Anju Links for 22 May 2007
* Freedom House has released an extensive new report on North Korea’s concentration camps. The author is David Hawk, who wrote “The Hidden Gulag.”
* John Bolton is leading the charge against Agreed Framework 2.0, and his latest effort is this piece at OpinionJournal.com. He doesn’t quite accuse Chris Hill of conspiring to launder money — I did — but he does a good job of explain our dizzying series of retreats on the Banco Delta issue. Thanks to a reader for sending.
* According to this report, Swiss authorities are questioning whether North Korea is the maker of the Supernotes. While I can’t easily dismiss claims from the Swiss, the substance of the criticism seems rather weak on closer examination. First, the criticism is that only a government could have done something this sophisticated (North Korea was a government when I last checked). Second, they don’t offer any specific evidence or an alternative theory. Third, the Swiss have some interest in disputing the U.S. version, which is that the Swiss sold them much of the equipment for the operation. Finally, the news report even quotes favorite OFK laughingstock Klaus Bender, without referencing Bender’s baseless accusation that the CIA is behind all of this, printing the notes somewhere near where I live. It really boils down to whether you think North Korea could do something this complicated. Well, they built nukes and ICBM’s, didn’t they?
* Purge or reshuffle? Kim Jong Il has made some personnel changes among his senior military officers. North Korea has also named a new Foreign Minister, but it’s not the man who negotiated the February 13th Agreement.
* If there’s any hope for our North Korea policy, it’s sustained by stories like this one. We’re now moving to undermine the Iranian regime, which is something we should have been doing at least two decades ago. At this late stage of the Bush Administration, it’s doubtful that we can do much, particularly if we can’t stick with a policy — like the financial strategy against North Korea — when it actually does start to work.
* More rioting in China, this time, over forced birth control.
* Here’s an update on the North Korean food situation, which is bad and getting worse, but not yet catastrophic. What is striking is how little relation there is between the policies of donor nations and the humanitarian imperative. All of it is driven by the donor government’s feelings toward the regime itself. It’s almost as if they know that’s where the aid is going anyway. Meanwhile, the UNDP has left North Korea, and it looks like it’s for the foreseeable future.