Search Results for “censorship”

July 22, 2008

Anju Links for 22 July 2008

BUT WE MUSTN’T POLITICIZE THE OLYMPICS: To further its pre-Olympic “cleansing” policy, China will shut down the bridges to North Korea until the Olympics are over. Those who promised us that the Olympics would mean more openness and liberalization have a lot of refugee “cleansing,” oppression, censorship, arrests, and a tidal wave of state-inspired Lebensraum rhetoric (see comments) to answer for. IF IT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER (PT.1): Pressed by a reporter last week, White House Spokeswoman Dana Perino said...

Anju Links

May 2, 2008

Pick Up ROK, Drop On Foot

[Scroll down for updates.] The Korean Church Coalition passes along this press release on Chinese efforts to stop a North Korean human rights demonstration in Seoul, how those efforts backfired, and how the Chinese response since then has exacerbated the reaction. kcc-press-release.pdf Officially, the best China can offer is something that’s not widely perceived as an apology by South Koreans (who can be fairly reluctant to interpret apologies as such once offended). Unofficially, Chinese “netizens” continue to propagate asinine denials...

Activism/China & Korea/Human Rights/Refugees

April 30, 2008

Better Them Than Us: Korean Nationalism Turns on China

As I suspected, the China’s censorship-by-thug on the streets of Seoul is not proving popular among Koreans. The Chinese government seems to be coming to grips with the P.R. disaster it has made for itself. Its diplomats, though not quite in a full kowtow position, are offering either an apology or whatever it is that Asian diplomats offer when national pride prevents one: South Korea’s Foreign Ministry expressed regret Monday to China’s ambassador to Seoul, Ning Fukui, over the incident,...

Censorship/China & Korea/Democracy/Korean Law

April 10, 2008

Representatives Ask Rice About ‘Consular Emergencies’ During Beijing Olympics

Last month, three members of Congress — Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, Ray Lahood of Illinois, and Darlene Hooley of Oregon — anticipating just how ugly things could will get if when U.S. citizens protest during this year’s Olympics in Beijing, wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to ask what instructions she had given to our diplomats in China about “consular emergencies” during the games. The members also broached the sensitive subject of whether State should issue a travel advisory...

China/U.S. Politics

April 9, 2008

Did North Korea proliferate to Iran, too?

An Israeli news site reports that North Korea aided Iran’s nuclear program with nuclear technology and material, according to the Israeli news site Haaretz (ht to a reader): According to information obtained by Washington and Jerusalem, North Korea transferred technology and nuclear materials to Iran to aid Tehran’s secret nuclear arms program. U.S. and Israeli officials agreed last week that the talks between the U.S. and North Korea, scheduled to take place in Singapore tomorrow, should be used to pressure...

Proliferation/WMD

March 17, 2008

Bread, Peace, and Kalashnikovs for Tibet (Not Necessarily in that Order)

Those Tibet protests continue to spread, although more outside Tibet proper than inside. Lhasa looks like an armed camp: CNN reports on the spread of the protests to other regions: The Chinese are making the best traction they can by reporting on the excesses of Tibetan protestors, while effectively keeping their own excesses off the TV screens. One thing the Chicoms do with great efficiency is censorship. They’re blacking out CNN, too: And of course, the usual suspects — U.N.,...

"United" Nations/China

November 28, 2007

How Times Have Changed!

I’ve very much enjoyed the first installment of reviews of World War Two-era Korean films at Gusts of Popular Feeling, and look forward to the next ones. The first film reviewed was made in 1941, a pro-Japanese propaganda film called “The Volunteer,” surprising not only for its cinematic technique and moments of artistry, but also for its mention of discriminatory treatment of Koreans by the Japanese. The Japanese character (the one who told Choon-ho about the opening of the military...

History/Korean Society

October 29, 2007

There Is Such a Thing as ‘Good’ Engagement

If you’re reading this, you’re bearing with me despite the light blogging of late. Thank you. I make a habit of not talking about my work here, but suffice to say that it carries significant responsibilities that sometimes leave no time and energy for other things. At times like these, when there is very little time left over, I owe that time to my family. Thank you again for your understanding, for continuing to stop by, and for your e-mails. ...

Deprogramming/Six-Party Talks

October 14, 2007

NYT: It Was a Reactor

Israel’s air attack on Syria last month was directed against a site that Israeli and American intelligence analysts judged was a partly constructed nuclear reactor, apparently modeled on one North Korea has used to create its stockpile of nuclear weapons fuel, according to American and foreign officials with access to the intelligence reports. [N.Y. Times, David Sanger and Mark Mazzetti] Even among other journalists who cover this story and the White House, Sanger is well known for having good sources...

