Famine Update: This NKZone post by Scott Bruce, consisting of interviews with key WPF officials, is must-reading despite its length. About halfway through the post, I came to this quotation: It was reported in the press a few weeks back that the government had decided to close the OCHA office in Pyongyang. I was assured categorically and repeatedly by authoritative officials from the foreign ministry that there has been no decision to close the OCHA office in the DPRK. They...

Famine Update: This NKZone post by Scott Bruce, consisting of interviews with key WPF officials, is must-reading despite its length. About halfway through the post, I came to this quotation: It was reported in the press a few weeks back that the government had decided to close the OCHA office in Pyongyang. I was assured categorically and repeatedly by authoritative officials from the foreign ministry that there has been no decision to close the OCHA office in the DPRK. They...

From the Chosun Ilbo: President Roh Moo-hyun on Monday signaled a tougher line with North Korea over its reluctance to return to nuclear disarmament talks, saying there are times when Seoul needs to get “red in the face” with anger in its relationship with the Stalinist country. “In the intra-Korean relationship as well, we must express criticism and get red in the face when it’s time to get red in the face,” Roh said, quoting his own remarks during a...

Headline: Korean Women Have Children at an Older Age

Headline: Offices Get Creative to Put Out More Fags

From the Chosun Ilbo: President Roh Moo-hyun on Monday signaled a tougher line with North Korea over its reluctance to return to nuclear disarmament talks, saying there are times when Seoul needs to get “red in the face” with anger in its relationship with the Stalinist country. “In the intra-Korean relationship as well, we must express criticism and get red in the face when it’s time to get red in the face,” Roh said, quoting his own remarks during a...

Headline: Korean Women Have Children at an Older Age

Headline: Offices Get Creative to Put Out More Fags

The BBC reports from China that “spontaneous” protests against Japanese textbooks have “spread.” Think carefully about how often protests in Chinese cities have lasted longer than 10 minutes without the government’s approval recently, and then read this: On Saturday, Japan summoned the Chinese ambassador to demand a formal apology, after windows at its embassy in Beijing were broken during a demonstration, despite the presence of Chinese police. The ambassador, Wang Yi, said Beijing did not condone the protests. I’ve already...

The BBC reports from China that “spontaneous” protests against Japanese textbooks have “spread.” Think carefully about how often protests in Chinese cities have lasted longer than 10 minutes without the government’s approval recently, and then read this: On Saturday, Japan summoned the Chinese ambassador to demand a formal apology, after windows at its embassy in Beijing were broken during a demonstration, despite the presence of Chinese police. The ambassador, Wang Yi, said Beijing did not condone the protests. I’ve already...

Reader Brendan Brown forwards this message for a worthy cause. I hope you’ll stop by if you’re in that part of the world: You are invited to a charity concert to raise funds and awareness for the plight of North Korean Refugees, sponsored by Helping Hands Korea and featuring Francois le Roux (from South Africa), also known as the HA! MAN, followed by Ma Mi Ok, playing the kayaguem. Excerpts of award-winning documentary “Seoul Train” will also be shown. Silent...

I have a post up on NKZone about South Korea’s abstention from the U.N. Resolution. Most of it will be familiar to you, although there’s some new discussion of the U.N. Special Rapporteur’s report. The report itself is nothing special; it tells us many things we already know. In many places, it suffers from a predictable lack of specifics, imprecise language, U.N. gobbledygook, and lame efforts to show the “bright side” of hell on earth. There is one important exception,...

Introducing Talon, the UCV that’s about to start patrolling with Stryker in Iraq. More pictures and info here and here (video, too!). Among their many advantages, robots don’t get homesick, stay out past curfew, or try to date your sister. That may explain why Korea is also getting in on the act: The Defense Ministry said yesterday that it would install armed robots to guard the country’s border with North Korea. The machines, a ministry official contended, would enable an...

Reader Brendan Brown forwards this message for a worthy cause. I hope you’ll stop by if you’re in that part of the world: You are invited to a charity concert to raise funds and awareness for the plight of North Korean Refugees, sponsored by Helping Hands Korea and featuring Francois le Roux (from South Africa), also known as the HA! MAN, followed by Ma Mi Ok, playing the kayaguem. Excerpts of award-winning documentary “Seoul Train” will also be shown. Silent...

I have a post up on NKZone about South Korea’s abstention from the U.N. Resolution. Most of it will be familiar to you, although there’s some new discussion of the U.N. Special Rapporteur’s report. The report itself is nothing special; it tells us many things we already know. In many places, it suffers from a predictable lack of specifics, imprecise language, U.N. gobbledygook, and lame efforts to show the “bright side” of hell on earth. There is one important exception,...

Introducing Talon, the UCV that’s about to start patrolling with Stryker in Iraq. More pictures and info here and here (video, too!). Among their many advantages, robots don’t get homesick, stay out past curfew, or try to date your sister. That may explain why Korea is also getting in on the act: The Defense Ministry said yesterday that it would install armed robots to guard the country’s border with North Korea. The machines, a ministry official contended, would enable an...

A Korean twist on frivolous litigation. Given the near-total absence of talented and dedicated lawyers for those accused of crimes in Korea, this waste of legal talent just makes me cringe.

With the Bush administration on the verge of giving up on diplomacy with North Korea and pursuing economic strangulation instead, one would suspect that China might finally engage in some serious diplomacy of its own to force North Korea back to the talks. Not so. Once again, the Chinese have sent emissaries to Pyongyang, and still North Korea refuses to engage in serious diplomacy. And how has China responded? Several officials and diplomats noted that, while Mr. Pak was in...