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31 March 2009

THE SENATE Foreign Relations Committee is expected to approve Christopher Hill’s confirmation today, but tabloid rumors notwithstanding, that isn’t the final “confirmation” vote.

THE U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION has adopted a resolution denouncing North Korea’s human rights record and reappointing Vitit Muntarbhorn for another year. The resolution was adopted despite the opposing votes of China and Russia:

The UN Commission on Human Rights yesterday adopted the European Union-led resolution on a 26-6 vote with 15 abstentions at a meeting at the UN office in Geneva, Switzerland. The resolution expressed concern at the “grave, widespread and systematic human rights abuses in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [North Korea’s formal name], in particular the use of torture and labor camps against political prisoners and repatriated DPRK citizens. [Joongang Ilbo]

I REMEMBER WHEN the South Korean left wanted nothing more than bilateral talks between the U.S. and North Korea. It seemed as if all talks were good talks — even without South Korea — but that was then, and besides, who invited Japan?

BRIBERY ALLEGATIONS AGAINST PARK JIN: Too bad. I like Park and I hope he comes out of this with his name clear.

SHAKING A BLOODY HAND: Obama and Clinton signal a thaw in relations with the Burmese junta thugs who murdered thousands of peaceful protestors so recently. Still under review: a relaxation of sanctions. This new administration is starting to look like a dreary time for the human rights of anyone not plotting to blow up schools and airliners. By the way, guess which country is the leading investor in Burma’s natural gas sector, an industry with a history of committing atrocities to mobilize slave labor? (Lawsuits by victims drove Unocal out of the country.) Hint: it aint Madagascar. One NGO has even filed a complaint with the OECD.

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  1. Did you see the notes about they guy Obama picked to be the legal representative of the State Department?

    Koh has called America’s focus on the War on Terror “obsessive.” In 2004, he listed countries that flagrantly disregard international law — “most prominently, North Korea, Iraq, and our own country, the United States of America,” which he branded “the axis of disobedience.

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/2009/03/025455print.html

    That is one of the mysteries to me about the left-right divide: why so often do the people most highly critical of the US and presidents like Bush — turn around and support – or go out of their way to “understand” – some of the worst dictators and national tyrannies on the planet?

    You have public figures like Sean Penn rubbing elbows with the likes of Chavez and Castro and the like. And you have people who go out of their way to be “open minded” when it comes to places like Burma or Iran.

  2. I am quite surprised and disappointed about Park Jin as well. He is one of the few high-profile Korean politician of his generation with a pro-American, realist perspective.

    I suppose his possible indictment on bribery charges just goes show that it is impossible to have “clean hands” in Korean politics, and whether you get caught or not is purely a matter of fortune or fate.

  3. “I suppose his possible indictment on bribery charges just goes show that it is impossible to have “clean hands” in Korean politics, and whether you get caught or not is purely a matter of fortune or fate. “

    I would guess that high-ranking officials charged with bribery either were so flagrant the government felt obliged to investigate or they’d fallen out of favor with the administration. I don’t think the US is so different. It may or may not be a coincidence that Spitzer got caught with his pants down after targeting AIG and being such a vocal critic of federal bank bailouts.

  4. Lady Sonagi,

    You are playing the gyopo defensive game of “it’s exactly the same in America,” and I don’t approve! 🙂

    In all seriousness, of course, I recognize there is political corruption in the U.S., as well as other manifestations of human weakness that I so robustly criticize in Korean society (xenophobia, violence, and sexism would be among them). But the question is in the details or the degrees. And both common-sense observation and objective measures do indicate that Korea is more corrupt–far more corrupt–than the U.S. and most peer OECD countries.

    Finally, I would be remiss if I neglected to emphasize that–being neither a puritan ideologue nor utopian dreamer–I do not believe corruption is always bad or can be so easily rooted out. As I have mentioned before (I think at Robert’s Blog), David Kang has written an excellent book on how political corruption may have been more efficient and contributed Korean economic growth in the context of the absence of transparent institutions in the earlier stages of Korea’s development cycle.

  5. Harold Koh:

    Lightweight intellectual, a jack-ass of a human being, and a gyopo poseur.

    Yep, that’s my assessment of him.