Search Results for: supernotes

Daily NK on Child Slavery Anti-Slavery International’s Norma Kang Muico talks about child slave labor in North Korea in the Daily NK, an online newspaper written and edited primarily by North Korean defectors. _____________ China, Our Strategic Partner, Part I The deputy editor of Chinese newspaper the Taizhou Evening News, Wu Xianghu, has died of a beating allegedly carried out by police, a report said. The 41-year-old was beaten in October when about 50 police officers stormed the newspaper’s offices...

Nothing in the story connects it to North Korea, although the Bank of China has been the subject of published reports in connection with the “supernote” money-laundering investigation. From the Justice Department . . . . WASHINGTON, D.C. ““ A federal grand jury in Las Vegas has indicted two former managers of the Bank of China, their wives, and a relative of one of the couples on charges of racketeering, money laundering and fraud, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher...

If you can’t actually defend Kim Jong Il’s counterfeiting of the dollar, and you can’t deny that the evidence is strong enough to convince even the Chinese, what’s a dedicated appeaser to say? The talking point appears to be “Why now?” Meaning, why did the United States cruelly dash our high hopes of progress in the nuclear talks with North Korea now, as opposed to cruelly dashing similar hopes at any other time during the last decade or so of...

[Updated 15 Jan 06] I had meant to say something earlier about how South Korea’s culture of politics-by-thuggery has now touched even the U.S. Ambassador to Korea, Alexander Vershbow. The Flying Yangban’s observations have inspired me to add more, beyond the expression of my strong agreement with those observations. Finally, after years of watching U.S. ambassadors work the cocktail circuit while the propaganda war was lost in the streets below, a U.S. ambassador has the vision and guts to do...

Supernotes Update: Beijing and Tokyo agree that de-facto U.S. economic sanctions against North Korea are a separate issue from Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program under discussion in six-nation talks, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing said Monday. That’s consistent with the U.S. position.

I know that being discredited must be par for the course for Cheong Woon Sik, but what’s your reaction to the fact that both the South Korean NIS and the government of China agree that the North Koreans are counterfeiting U.S. currency? I presume Japan agrees as well; both Tokyo and Beijing support the U.S. position that North Korean counterfeiting is a separate issue from nuclear disarmament talks. Did you not get the memo, or does your faith require a...

Today comes word of more sanctions on Chinese state-owned companies, all with close ties to the military, for helping Iran with its nuke and missile programs. The sanctions, announced by the State Department, are part of a diplomatically complex effort to cut off the flow of technology into Iran that could aid its weapons programs, while pressing both China and Russia to threaten action against Tehran at the United Nations Security Council. Included in the latest sanctions, first reported Tuesday...

How low a point have U.S.-South Korean relations reached? First, we have compelling evidence that North Korea is counterfeiting U.S. currency, a warlike and patently criminal act, at a time when there is supposedly a cease-fire in effect. Then, the ruling party of our supposed ally chooses to disregard the evidence of the criminal act. When our ambassador, the person charged to protect U.S. interests, points out that couterfeiting is, you know, criminal, we get this sort of infantile braying...

In China, Bush’s Words Disappoint: Before the trip, human rights advocates’ expectations were high. Bush had scheduled an appearance at a Beijing church, had challenged China to become a more open society during a speech last week in Japan and had welcomed the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual and political leader whom Beijing perceives as a threat, to the White House. . . . . But days before Bush’s arrival, Chinese authorities apparently forced several high-profile dissidents to leave the...

Maybe my prayers have finally been answered. Maybe we’ve finally realized giving the screaming baby lollipops only begets more screaming. For whatever reason, the talks have broken up almost as soon as they began, and not even the South Koreans can put a positive spin on this one: [A]n official close to the South Korean delegation said, “Everything considered, it looks like a resumption this year will be difficult. The fresh round only lasted three days and was largely taken...

The New York Times, quoting high-level administration sources, is making the connection between U.S. law enforcement measures, the PSI, and diplomacy you’ve only seen here up to now: MOSCOW, Oct. 23 – The Bush administration is expanding what it calls “defensive measures” against North Korea, urging nations from China to the former Soviet states to deny overflight rights to aircraft that the United States says are carrying weapons technology, according to two senior administration officials. At the same time, the...

The New York Times, quoting high-level administration sources, is making the connection between U.S. law enforcement measures, the PSI, and diplomacy you’ve only seen here up to now: MOSCOW, Oct. 23 – The Bush administration is expanding what it calls “defensive measures” against North Korea, urging nations from China to the former Soviet states to deny overflight rights to aircraft that the United States says are carrying weapons technology, according to two senior administration officials. At the same time, the...

There are fresh reminders that the Living, Breathing Document North Korea signed last month can only be described as a “breakthrough” if that description is prominently labelled as journalistic high burlesque. The V-word (no, not the one with its own monologue) looms before us: U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says any agreement with North Korea on providing technology and other incentives in return for giving up its nuclear weapons programs will need a strong verification system. The secretary made the...

High fuel costs are starting to have a significant impact on the Chinese economy, reports the WaPo: FOSHAN, China — Known widely for its porcelain, this grimy city in southern China is the source of much of the world’s tiles and bathroom fixtures. Yet several factories have shut down in recent weeks, and nearly all are running at a reduced clip: Here in Guangdong province, the heart of China’s industrial boom, many manufacturers cannot find enough gasoline and heavy oil...

I started compiling a list of all the pundits, who, unlike me, are paid to write for expensive newspapers, and who, unlike me, had actually drawn lessons from the North Korean nuclear “breakthrough” that proved erroneous somewhere between the time of writing and time of publication. Inexplicably, none of the examples listed here had the decency to simply acknowledge that the foundation facts were so obliterated as to require pulling the flawed analyses out of simple decency to the readers....

Supernotes Update: One of the Macau banks named in a U.S. Treasury Department investigation of North Korean money laundering, Delta Asia Bank, is reported to be on the verge of collapse as depositors run for their money. The Macau government has had to intervene, and I read between the lines that a bailout may be necessary. Delta is Macau’s number two bank, and Macau is a notorious haven for North Korean skullduggery. More background on the “wedding” that began the...

China has purchased the exclusive rights to the North Korean port of Rajin. The Chosun Ilbo seems to think this could be a boon to trade; I’m skeptical. First, North Korea will always insist on isolating most of its population from outsiders and the things they want to sell. Second, North Korea is corrupt and lacks any reasonable semblance of a court system. Third, North Korea has little infrastructure beyond the port itself. Its rails, roads, mines, and factories are...

Remember a couple of weeks back, when I blogged about the big Chinese mafia bust–the one where the FBI agents posed as a couple and arrested scores of gangsters on their “wedding” day? The one that ended up with the feds taking possession of a large quantity of North Korean supernotes? At the time, I had a number of questions to which I wished I knew the answers, and here are two of them: 7. Were any of those caught...