Anju Links for 9 July 2008 (Pt. 2)
YOU DON’T SAY:
“There is concern that North Korea might want to retain nuclear weapons that they have already produced so, in fact, they can be considered as a nuclear weapon state,” Lee Myung-Bak told Japan’s Kyodo News in an interview released on Monday. “This is a very serious concern we all have,” said South Korean President Lee stressing the need for the six-party nuclear negotiations to tackle the weapons issue. [Channel News Asia]
Unlike Japan’s leaders, Lee doesn’t have much political capital to restrain the State Department’s proclivities these days, but that comment does seem to signal a certain reluctance about recent developments. You have to wonder where the usual suspects are, who spent the first six years of Bush’s presidency denouncing his unilateralism.
NORTH KOREA FREEZES further disarmament:
[S]ignaling potential difficulties in the negotiations, the North said last week it will not take further steps to dismantle its nuclear program until the U.S. and its other negotiating partners provide it with promised fuel oil and political benefits. [AP]
As usual, it’s too vague to know exactly what they mean by this, but it’s clear that this will buy them at least six more weeks. By the time Congress allows its 45-day window to object to North Korea’s terror-sponsor delisting to pass, North Korea will be back in full stall mode. They’ll have what they want, and we’ll have zero disarmament and an incomplete, incorrect declaration.
TO THE ASTONISHMENT OF ABSOLUTELY NO ONE:
Pakistan gave centrifuges to North Korea in a 2000 shipment supervised by the army, Abdul Qadeer Khan, the architect of Pakistan’s nuclear program, said on Friday. Dr. Khan said in a telephone interview that the uranium enrichment equipment was sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials. [NYT]
David Albright, call your office.
YANKEE RAPIST AT LARGE IN KOREA! In my four years as a Judge Advocate in Korea, I learned never to believe even the evidence that came attached to preferred changes, but leftist South Korean “civic groups” have a genius for lowering the evidentiary bar. According to one such group, citing a local mob, said mob intervened between a drunk GI and a Korean woman tussling on a street in Tongduchon. And they’re certain it was an attempted rape because ….
Ko Yoo-kyung, the director of the Headquarters for the Movement to Root out Crimes by U.S. Troops in South Korea, said, “If the U.S. soldier pulled along her at that time, the possibility is high that he would have attempted to rape her. Nevertheless, police handled the case as one of attempted forced harassment and sent the suspect back (to the U.S. military police).
In response, a police officer from the Yangju Police Station said, “We just handled the case as attempted forced harassment. We couldn’t view it as attempted rape because the suspect didn’t touch Lee’s body. We weren’t in a position to question the suspect because he was drunk, so we sent him back. [The Hankyoreh]
There’s no mention whatsoever of what the alleged victim has to say, but the soldier is supposed to have been questioned yesterday. Expect to see at least two dozen demands for compensation from any 10-person, 5-onlooker mob. It’s another great moment in Korea journalism from the Hanky. On the other hand, I wonder whether the GI in question had a prior disciplinary history, and if so, why his commander didn’t pull his pass privileges. In the Army, it’s often said that 10% of the soldiers cause 90% of the problems, but all too frequently, that 10% cuts a swath through the ville while their Chapter 14 paperwork is pending.
BELOW THE FOLD: My mom forwards me a list of the dumbest questions lawyers have asked in court. Whether that’s really the case or not, they’re pretty funny.
These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word , taken down and now published by court reporters who had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.
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ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
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ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
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ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
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ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
WITNESS: He said, ‘Where am I, Cathy?’
ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
WITNESS: My name is Susan!
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ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn’t it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn’t know about it until the next morning?
WITNESS: ; Did you actually pass the bar exam?
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ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: Uh, he’s twenty-one.
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ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
WITNESS: Are you shittin’ me?
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ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh…. I was gettin’ laid!
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ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
WITNESS : Are you shittin’ me? Your Honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?
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ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Now whose death do you suppose terminated it?
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ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Guess.
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ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
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ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All my autopsies are performed on dead people. Would you like to rephrase that?
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ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
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ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 P.M.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy on him!
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ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
WITNESS: Huh…are you qualified to ask that question?
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And the best for last:
ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.