Search Results for: frag

Now, we reach the fundamentals. What, then, is the enduring purpose of this alliance? Let me throw down every reasonable alternative, and we’ll pick them apart one at a time. What are the interests of South Korea and the United States? It’s in the interests of the United States for the region to be peaceful and for trade to flow freely . . . . . . with the notable exception of weapons of mass murder, dope, and counterfeit currency....

Alexander Vershbow on Economic Aid to North Korea U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow is not backing down: Ignoring North Korean growls over the weekend that earlier remarks had jeopardized nuclear weapons negotiations, Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. ambassador to Korea, said yesterday that if those nuclear talks failed, Pyongyang would be to blame. He also asked that Seoul’s economic projects in the North should be “coordinated” with those negotiations. “The signals from North Korea in recent days have not...

(By guest blogger, Andy Jackson) This is the last in a four-part series on lectures concerning human rights in North Korea delivered at Sogang University in Seoul on November 26, 2005. The text in block quotes were taken from notes of translation of the lecture and supplemented by an article written by Kim on the same topic. Any inaccuracies in the text are strictly my own. Apostates are often the most vehement of critics. Such is the case with Kim...

In final the days leading up to Freedom House’s Seoul conference, the movement to put human rights back into the center of South Korea’s policy toward the North appears to be gaining momentum. It is still a fragile moment. The momentum could still be lost to petty factional and interpersonal disputes. If the movement’s leading lights unite, however, it could also shift South Korea’s national debate, across the political spectrum, as Korea’s political parties prepare and adjust their platforms in...

Since I’ve been experiencing some of the busiest weeks in my professional life lately, I haven’t been able to sneak out of the office to attend hearings, but there are two interesting highlights to report. The first is the latest House hearing, which took place October 27th, covering the U.S. government’s implementation of the N.K. Human Rights Act. Here is a link to all of the testimony, which I freely admit I haven’t the time to review in full. Still,...

Next is Time’s Donald Macintyre of Time Asia, who writes perhaps the best piece to emerge from North Korea’s propaganda disaster known as Arirang. I still don’t have time to give this piece the justice it deserves, but will give you the best grafs and urge you to read the rest on your own. His impressions of the cross-border trade couldn’t be more different when approached from the direction of Pyongyang: Our group, Western journalists granted a rare visit to...

The Washington Post reports that Chris Hill, laying the groundwork for his testimony before the House International Relations Committee today, is stressing the importance of full disclosure by the North Koreans: With the fragile framework of a nuclear agreement in hand, President Bush’s envoys now plan to push North Korea to begin disclosing the extent and locations of its secret development programs right away to test the sincerity of Pyongyang’s commitment to give up its pursuit of atomic weapons. As...

This was a Q&A session moderated by Senator Sam Brownback, who can fairly be called North Korea’s most dangerous enemy in the U.S. Congress. Update: After watching this program on C-SPAN’s book TV, I caught a few errors and made corrections to that effect. Please do not mistake this for a verbatim transcript; it’s highly summarized . . . my best effort to be faithful to the ideas conveyed by the speakers. In the case of Mr. Sharansky, I cleaned...

This was a week of disturbing signs that the Bush Administration was going into the next hastily-arranged round of disarmament talks with North Korea prepared to make ill-advised compromises. Today was a day the administration tried to reassure those of us who wondered whether it was about to do another Agreed Framework. South Korea has already promised the down-payoff of massive energy assistance. Past events suggest that this is probably just part of a mystery gift bag whose precise value...

Won Joon Choe kindly forwarded the following essay, which was published in The Wall Street Journal just before the Roh-Bush meeting at the White House. Because it mainly deals with long-term trends in the alliance, I don’t consider it dated. Obviously, I don’t agree with everything Won Joon says, but he makes his case thoughtfully and cogently. The Wall Street Journal June 10, 2005 COMMENTARY The Decay of the U.S.- South Korean Alliance By WON JOON CHOE June 10, 2005...

Won Joon Choe kindly forwarded the following essay, which was published in The Wall Street Journal just before the Roh-Bush meeting at the White House. Because it mainly deals with long-term trends in the alliance, I don’t consider it dated. Obviously, I don’t agree with everything Won Joon says, but he makes his case thoughtfully and cogently. The Wall Street Journal June 10, 2005 COMMENTARY The Decay of the U.S.- South Korean Alliance By WON JOON CHOE June 10, 2005...

OFK: Please tell us about your background–where you grew up, and what people, ideas, and philosophies influenced the shaping of your character. Jae Ku: I lived in Korea during my first eight years. I have two older brothers and a sister, so there were six of us. I grew up in Midwest, but mostly in Kansas. I spent most of my childhood in the town of Salina. I voted for the first time in 1988, for Mike Michael Dukakis. My...