Six-Party Talks

October 11, 2007

Summit Perceptions

So what will be the enduring effect of the meeting between Roh Moo Hyun and Kim Jong Il? I could speculate, but others have already done that. Simply read the divergent brands and ask yourself: who is better informed and grounded in reality: a semi-random sampling of ordinary North Koreans, or a New York Times reporter? (Big hint: it’s Norimitsu Oniishi, who is almost always over his head when he strays beyond culture and fluff stories). I’ll just observe that...

Appeasement/Inside NK/Korean Politics

September 7, 2007

The Death of an Alliance, Part 67

[Update: As I had figured, only video really does it justice. Just watch the body language and Bush’s expression. And for that matter, Roh’s. Roh certainly has used his presidency to perfect a sublime aura of idiocy. It’s hard for me to imagine that South Korean voters will be impressed if their media ever decide to cover this story. There definitely isn’t much love in that room. Click the image. Update 1 continued below, with an AP report that does...

An Alliance?/Korean Politics/U.S. & Korea

August 27, 2007

North Korea Calls Off “Arirang”

No Arirang for you. North Korea has suspended its large-scale gymnastic and artistic performance due to damage from recent heavy rains, the country’s state media reported Monday. “It has now become hard to continue the performance as working people in different parts of the country are all out to recover from the flood damage these days,” the Korean Central News Agency said. “The performance is expected to be staged again after the flood damage is cleared away.” The “Arirang” festival,...

NK Economics/North Korea

August 6, 2007

Pew: Anti-Americanism Declined in South Korea (But Read the Fine Print)

According to this year’s Pew Global attitudes report, anti-Americanism has declined significantly in South Korea, from 46% favorable in 2003 to 58% favorable last year. Pew says that the “U.S. image has improved dramatically” there, and while this result suggests a significant and positive change, Pew’s enthusiasm is overstated, because Pew is comparing two extremes that may overstate the actual situation. Pew’s first point of comparison is 2003, when anti-Americanism was at its fevered peak, when no South Korean politician...

Anti-Americanism

July 28, 2007

Not Ready

I have resigned myself to a Lee Myung Bak presidency in Korea, something I can do without much difficulty because (a) there will be much amusement, hilarity, scandal, and great blog material, and (b) because I’m not South Korean [Update: or North Korean]. Superficially, Lee is the furthest “right” of the major candidates, and while South Korea’s idea of “right” may not be my thing, it’s the linear opposite of South Korea’s idea of “left,” which I unreservedly despise. Concepts...

Korean Politics/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics

June 30, 2007

Abductions Update: Volunteer Translators Wanted; a Rumor that Kim Jong Il Will ‘Investigate’ the Issue

A group of family members of Japanese abductees is looking for native English speakers to edit their translations of a book on Japanese who were abducted by the North Koreans. If you’re interested in helping, all they ask is that you translate one chapter. From the summary, some of the stories look pretty compelling: Chapter 1: The Yokota family — Their 13-year-old daughter, Megumi, disappeared on her way home from school. Her family made every possible effort to find her,...

Abductions

January 29, 2007

Dastardly Chinese Try to Claim Paektusan!

Update: Yup — called it. The netizens’ charge of the ChiCom lines was repulsed, and the South Korean government leads the panicky flight … like 1951 all over again. North Korea, whose physical boundaries are at the center of the dispute (more), is no doubt preparing its latest draft North-South statement on Tokdo. So what do the Chinese know that we don’t? ========================= It’s pretty thin gruel if you read the report, but on the other hand, China is in a...

Censorship/China & Korea/History

January 15, 2007

The China Veto

[Updated below] For those who still doubt that the South Korean government would bow to another government’s sensitivities to cancel an artistic performance — witness the debate and denial over the censorship of “Yoduk Story” — I suppose we can now put those doubts to rest. On January 7, several major South Korean media published editorials that criticized the Korean government for kowtowing to the Chinese communist regime by canceling the New Tang Dynasty’s (NTDTV) New Year Spectacular in...

Anti-Americanism/Censorship/China & Korea/Korean Law/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea

January 7, 2007

Gerry Bevers, Tokdo, and the Heckler’s Veto

Kind words about your thoughts mean all the more when they come from someone like Kevin Kim, a/k/a The Big Hominid. Kevin, who reads and writes in fluent French, speaks fluent Korean, and creates art and books that people pay real money for, is what people call a “renaissance man.” He’s even created photoshop icons for pretty much every k-blog but this one…. Kevin links to what he calls my “awesome … ranticle” (thanks!) on the Marmot thread about the...

Censorship/Japan & Korea/Korean Society

Search Results for: censorship