Sage Advice from the State Department: For a change. Reacting to President Roh Moo-hyun’s vision of South Korea as the geopolitical fulcrum of Northeast Asia, a U.S. State Department official, who asked that his name be withheld, urged Korean decision makers to remember the errors of the Joseon Dynasty at the end of the 19th century. The official made the statement in a meeting with a South Korean official who visited Washington to explain President Roh’s new doctrine that sees...

South Korea has summarily withdrawn its cooperation from OPLAN 5029, the contingency plan for North Korean collapse, and from other joint contingency planning for natural disasters and WMD recovery. The South Korean decision removes one of the U.S.-Korean alliance’s last remaining raisons d’etre. The Joongang Ilbo reports: South Korea’s National Security Council said in a statement yesterday, “We have terminated the U.S.-South Korea Combined Forces Command’s efforts to map out a plan, code named 5029, because the plan could be...

The Korea Herald reports on some fairly earth-shaking changes in U.S. Army aviation assets in Korea: The 17th Aviation brigade will be deactivated. The 17th–one of my old client units–is one of the largest aviation units in Korea, and probably the major helo transport asset. I’mlooking at one of their coins right now. The article mentioned a cut of 200 troops, which sounds like a gross underestimate. Whatever’s left of the 17th will be put under the 6th Cav, which...

Sleazeball.

Sage Advice from the State Department: For a change. Reacting to President Roh Moo-hyun’s vision of South Korea as the geopolitical fulcrum of Northeast Asia, a U.S. State Department official, who asked that his name be withheld, urged Korean decision makers to remember the errors of the Joseon Dynasty at the end of the 19th century. The official made the statement in a meeting with a South Korean official who visited Washington to explain President Roh’s new doctrine that sees...

South Korea has summarily withdrawn its cooperation from OPLAN 5029, the contingency plan for North Korean collapse, and from other joint contingency planning for natural disasters and WMD recovery. The South Korean decision removes one of the U.S.-Korean alliance’s last remaining raisons d’etre. The Joongang Ilbo reports: South Korea’s National Security Council said in a statement yesterday, “We have terminated the U.S.-South Korea Combined Forces Command’s efforts to map out a plan, code named 5029, because the plan could be...

Tongsun Park, a Korean national charged yesterday in New York for brokering corrupt oil-for-food contracts, has told the Joongang Ilbo that he is considering a deal with U.S. prosecutors to testify against corrupt U.N. officials, and that Kofi Annan is among those targeted for possible prosecution: In a telephone interview from Japan, Mr. Park, 70, told the Joongang Ilbo that he had been offered a plea-bargain from the U.S. federal prosecution in return for testifying before a U.S. court. “I...

Too Much Time on Their Hands. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The South Korean Human Rights Commission is a gathering of busybodies who have too much time on their hands because they’re doing squat to help North Koreans. They’ve taken on the Defense Ministry over Iraq, the Justice Ministry over the death penalty, the Labor Ministry over contract workers, and even the Education Ministry over teachers reading kids’ diaries (which is often how parents and teachers...

“Defector” Update: Some of the S. Korean military guys are in trouble for failing to stop the boat. I honestly have no idea who someone could possibly stop a determined drunk from full-throttling a fishing boat over the NLL. I’m somewhat suspicious (just me talking here) that the government is more upset that the military fired shots and attracted press to the story. When it comes to unauthorized border crossings, the message seems to be, “hold your fire and don’t...

So much for South Korea’s war on prostitution. Things already seem to be unraveling.

LiNK is bringing its message about the suffering of the North Korean people to South Korean universities. The next locale is Ewha Womens’ University, which is only a few blocks from Yonsei University, which has seen more than its share of violence toward the police and anyone opposing the views of those on the radical, pro-North left: University student groups have often been associated with pro-North Korean activity, and observers noted it is unique that a student government is sponsoring...

It’s starting to look like it will be a long, hot summer in rural China. And the tinder is already very dry. A Chinese village has become a tourist attraction after residents fought a pitched battle with police, who retreated after dozens were injured. Local residents say the riots started after police manhandled a group of elderly women protesting at pollution caused by local chemical plants. The unrest is one of a series of recent outbursts of frustration and anger...

Self-explanatory.

Tongsun Park, a Korean national charged yesterday in New York for brokering corrupt oil-for-food contracts, has told the Joongang Ilbo that he is considering a deal with U.S. prosecutors to testify against corrupt U.N. officials, and that Kofi Annan is among those targeted for possible prosecution: In a telephone interview from Japan, Mr. Park, 70, told the Joongang Ilbo that he had been offered a plea-bargain from the U.S. federal prosecution in return for testifying before a U.S. court. “I...

Too Much Time on Their Hands. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The South Korean Human Rights Commission is a gathering of busybodies who have too much time on their hands because they’re doing squat to help North Koreans. They’ve taken on the Defense Ministry over Iraq, the Justice Ministry over the death penalty, the Labor Ministry over contract workers, and even the Education Ministry over teachers reading kids’ diaries (which is often how parents and teachers...

“Defector” Update: Some of the S. Korean military guys are in trouble for failing to stop the boat. I honestly have no idea who someone could possibly stop a determined drunk from full-throttling a fishing boat over the NLL. I’m somewhat suspicious (just me talking here) that the government is more upset that the military fired shots and attracted press to the story. When it comes to unauthorized border crossings, the message seems to be, “hold your fire and don’t...

So much for South Korea’s war on prostitution. Things already seem to be unraveling.

LiNK is bringing its message about the suffering of the North Korean people to South Korean universities. The next locale is Ewha Womens’ University, which is only a few blocks from Yonsei University, which has seen more than its share of violence toward the police and anyone opposing the views of those on the radical, pro-North left: University student groups have often been associated with pro-North Korean activity, and observers noted it is unique that a student government is sponsoring...