducing troops,”...

Via a reliable source, to whom I will leave the option of identifying himself if he chooses, comes word that Norbert Vollertsen will be back in Korea for a few days this week to attend a meeting at which some new video recently smuggled out of North Korea will be shown. The significance of Norbert’s return depends on whether you considered his recent expulsion from Korea to be politically motivated, as he had claimed at the time, or the simple...

This is an updated post. With the news that the talks are now on again, apparently for September 13, the odds dim that substantial progress will result. Begin with this money quote on South Korea’s position: “South Korean officials are pinning their hopes on a U.S. concession.” That hope appears misplaced. The New York Times published some blunt comments from Reps. Jim Leach and Tom Lantos, who represent the moderate views of both parties in the House International Relations Committee,...

The Chosun Ilbo has printed a summary of a Financial Times story that may change your model of the North Korean economy, but not much. The story suggests that changes in economic policy in 2002 have in fact launched a limited number of small private businesses, and that those businesses are substantially enriching the people who run them. The World Food Program’s North Korea director Richard Ragan told the paper the wealthy are concentrated in five cities, including Pyongyang. They...