Search Results for: "slave labor"

In the absence of a nationhood based on principle, it is jingoistic nationalism that becomes the most politically and economically expedient binding agent. Two reports from South Korea today tell us of the woeful depths to which some would stoop to exploit it. How does the contagion spread, you ask? One carrier is television: Reigncom, an MP3 player maker, raised the specter of an American invader in its ads: “Will cheering for independence make you independent? Korean researchers have spent...

The Joongang Ilbo reports that Congressmen Tom Lantos and Frank Wolf are working on a new bill that will “End Dictatorship and Assist Democracy.” From where I sit in Northwest, I can see eyes rolling all the way from Georgetown to Foggy Bottom. I will try to get you some details. I don’t yet know whether the bill will be merely symbolic or will have real consequences for the targeted dictatorships, but I have come to believe that in the...

The Joongang Ilbo reports that Congressmen Tom Lantos and Frank Wolf are working on a new bill that will “End Dictatorship and Assist Democracy.” From where I sit in Northwest, I can see eyes rolling all the way from Georgetown to Foggy Bottom. I will try to get you some details. I don’t yet know whether the bill will be merely symbolic or will have real consequences for the targeted dictatorships, but I have come to believe that in the...

The Joongang Ilbo reports that Congressmen Tom Lantos and Frank Wolf are working on a new bill that will “End Dictatorship and Assist Democracy.” From where I sit in Northwest, I can see eyes rolling all the way from Georgetown to Foggy Bottom. I will try to get you some details. I don’t yet know whether the bill will be merely symbolic or will have real consequences for the targeted dictatorships, but I have come to believe that in the...

In the wake of the recent news that Japan has imposed economic sanctions in the disguise of a new insurance requirement for incoming ships, the United States is also looking for ways to amplify the shock. The New York Times reports: In the months before North Korea announced that it possessed nuclear weapons, the Bush administration began developing new strategies to choke off its few remaining sources of income, based on techniques in use against Al Qaeda, intelligence officials and...

In the wake of the recent news that Japan has imposed economic sanctions in the disguise of a new insurance requirement for incoming ships, the United States is also looking for ways to amplify the shock. The New York Times reports: In the months before North Korea announced that it possessed nuclear weapons, the Bush administration began developing new strategies to choke off its few remaining sources of income, based on techniques in use against Al Qaeda, intelligence officials and...

You may be one of those who wonder what the big deal is all about. So was I, once. Japan, after all, has become a good citizen in Asia, so why dwell on the past? Why the fury, even today? Then I visited the place myself, tacking on some leave after a hard-fought case at Camp Zama (or maybe it was the first one in Okinawa, but definitely not the one in Kure). The problem, in a word, is distortion....

“Pots for Peace”: not another cannabinoid conflict resolution initiative from Marin County, but another Kim Tae Kyung OhMyNews pipe dream, to be sure. TK, who loves everything from North Korea except defectors, has gone all erotic and stickied himself up over the North Korean-made cookware the ajummas are buying up at the high-end department stores in Seoul (there are reportedly still some export control complications with Kaesong’s plans for a penicillin factory, a pesticide plant, and a large aluminum tube...

“Pots for Peace”: not another cannabinoid conflict resolution initiative from Marin County, but another Kim Tae Kyung OhMyNews pipe dream, to be sure. TK, who loves everything from North Korea except defectors, has gone all erotic and stickied himself up over the North Korean-made cookware the ajummas are buying up at the high-end department stores in Seoul (there are reportedly still some export control complications with Kaesong’s plans for a penicillin factory, a pesticide plant, and a large aluminum tube...

Those who believe in schemes to turn North Korea’s slave labor into the next gold mine for global capital’s deviant moral fringe should take note of this TimeAsia report: Doing business in Burma has often cost American companies p.r. points: Pepsi, Apple Computer and Levi Strauss are just a few of the U.S. firms that pulled out of the military-ruled state after being pressured by human-rights groups. Now, however, doing business with regimes like the one in Rangoon may cost...

Those who believe in schemes to turn North Korea’s slave labor into the next gold mine for global capital’s deviant moral fringe should take note of this TimeAsia report: Doing business in Burma has often cost American companies p.r. points: Pepsi, Apple Computer and Levi Strauss are just a few of the U.S. firms that pulled out of the military-ruled state after being pressured by human-rights groups. Now, however, doing business with regimes like the one in Rangoon may cost...

. . . 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...

. . . 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...

The Chosun Ilbo is reporting that Congress will vote on the North Korean Human Rights Act this week. No, this bill is not as strong as the original North Korean Freedom Act, but great things have small beginnings, and a strong response from voters can help build toward better things later. In brief, this bill does the following: 1. Increases funds to broadcast to North Korea for more hours every day, and to find ways to get tunable radios to...

The Chosun Ilbo is reporting that Congress will vote on the North Korean Human Rights Act this week. No, this bill is not as strong as the original North Korean Freedom Act, but great things have small beginnings, and a strong response from voters can help build toward better things later. In brief, this bill does the following: 1. Increases funds to broadcast to North Korea for more hours every day, and to find ways to get tunable radios to...

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...