It’s time to move beyond the wishful fantasy that China will rescue our national security from North Korea’s nuclear factory outlet. If I’ve ever believed that China would be willing to exert substantial pressure on North Korea, that was a long time ago. China sees its top geopolitical priority as gaining control over Taiwan, whether by negotiation, intimidation, force, or a combination of all of the above. China doesn’t want to see a united Korea emerge as a potential cultural,...

Roh? Using Tokdo as a cheap political stunt? Perish the thought. Roh’s popularity had been soaring since the beginning of this year, exceeding the 50 percent mark in a poll by Choeng Wa Dae on April 29 for the first time since the 100th day of his inauguration. “It seems that the president’s firm attitude toward Japan over recent controversies including the Dokdo islets dispute is losing its effect, and the ruling party’s defeat in the by-elections may be another...

Way to Burst My Bubble: A South Korean court finds that OhMyNews “sexed up” allegations against Lee Hoi-Chang that helped throw the 2002 election to Roh Moo-Hyun. They’ve been ordered to pay W100 billon in damages. In South Korean won, guys.

Here is a list of U.S. installations in Korea that are shutting down, courtesy of the Stars and Stripes (HT to the Nomad): Closed and returned to South Korea in 2004: Camp Bonifas (Demilitarized Zone) Camp Liberty Bell (Demilitarized Zone) Closed in 2004, returning to South Korea in 2005: Camp Edwards (Paju) Camp Gary Owen (Paju) Camp Greaves (Paju) Camp Giant (Paju) Camp Howze (Paju) Camp Stanton (Paju) Closing and returning to South Korea in 2005: Camp Page (Chuncheon) Closing...

Blogwatch: The Nomad has a great link to this story–a reminder of the kindness that Korea so often exhibits, but which I’m sometimes too quick to forget (I could swear I’ve met this woman at Yongsan). I’d add that (LTC Ret.) Anthony Cuccia, also mentioned in the story, is a thoroughly decent human being whom I got to know during the course of a board that he decided against my side, as he well should have given the state of...

Someone at the Chosun Ilbo is having a Hankyoreh moment today. Get a load of this screed and its loading of words like “hard-liners” and “belligerent” to describe the provocative suggestion that if North Korea continues to build and export nuclear materials, we might . . . report them to the United Nations! The article goes so far as to suggest all that activity is for home construction. It could all be true, I suppose, but then someone has to...

The Joongang Ilbo reports: A close aide of an Uri Party leader confessed yesterday to accepting illegal contributions from a businessman connected to the scandal over the Korea National Railroad’s botched Russian oil deal, prosecutors announced. The aide was identified only as Mr. Ji and as a close assistant to Uri Assemblyman Lee Kwang-jae, who is a former senior Blue House official and a close associate of President Roh Moo-hyun. Mr. Ji confessed, prosecution sources said, that he accepted 80...

Highly Recommended: The one modest blessing of being sick is that it gave me time to finish Gordon Cucullu’s book, Separated at Birth: How North Korea Became the Evil Twin. By now, I consider Gordon a personal friend, so I approach a critique of his work with some discomfort–and a need to disclaim that discomfort openly to readers who might mistake me for an objective reviewer. The real strength of Separated at Birth is its description of South Korea, not...

Roh? Using Tokdo as a cheap political stunt? Perish the thought. Roh’s popularity had been soaring since the beginning of this year, exceeding the 50 percent mark in a poll by Choeng Wa Dae on April 29 for the first time since the 100th day of his inauguration. “It seems that the president’s firm attitude toward Japan over recent controversies including the Dokdo islets dispute is losing its effect, and the ruling party’s defeat in the by-elections may be another...

Way to Burst My Bubble: A South Korean court finds that OhMyNews “sexed up” allegations against Lee Hoi-Chang that helped throw the 2002 election to Roh Moo-Hyun. They’ve been ordered to pay W100 billon in damages. In South Korean won, guys.

Here is a list of U.S. installations in Korea that are shutting down, courtesy of the Stars and Stripes (HT to the Nomad): Closed and returned to South Korea in 2004: Camp Bonifas (Demilitarized Zone) Camp Liberty Bell (Demilitarized Zone) Closed in 2004, returning to South Korea in 2005: Camp Edwards (Paju) Camp Gary Owen (Paju) Camp Greaves (Paju) Camp Giant (Paju) Camp Howze (Paju) Camp Stanton (Paju) Closing and returning to South Korea in 2005: Camp Page (Chuncheon) Closing...

Blogwatch: The Nomad has a great link to this story–a reminder of the kindness that Korea so often exhibits, but which I’m sometimes too quick to forget (I could swear I’ve met this woman at Yongsan). I’d add that (LTC Ret.) Anthony Cuccia, also mentioned in the story, is a thoroughly decent human being whom I got to know during the course of a board that he decided against my side, as he well should have given the state of...

Someone at the Chosun Ilbo is having a Hankyoreh moment today. Get a load of this screed and its loading of words like “hard-liners” and “belligerent” to describe the provocative suggestion that if North Korea continues to build and export nuclear materials, we might . . . report them to the United Nations! The article goes so far as to suggest all that activity is for home construction. It could all be true, I suppose, but then someone has to...

The Joongang Ilbo reports: A close aide of an Uri Party leader confessed yesterday to accepting illegal contributions from a businessman connected to the scandal over the Korea National Railroad’s botched Russian oil deal, prosecutors announced. The aide was identified only as Mr. Ji and as a close assistant to Uri Assemblyman Lee Kwang-jae, who is a former senior Blue House official and a close associate of President Roh Moo-hyun. Mr. Ji confessed, prosecution sources said, that he accepted 80...

Highly Recommended: The one modest blessing of being sick is that it gave me time to finish Gordon Cucullu’s book, Separated at Birth: How North Korea Became the Evil Twin. By now, I consider Gordon a personal friend, so I approach a critique of his work with some discomfort–and a need to disclaim that discomfort openly to readers who might mistake me for an objective reviewer. The real strength of Separated at Birth is its description of South Korea, not...

Sure, it’s fun to watch Uri split itself into feuding factions, but is this really anything out of the ordinary for Korean politics? Following across-the-board losses in last Saturday’s by-elections, a squabble has broken out among members of the governing Uri Party over who should take responsibility for the defeat. Party members posted hundreds of messages on the party’s Web site yesterday, saying the party’s chairman, Moon Hee-sang, and lawmaker Yum Dong-yun, who holds a leadership role, should resign over...

Chung Dong-Young, call your office: A Japanese professor, after a meeting with a senior North Korean official last week, quoted the official as saying that a nuclear weapons test by Pyongyang was unavoidable. Yasuhiko Yoshida, a professor at the Osaka University of Economics and Law, told the JoongAng Ilbo that Pak Hyon-jae, deputy head of the North’s Institute for Disarmament and Peace, told a Japanese delegation on a visit to Pyongyang that “a plutonium-based nuclear test is unavoidable” and that...

Foreigners Voting in Korea? It won’t cost you your U.S. citizenship, in case you wondered, but I’m struggling with whether this is a good idea. Yes, Korea could stand to show more respect for the basic human dignity of non-Koreans, but in some ways, so could this country and many others. That doesn’t mean that giving people the vote is the only way to ensure that. Nor would the voting right apply to national elections, as it indeed shouldn’t. Korean...