If you had any doubts about China’s agenda for using North Korea at the expense of Taiwan’s independence and Hong Kong’s freedom, this transparent bit of extortion ought to remove all doubt. “The important thing is for the United States to honor its commitments,” [the Chinese Embassy’s spokesman] said, calling the situation across the Taiwan Strait “severely tested.” Otherwise, he warned, it would harm bilateral relations and affect China’s cooperation on such issues as the North Korean nuclear crisis. Indeed,...

For a law that’s seen so much action before the Supreme Court recently, the isn’t a very long read: The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States. I consider myself a capitalist, which means I believe in free markets, including free labor markets where people can quit, form unions, strike, and demand better pay and...

For a law that’s seen so much action before the Supreme Court recently, the isn’t a very long read: The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States. I consider myself a capitalist, which means I believe in free markets, including free labor markets where people can quit, form unions, strike, and demand better pay and...

Just as I suspected.

Our allies in South Korea are mourning Kim Jong-Il all over again. Umm, he can’t hear you from where he is now. The state nannies must have figured that restricting pro- and anti-North Korean news and ideas would help them understand their northern brothers. Instead, South Koreans today know less about North Korea than Japanese, Americans, Canadians, or Europeans. Good going, guys.

The nanny state is now hinting that it will turn its benevolent eye toward restricting anti-Americanism, now that it’s showing signs of being bad for business. I’m all for the government outlawing discrimination or speaking out against racism, but of course, that might involve holding up a mirror before people at their ugliest, curbing the enshrined superiority of the Korean minjok, and giving away a valuable election-year asset. Instead, the South Koreans’ real goal is merely to keep anti-Americanism out...

Just as I suspected.

Our allies in South Korea are mourning Kim Jong-Il all over again. Umm, he can’t hear you from where he is now. The state nannies must have figured that restricting pro- and anti-North Korean news and ideas would help them understand their northern brothers. Instead, South Koreans today know less about North Korea than Japanese, Americans, Canadians, or Europeans. Good going, guys.

The nanny state is now hinting that it will turn its benevolent eye toward restricting anti-Americanism, now that it’s showing signs of being bad for business. I’m all for the government outlawing discrimination or speaking out against racism, but of course, that might involve holding up a mirror before people at their ugliest, curbing the enshrined superiority of the Korean minjok, and giving away a valuable election-year asset. Instead, the South Koreans’ real goal is merely to keep anti-Americanism out...

If you ever doubted that “We Are One” was anything but an empty slogan, this article on North Korean defectors in the South is a must-read. The severity of the North Koreans’ psychological scarring is stunning; it has left them unfit to live normal lives. The South Koreans’ shallow, snivelling, small-minded treatment of their brothers is the only thing that makes a comparable impression. The longer the country remains divided politically, the more it will be divided psychologically. Then, read...

If you ever doubted that “We Are One” was anything but an empty slogan, this article on North Korean defectors in the South is a must-read. The severity of the North Koreans’ psychological scarring is stunning; it has left them unfit to live normal lives. The South Koreans’ shallow, snivelling, small-minded treatment of their brothers is the only thing that makes a comparable impression. The longer the country remains divided politically, the more it will be divided psychologically. Then, read...

The media sing in unanimity that the “distracted” Bush Administration can’t beat the terrorists. Meanwhile, in the space of a year, Libya has gone from honorable mention for the Axis of Evil to quasi-ally (though still mostly despicable), actually catching key remnants of a vicious al-Qaeda linked terrorist group from Algeria. Remember the Millenium Bomb plot? The would be bomber came from Algeria’s radical Islamic insurgency. A few years ago, those groups were poised to make Algeria the next Afghanistan....

Today’s nominee: Polish Army finds hidden WMD cache; still no WMD found

Colin Powell is insisting that his meeting with North Korea’s foreign minister was a mere rehash of the two sides’ positions, and that those positions remain far apart. Yet we see how far we have come from our firm insistence that we would not negotiate with North Korea to keep the obligations is already made. If Powell is indeed the leader of the Administration’s wobbly faction, this is still pretty disturbing. Powell understands that people like yours truly will have...

The BBC has two recent stories on labor trouble in the Korean auto industry. Hyundai just settled a strike, but at a very high cost in wages that will be passed on to customers, who have already been buying fewer of their cars. Then there’s the brain trust at GM that decided to buy Daewoo. I bet they’re wondering what they were thinking. As most other economies in Asia are rebounding, the Korean economy is in a sustained contraction. Consumers...

Check out this story in the Korea Herald on Roh’s new “independent” Korean Multipurpose Helicopter project. This has “Made in South Cholla” written all over for it (for you folks in Washington, South Cholla is to the Korean left what West Virginia is to Robert Byrd). I’m quoted as an “avid military enthusiast.” And while I prefer the more vague description of “Korea watcher,” which might apply to, heck, racing girl fans, for that matter, I will certainly admit that...

It’s a question worth asking after the superb turnout at the July 1st protest. The media can’t quite agree on whether that turnout was 200,000 or 530,000, but it was enough to make the event a big success. The NYT coverage had the most depth. It quoted protest organizers as estimating that 350,000 started the march, and that thousands more joined in along the route. It also reported that the protest’s tone was more confrontational than last year’s, focusing more...

The media sing in unanimity that the “distracted” Bush Administration can’t beat the terrorists. Meanwhile, in the space of a year, Libya has gone from honorable mention for the Axis of Evil to quasi-ally (though still mostly despicable), actually catching key remnants of a vicious al-Qaeda linked terrorist group from Algeria. Remember the Millenium Bomb plot? The would be bomber came from Algeria’s radical Islamic insurgency. A few years ago, those groups were poised to make Algeria the next Afghanistan....