NKGulag reports recent changes in the “Military First” policy, including a reduction in terms of conscription. In the past, North Korea gave the military first pick of the outside aid, so it was spared the worst of the famine of the 1990s. Indeed, the army was one of the few places North Koreans could count on a steady meal—and maybe even a little something to send home. Recent reductions in outside aid have meant that hunger is now felt in...

I wonder how I could have ever claimed to be a fan of this guy. I liked “Roger and Me,” even if I recognized the absence of a single cogent alternative in his trashing of capitalism, and I thought TV Nation was geniunely funny. When he wrote in “Stupid White Men” that we should “lighten up” Kim Jong-Il by sending him a copy of “Dude, Where’s My Car,” I could only shake my head at such callousness toward the suffering...

I spent my years in Korea as an Army JAG, which gave me regular contact with the septic morass called the Korean legal system–the one that’s gobbling up ever more U.S. soldiers due to politicization of the SOFA issue. Lost in the rage is the fact that the Korean legal system is failing the Korean people. This editorial in the Korea Herald is the first serious criticism of the Korean legal system I’ve seen. Here’s the money quote: Democracy loses...

I spent my years in Korea as an Army JAG, which gave me regular contact with the septic morass called the Korean legal system–the one that’s gobbling up ever more U.S. soldiers due to politicization of the SOFA issue. Lost in the rage is the fact that the Korean legal system is failing the Korean people. This editorial in the Korea Herald is the first serious criticism of the Korean legal system I’ve seen. Here’s the money quote: Democracy loses...

The Chosun’s headline was “Public Turns Against Deployment after Kidnapping.” The factual evidence? An “emergency internet vote” by a Korean search engine, which is compared to another unscientific e-poll on Yahoo Korea.

The “conservative” Chosun Ilbo managed to fit both of the following statements into a single editorial: The most serious barrier in saving Kim is the urgency of time. The government must begin convincing the terrorist group at once through Iraq’s religious leaders and, if necessary, engage in off-the-record negotiations. . . . . However, no matter how precise the plan would be, it may be difficult to totally block out threats of terrorism. Therefore, an important factor would be how...

The Chosun’s headline was “Public Turns Against Deployment after Kidnapping.” The factual evidence? An “emergency internet vote” by a Korean search engine, which is compared to another unscientific e-poll on Yahoo Korea.

The “conservative” Chosun Ilbo managed to fit both of the following statements into a single editorial: The most serious barrier in saving Kim is the urgency of time. The government must begin convincing the terrorist group at once through Iraq’s religious leaders and, if necessary, engage in off-the-record negotiations. . . . . However, no matter how precise the plan would be, it may be difficult to totally block out threats of terrorism. Therefore, an important factor would be how...

Just got a note from Norbert Vollertsen, in case you’re in Washington next week: “Faces of Children” conference: Human rights in North Korea Time : June 23 – 24, 2004 Place: The National Presbyterian Church 4101 Nebraska Ave., N.W., Washington D.C. 20016 Organizer: First Presbyterian Church of Midland,Texas Participants: Senator Sam Brownback and other US-politicians,human right activists, Christian leaders and international journalists

If anyone knows who said, “revolution is impossible until it is inevitable,” tell me. I vaguely recall that it was a one of the bloody-minded litter of Bolshevists, but I’m tired of googling for it. In any event, it’s true. Even after all the astonishing events of Europe in 1989, even after we had to catch our breath when the Berlin Wall, none of us expected that seismic shift as a crowd in Bucharest, Romania suddenly broke its silence and...

Vaclav Havel has been one of my two favorite Europeans of my lifetime (along with Margaret Thatcher) since I was a high school kid in who foresaw that the discontent of the oppressed would bring down the Iron Curtain. In 1990, with the few dollars I had earned working in a mine in South Africa (another land that was then enjoying its liberation) I went to Prague to see the aftermath of the revolution. The country had been free for...

The Palestinians, who reacted to 9/11 by dancing in the streets, tore up multiple proposals that would have brought them peace, a viable state, and half of Jerusalem. In their nihilistic and self-destructive fury (about which I blogged here a few days ago) they chose bus-bombings and the cold-blooded machine-gunning of civilians. Where did it get them? According to a column by Charles Krauthammer today, their terror campaign has been suffocated by the Israelis’ targeted killing of the terrorist leaders...

Just got a note from Norbert Vollertsen, in case you’re in Washington next week: “Faces of Children” conference: Human rights in North Korea Time : June 23 – 24, 2004 Place: The National Presbyterian Church 4101 Nebraska Ave., N.W., Washington D.C. 20016 Organizer: First Presbyterian Church of Midland,Texas Participants: Senator Sam Brownback and other US-politicians,human right activists, Christian leaders and international journalists

If anyone knows who said, “revolution is impossible until it is inevitable,” tell me. I vaguely recall that it was a one of the bloody-minded litter of Bolshevists, but I’m tired of googling for it. In any event, it’s true. Even after all the astonishing events of Europe in 1989, even after we had to catch our breath when the Berlin Wall, none of us expected that seismic shift as a crowd in Bucharest, Romania suddenly broke its silence and...

Vaclav Havel has been one of my two favorite Europeans of my lifetime (along with Margaret Thatcher) since I was a high school kid in who foresaw that the discontent of the oppressed would bring down the Iron Curtain. In 1990, with the few dollars I had earned working in a mine in South Africa (another land that was then enjoying its liberation) I went to Prague to see the aftermath of the revolution. The country had been free for...

The Palestinians, who reacted to 9/11 by dancing in the streets, tore up multiple proposals that would have brought them peace, a viable state, and half of Jerusalem. In their nihilistic and self-destructive fury (about which I blogged here a few days ago) they chose bus-bombings and the cold-blooded machine-gunning of civilians. Where did it get them? According to a column by Charles Krauthammer today, their terror campaign has been suffocated by the Israelis’ targeted killing of the terrorist leaders...

The Palestinians, who reacted to 9/11 by dancing in the streets, tore up multiple proposals that would have brought them peace, a viable state, and half of Jerusalem. In their nihilistic and self-destructive fury (about which I blogged here a few days ago) they chose bus-bombings and the cold-blooded machine-gunning of civilians. Where did it get them? According to a column by Charles Krauthammer today, their terror campaign has been suffocated by the Israelis’ targeted killing of the terrorist leaders...

It’s fair to notice that China is taking a modest beating in the Korean press today, a day after it announced the return of seven North Korean refugees to the loving arms of the rehabilitative labor directorate. Here’s the Chosun Ilbo version, and here’s the Korea Herald version. Both suggest that the seven who were repatriated were among the hunger strikers at the Tumen Camp, which brings us back to China’s statement on the subject yesterday: We learned that North...