The Midland Ministerial Alliance is not really a newcomer to the movement for human rights in North Korea, but the journey of a group of them to Seoul–and to the center of the spotlight–is. They have proven their influence over President Bush on Sudan, and they are shifting their focus to North Korea. Perhaps that explains why the South Korean government agreed to meet with them. What I wouldn’t give to see the discomfort in that room. Members of the...

So says the Sankei Shinmun, apparently via U.S. intelligence agencies. Insert your own disclaimers. At issue is technology used in cruise missiles known as Kh-55s that Ukraine exported to Iran in 2001 under former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, the Sankei Shimbun daily said, quoting Japanese government and ruling party sources. “They are linked by a network beneath the surface regarding the development of weapons of mass destruction,” Sankei quoted a Defense Ministry source as saying about Iran and North Korea....

ABC News reports that an entire family has sailed to South Korea. It’s the second sea-borne defection in a week, and doesn’t include last week’s defection through the wire at the DMZ: A couple and their nine-year-old son defected from famine-hit North Korea by boat on Sunday and were being questioned on South Korea’s western island of Baekryong, the military said. The South Korean navy picked up the 42-year-old man, identified as Hong, his 39-year-old wife and their son after...

The only interesting graf from Dafna Lizner’s latest in the Washington Post consists of a scrap that fell off the WSJ’s table. Otherwise, the woman can’t get through a single paragraph without a gratuitous editorial comment. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the White House is planning to pursue the assets of companies that are believed to be aiding the weapons or nuclear programs in North Korea, Iran and Syria. A thousand curses on the WSJ for requiring registration...

Thanks to Dan at tdaxp for forwarding the link. Draw your own conclusions; I think that China’s transformation to a capitalist economy will mean, on balance, that fewer people live in these conditions. You need only think of North Korea to see that. Regrettable as these scenes are, they will disappear sooner if China continues to industrialize. The problem is that China’s transformation to capitalism is warped by the strangling tentacles of a corrupt state. This scene, of police confiscating...

The Midland Ministerial Alliance is not really a newcomer to the movement for human rights in North Korea, but the journey of a group of them to Seoul–and to the center of the spotlight–is. They have proven their influence over President Bush on Sudan, and they are shifting their focus to North Korea. Perhaps that explains why the South Korean government agreed to meet with them. What I wouldn’t give to see the discomfort in that room. Members of the...

The Midland Ministerial Alliance is not really a newcomer to the movement for human rights in North Korea, but the journey of a group of them to Seoul–and to the center of the spotlight–is. They have proven their influence over President Bush on Sudan, and they are shifting their focus to North Korea. Perhaps that explains why the South Korean government agreed to meet with them. What I wouldn’t give to see the discomfort in that room. Members of the...

So says the Sankei Shinmun, apparently via U.S. intelligence agencies. Insert your own disclaimers. At issue is technology used in cruise missiles known as Kh-55s that Ukraine exported to Iran in 2001 under former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, the Sankei Shimbun daily said, quoting Japanese government and ruling party sources. “They are linked by a network beneath the surface regarding the development of weapons of mass destruction,” Sankei quoted a Defense Ministry source as saying about Iran and North Korea....

ABC News reports that an entire family has sailed to South Korea. It’s the second sea-borne defection in a week, and doesn’t include last week’s defection through the wire at the DMZ: A couple and their nine-year-old son defected from famine-hit North Korea by boat on Sunday and were being questioned on South Korea’s western island of Baekryong, the military said. The South Korean navy picked up the 42-year-old man, identified as Hong, his 39-year-old wife and their son after...

The only interesting graf from Dafna Lizner’s latest in the Washington Post consists of a scrap that fell off the WSJ’s table. Otherwise, the woman can’t get through a single paragraph without a gratuitous editorial comment. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the White House is planning to pursue the assets of companies that are believed to be aiding the weapons or nuclear programs in North Korea, Iran and Syria. A thousand curses on the WSJ for requiring registration...

The only interesting graf from Dafna Lizner’s latest in the Washington Post consists of a scrap that fell off the WSJ’s table. Otherwise, the woman can’t get through a single paragraph without a gratuitous editorial comment. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the White House is planning to pursue the assets of companies that are believed to be aiding the weapons or nuclear programs in North Korea, Iran and Syria. A thousand curses on the WSJ for requiring registration...

Thanks to Dan at tdaxp for forwarding the link. Draw your own conclusions; I think that China’s transformation to a capitalist economy will mean, on balance, that fewer people live in these conditions. You need only think of North Korea to see that. Regrettable as these scenes are, they will disappear sooner if China continues to industrialize. The problem is that China’s transformation to capitalism is warped by the strangling tentacles of a corrupt state. This scene, of police confiscating...

Thanks to Dan at tdaxp for forwarding the link. Draw your own conclusions; I think that China’s transformation to a capitalist economy will mean, on balance, that fewer people live in these conditions. You need only think of North Korea to see that. Regrettable as these scenes are, they will disappear sooner if China continues to industrialize. The problem is that China’s transformation to capitalism is warped by the strangling tentacles of a corrupt state. This scene, of police confiscating...

I’m feeling optimistic today because the hardest-line of two hard-line candidates (the one wanted for murder in more countries than the other) prevailed in the patent sham that the Iranian mullahs call an “election.” Having said that, I suppose I should explain myself. Does anyone really still believe that any candidate the Guardian Council would have allowed onto the Iranian ballot was amenable to real reform? That should have been the lesson of the Khatami presidency, which proved itself both...

I’m feeling optimistic today because the hardest-line of two hard-line candidates (the one wanted for murder in more countries than the other) prevailed in the patent sham that the Iranian mullahs call an “election.” Having said that, I suppose I should explain myself. Does anyone really still believe that any candidate the Guardian Council would have allowed onto the Iranian ballot was amenable to real reform? That should have been the lesson of the Khatami presidency, which proved itself both...

The United States has pledged more food aid to North Korea, and for the record, that was the right thing for us to do. Let’s hope that those keeping this regime alive with unconditional aid and investment will at least have the conscience to make firm demands that the aid be equally distributed to all classes and regions. Perhaps that is too much to ask.

The United States has pledged more food aid to North Korea, and for the record, that was the right thing for us to do. Let’s hope that those keeping this regime alive with unconditional aid and investment will at least have the conscience to make firm demands that the aid be equally distributed to all classes and regions. Perhaps that is too much to ask.

I’ve posted the first installment of grafs from TAE’s North Korea issue here. Today’s excerpts are from Daniel Kennelly, Gordon Cucullu, and Victor Davis Hanson. Check back later for Nicholas Eberstadt and Ambassador James Lilley. I strongly recommend that you just buy the whole thing. Hey, it’s only seven bucks.