. . . and for once, doesn’t avert its eyes. Could big changes be on the way? Only if you can get all of the quibbling bureaucrats to agree on what those changes should be, but self-examination is the first step. An internal commission has noticed that the world body lacks clear standards on many of its essential competencies, such as the use of force, self-defense, accountability, and human rights: The panel was very critical of the Human Rights Commission,...

I have company in raising the question, at least when you’re not talking about Israeli politics in frigging Hebrew. You don’t call a Hispanic-American leftist a Fidelista simply because he’s Hispanic. Two guys walk into a bar. Both have identical political views. Both vote Republican. One’s Jewish, one isn’t. Which one gets called a “likudnik?” The one who’s part of the Israeli fifth column, silly. And we know who that is, don’t we (wink, wink)? I spent seven and a...

. . . or the sneakier “Made in DPRK” will be the marking on stuff made in Kaesong. So just how much embodied slave labor would it take to make a product carry that label? What if, the leather and plastic come from South Korea and the cutting and stitching are done in the North? Two years ago it was already common to see North Korean stuff for sale in Seoul. I remember several specific examples–walnuts, shoes, generators. The opportunities...

I have company in raising the question, at least when you’re not talking about Israeli politics in frigging Hebrew. You don’t call a Hispanic-American leftist a Fidelista simply because he’s Hispanic. Two guys walk into a bar. Both have identical political views. Both vote Republican. One’s Jewish, one isn’t. Which one gets called a “likudnik?” The one who’s part of the Israeli fifth column, silly. And we know who that is, don’t we (wink, wink)? I spent seven and a...

. . . or the sneakier “Made in DPRK” will be the marking on stuff made in Kaesong. So just how much embodied slave labor would it take to make a product carry that label? What if, the leather and plastic come from South Korea and the cutting and stitching are done in the North? Two years ago it was already common to see North Korean stuff for sale in Seoul. I remember several specific examples–walnuts, shoes, generators. The opportunities...

. . . or the sneakier “Made in DPRK” will be the marking on stuff made in Kaesong. So just how much embodied slave labor would it take to make a product carry that label? What if, the leather and plastic come from South Korea and the cutting and stitching are done in the North? Two years ago it was already common to see North Korean stuff for sale in Seoul. I remember several specific examples–walnuts, shoes, generators. The opportunities...

(Sankei News Service) Unnamed sources in China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have confirmed that a single bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas in November 1963 has struck a third major political leader–North Korea’s Kim Jong Il. The latest relevation puts to rest persistent rumors stemming from the disappearance of Kim’s portraits from prominent public venues in North Korea. (Full story)

I will print the nearly unedited correspondence between Rev. Douglas Shin and Dr. Vollertsen for you to add to your own mix of information. Clearly, however, the South Korean government is desperately worried that the nascent North Korean human rights movement has cost South Korea needed international support for its appeasement policy. It looks like that desperation has led them to the verge of what is either a colossal blunder or an ill-conceived bluff–banning Norbert Vollertsen from Korea. Here’s the...

(Sankei News Service) Unnamed sources in China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have confirmed that a single bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas in November 1963 has struck a third major political leader–North Korea’s Kim Jong Il. The latest relevation puts to rest persistent rumors stemming from the disappearance of Kim’s portraits from prominent public venues in North Korea. (Full story)

(Sankei News Service) Unnamed sources in China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have confirmed that a single bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas in November 1963 has struck a third major political leader–North Korea’s Kim Jong Il. The latest relevation puts to rest persistent rumors stemming from the disappearance of Kim’s portraits from prominent public venues in North Korea. (Full story)

An unnamed LiNK correspondent from Seoul sent me some, umm, links to press coverage of the human rights symposium. I will put these into the blender with other comments I’ve received. The Joongang Ilbo gave the meeting generally favorable coverage; the South Korean students, however, seem disinterested by all accounts, even LiNK’s. I also smirked a little at this quote from Park Il-Hwan, one of the good guys: “Students in Korea look at the North Korean situation differently from Korean...

I will print the nearly unedited correspondence between Rev. Douglas Shin and Dr. Vollertsen for you to add to your own mix of information. Clearly, however, the South Korean government is desperately worried that the nascent North Korean human rights movement has cost South Korea needed international support for its appeasement policy. It looks like that desperation has led them to the verge of what is either a colossal blunder or an ill-conceived bluff–banning Norbert Vollertsen from Korea. Here’s the...

An unnamed LiNK correspondent from Seoul sent me some, umm, links to press coverage of the human rights symposium. I will put these into the blender with other comments I’ve received. The Joongang Ilbo gave the meeting generally favorable coverage; the South Korean students, however, seem disinterested by all accounts, even LiNK’s. I also smirked a little at this quote from Park Il-Hwan, one of the good guys: “Students in Korea look at the North Korean situation differently from Korean...

I promised you a run-down of coverage and reactions to the LiNK symposium in Seoul, and I’ll keep my word, but not tonight. Work was crushing today. Undone tasks missed me too much over the long weekend. I even worked for nearly two hours on the train and another hour at home while Judgment at Nuremberg played in the background. My rest? A couple of hours wolfing down leftover turkey and a few minutes lying on the living room floor...

Today Singapore, tomorrow Zimbabwe. The gulag labor juggernaut rolls on . . . but fast enough to save Kim Jong Il from that new urban underclass?

As self-parody goes, this effort by North Korea’s official quisling, Alejandro Cao de Benos, is a beaut. When he’s not ransacking hotel rooms, he’s patiently explaining the unworthiness of mere mortals. In a sort of Torquemada-meets-Jerry Lewis way.

I promised you a run-down of coverage and reactions to the LiNK symposium in Seoul, and I’ll keep my word, but not tonight. Work was crushing today. Undone tasks missed me too much over the long weekend. I even worked for nearly two hours on the train and another hour at home while Judgment at Nuremberg played in the background. My rest? A couple of hours wolfing down leftover turkey and a few minutes lying on the living room floor...

Here is today’s list of unsubstantiated rumors and CIA disinformation about North Korea. Always happy to pass those along, in addition to chucking a little more gasoline onto the stove burners. First entry: In a sign of investor concern about North Korea, rumors swirled in financial markets in Tokyo and Seoul that leader Kim Jong-il had been shot dead. But a diplomat in Pyongyang said nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be happening, a view shared by a Japanese...