August 15, 2005, a date on which more bullshit flowed than one snarky blogger could possibly step around, so I’ll let the stories pretty much speak for themselves. In case you’re new here, this is the anniversary of the date on which American soldiers–supported by Russian invaders further north–entered Seoul before passing the reigns of government to the Koreans themselves. Yes, things could have been faster and smoother, and Korea’s first rulers were certainly not Jeffersonian democrats, but what’s most...

The following bloggers report that they’ve been blocked in Korea: The Asia Pages, The Big Hominid, and The Lost Nomad. Simon World claims it affects both Blogger and Typepad, which would seem to affect both this site and NKZone. Some commenters on these sites report being able to load the pages, but I’m not sure who’s in Korea, and who’s on or off-post. Readers in Korea, can you read me? What an Orwellian way that would be to celebrate one’s...

My deepest thanks to Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute for agreeing to a telephone interview. Eberstadt is one of Washington’s most highly regarded Korea experts. The interview ended up lasting a full hour. Nothing has been edited out, although I missed a word here and there because I’m not a stenographer. Still, this is pretty close to a verbatim transcript; Nick Eberstadt is one of those rare individuals who speaks in complete sentences. All comments in brackets and...

My deepest thanks to Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute for agreeing to a telephone interview for OFK readers. Eberstadt is one of Washington’s most highly regarded Korea experts. The interview ended up lasting a full hour. Nothing has been edited out save one abortive “I don’t know” answer, although I may have I missed a few words because I’m no stenographer. Still, this is pretty close to a verbatim transcript. Nick Eberstadt is one of those rare individuals...

The Chosun Ilbo recently made the grave mistake of commissioning a survey of young citizens’ attitudes to commemorate the 60th anniversary of independence from Japan. The Chosun deserves credit for reporting the distressing results rather than burying them, but the factual basis for some of its analysis is not evident to the reader: The survey by Gallup Korea of 833 individuals born between 1980 and 1989 also found a marked shift in attitude to North Korea and the South’s traditional...

The online version of the Christian Science Monitor story, which originally stated that South Korea’s Human Rights Commission had endorsed calls to tear down MacArthur’s statue in Incheon, has been corrected: A complaint filed with the quasi-governmental National Human Rights Commission, which is reviewing the statue controversy, condemns MacArthur as “a war criminal who massacred numerous civilians.” The complaint adds, “To induce or force children to respect such a person by erecting a statue of him and teaching them that...

Representative Kim Moon-soo is only in his third term in the National Assembly, something that might have deterred an American couterpart from putting forth so bold a proposal on the most important issue of South Korean diplomacy, economics, politics, and nationhood. Just twenty-nine fellow lawmakers, all from the Grand National Party, co-sponsored his new North Korea human rights bill, suggesting that the GNP leadership continues to suffer some discomfort at Kim Moon-Soo’s brash confrontation of a sensitive and still unpopular...

Kim Moon-Soo is the man who may yet break the drought that has fallen on the bleak political landscape of South Korea, one that for too long seemed to have been divided between opportunistic appeasers and opportunistic reactionaries, each with its own dubious connections to Korean dictatorships that the nation’s history will not view kindly. Charismatic, fiery, and proficient in the use of new media, Kim has emerged as the standard-bearer of the New Right, a new political grouping largely...

I had a long post ready to go on OFK reader and contributor Won-Joon Choe’s new piece in the Christian Science Monitor (with co-author Jack Kim), but Blogger ate the entire entry, and I don’t have the time to rebuild it. It deals mainly with their thoughts on why South Korea doesn’t really mind the idea of a nuclear North Korea–its faith in reunification and belief that even a North Korean nuke is a Korean nuke. They lay responsibility for...

I don’t have one, for reasons I’ll be able to explain later. For now, don’t assume the HRC’s position is as reported.

South Korea’s Minister of Silly Talks, Chung Dong-Young, has opened his mouth again, an occurrence that never seems to end well. This time, he’s left no doubt that South Korea and the United States are much further apart on their positions on North Korean nukes than one would except of nominal allies: Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Wednesday North Korea must have the right to use nuclear energy peacefully for agricultural, medical and power-generation purposes. Chung told the online news...

From the Chosun Ilbo: Chun Man-kyu (49), the head of the residents’ committee, said, “Friday will be a historic day when half a century of shooting at Maehyang-ni stops… The yellow target-practice flag that symbolizes the pain and hurt of residents will disappear and the flag of peace will be hoisted.” Interestingly, Korean Army gunnery ranges appear to lack the same spiritual importance, which is fine, since troops who can’t hit anything aren’t much good in the event of war....

I’ve previously blogged about Deborah Fikes here, and about meeting and talking with her at the Freedom House Conference, here. Now, the New York Times has discovered her Midland Ministerial Alliance, which put on what appears to have been a very substantial event to publicize the same human rights issue that the Times has been ignoring for the most part. As with Nick Kristof’s recent piece, the article manages the difficult balancing act of being both patronizing and envious of...

The American Enterprise Institute’s Nicholas Eberstadt is unimpressed with the latest round of six-party talks with North Korea. After thirteen months of pining for this dead parrot, we returned to the talks to hear an intentionally obtuse new set of North Korean demands–including demands to abrogate our alliance with South Korea (something that we’d more likely do without North Korea getting mixed up in the matter), and to let North Korea keep its reactors for “peaceful” uses. In fact, Eberstadt...

Korean here.

The deconstruction of the South Korean Human Rights Commission continues in the wake of veteran Korea hand Don Kirk’s report that the HRC supports tearing down the General MacArthur statue in Incheon. I have no reason to believe that Kirk would get something this important wrong, but commenter Antti and The Marmot declare themselves incredulous, in part because the HRC didn’t publish a formal statement. [Update 8/14: Kirk and the CSM have corrected the story to reflect that the HRC...

Warning: Following this link and viewing these pictures may cause misconceptions.

The Chosun Ilbo asks why the United States is offering its limited support for nuclear programs in Iran and India, both of which are on the IAEA’s bad boy list, while refusing to allow North Korea any “peaceful” uses of nuclear energy. The headline suggests a code-yellow stupidity alert, but the article turns out to be a fair analysis, if already outdated by events. Confronting the question requires us to suspend all memory of events taking place in North Korea...