After 9/11, there were two kinds of Americans—media nebbishes who would agonize, “Why do they hate us?” and the rest of us, who would just shake our heads and ask, “What the f*ck is wrong with those people?” I’ve been a member of the latter group since oh, mid-August of 1990, when I visited the Middle East for the first and last time until someone deploys or abducts me. Sure I love world travel, but I’m no masochist. I’m not...

After 9/11, there were two kinds of Americans—media nebbishes who would agonize, “Why do they hate us?” and the rest of us, who would just shake our heads and ask, “What the f*ck is wrong with those people?” I’ve been a member of the latter group since oh, mid-August of 1990, when I visited the Middle East for the first and last time until someone deploys or abducts me. Sure I love world travel, but I’m no masochist. I’m not...

I had an anonymous comment today criticizing my previous post. First, I owe the poster an apology for inadvertently deleting him. I’m not trying to silence you, I’m just a technical incompetent and a neophyte to blogging. Let me try to reconstruct your attack (I invite you to correct me if I misstate it). You took issue with my characterization that Korea was losing interest in democracy, and my suggestion that perhaps Koreans now see democracy as an “American obsession.”...

I had an anonymous comment today criticizing my previous post. First, I owe the poster an apology for inadvertently deleting him. I’m not trying to silence you, I’m just a technical incompetent and a neophyte to blogging. Let me try to reconstruct your attack (I invite you to correct me if I misstate it). You took issue with my characterization that Korea was losing interest in democracy, and my suggestion that perhaps Koreans now see democracy as an “American obsession.”...

When the state loses the will to enforce the rule of law, the conditions are ripe for the eclipse of democracy. The younger generations are seduced by a quicker path to power, and the older generations lose faith that the system is worth defending. Just as Weimar Germany let Berlin descend into chaos and Gotterdammerung, it is happening in Seoul today. Are there any South Koreans (hint: the brave woman in this photo is a North Korean defector) who are...

When the state loses the will to enforce the rule of law, the conditions are ripe for the eclipse of democracy. The younger generations are seduced by a quicker path to power, and the older generations lose faith that the system is worth defending. Just as Weimar Germany let Berlin descend into chaos and Gotterdammerung, it is happening in Seoul today. Are there any South Koreans (hint: the brave woman in this photo is a North Korean defector) who are...

Welcome, Winds of Change readers, to the militant wing of the Korea blogosphere. Stop by periodically for English translations of reports from NK Gulag (defectors’ Seoul-based NGO) about developments inside North Korea, Norbert Vollertsen’s latest activities to shame Seoul into doing something for the people of North Korea, and satirical views of news that would never make sense otherwise. North Korea is next year’s issue, provided we don’t end up with Warren Christopher as Secretary of State again. In that...

Welcome, Winds of Change readers, to the militant wing of the Korea blogosphere. Stop by periodically for English translations of reports from NK Gulag (defectors’ Seoul-based NGO) about developments inside North Korea, Norbert Vollertsen’s latest activities to shame Seoul into doing something for the people of North Korea, and satirical views of news that would never make sense otherwise. North Korea is next year’s issue, provided we don’t end up with Warren Christopher as Secretary of State again. In that...

The Korea Herald is reminding us that–all together now–America is the arrogant one: It is crucial that Americans recognize that not every South Korean is shouting “Yankee go home” and that not every young man here is anxious to burn the Stars and Stripes in the street. They need to realize that any “anti-American movement,” as reported by the international media from South Korea, can look sensational, given the worldwide trend of denouncing the arrogance of the sole superpower, not...

Can anyone explain what the f*ck this guy’s saying or why’s he’s so famous? I’ve seen horoscopes make their point more concisely than this. The only thing that is clear from his columns is that he’s pissed off at the U.S. for realizing that it has no vital interest in protecting South Korea. In Kim’s mind, Korea is as militarily and politically vital to the United States as Guam. Given that Korea doesn’t want that and America doesn’t believe that,...

NK Gulag may have better info about life inside North Korea than any other NGO or media organization. They have sent me some interesting updates on goings-on inside the Land of Oz. First, they discuss recent reports that the Nork border guards have built up the fences along the border, and even added tiger traps: North Korea recently ordered the construction of a two-meter high wooden fence along 393 kilometers of its border with China. This area is largely mountainous...

The Korea Herald is reminding us that–all together now–America is the arrogant one: It is crucial that Americans recognize that not every South Korean is shouting “Yankee go home” and that not every young man here is anxious to burn the Stars and Stripes in the street. They need to realize that any “anti-American movement,” as reported by the international media from South Korea, can look sensational, given the worldwide trend of denouncing the arrogance of the sole superpower, not...

Can anyone explain what the f*ck this guy’s saying or why’s he’s so famous? I’ve seen horoscopes make their point more concisely than this. The only thing that is clear from his columns is that he’s pissed off at the U.S. for realizing that it has no vital interest in protecting South Korea. In Kim’s mind, Korea is as militarily and politically vital to the United States as Guam. Given that Korea doesn’t want that and America doesn’t believe that,...

NK Gulag may have better info about life inside North Korea than any other NGO or media organization. They have sent me some interesting updates on goings-on inside the Land of Oz. First, they discuss recent reports that the Nork border guards have built up the fences along the border, and even added tiger traps: North Korea recently ordered the construction of a two-meter high wooden fence along 393 kilometers of its border with China. This area is largely mountainous...

Is Korea starting to figure things out, now that it’s too late? According to this piece in the Korea Herald, 82% of Americans surveyed favor the Pentagon’s plan to pull 12,000 troops out of Korea. Opposition was in the single digits. At first, I got excited–finally, someone asking what Americans think about Korea. As it turned out, however, the poll isn’t scientific; worse yet, it’s on Fox, which means that it’s from a skewed sample. Still, could anyone have expected...

South Korean civic groups today announced the temporary withdrawal of all anti-American protest signs and slogans after a sudden epidemic of cognitive dissonance (photo). The outbreak followed a U.S. announcement that it would pull 12,500 troops out of Korea by the end of 2005. Anti-U.S. groups, which had demanded a total U.S. withdrawal for years–a result they apparently never considered even faintly possible–reacted to the Pentagon’s announcement with a mixture of sharp criticism, strong approval, apathy, ambivalence, and panic. At...

Is Korea starting to figure things out, now that it’s too late? According to this piece in the Korea Herald, 82% of Americans surveyed favor the Pentagon’s plan to pull 12,000 troops out of Korea. Opposition was in the single digits. At first, I got excited–finally, someone asking what Americans think about Korea. As it turned out, however, the poll isn’t scientific; worse yet, it’s on Fox, which means that it’s from a skewed sample. Still, could anyone have expected...

If you’re accustomed to the measured, soporific language that diplomats use, this interview with Richard Lawless will make you spit 815 cola all over your monitor. Money quotes, emphasis mine: But now, with our two sides asking whether the garrison transfer would be 3.6 million pyeong or 3.3 million pyong, and this petty thing becoming contentious, we are extremely confused and disappointed. I’m frustrated that in our 50-year relationship of alliance, a difference of 300,000 pyeong can become contentious. Translation–we’ve...