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April 1, 2006

ROK Police Failed to Protect U.S. Marines

Just in case you thought my most recent rant about South Korea failing to protect U.S. troops (the ones defending its country) was off-base, well, have a look: The appearance of anti-war demonstrators as the beachfront site of a joint U.S.-Korea military drill on Thursday showed an apparent lack of interest by authorities in keeping exercise sites free of demonstrators and other civilians. Authorities said yesterday that the police in the vicinity of Manripo Beach, in Taean, South Chungcheong province,...
Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Law/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/Uncategorized
April 1, 2006

2ID KATUSA Escapes Captivity in N. Korea

Some translation is appropriate for non-military readers: KATUSA means Korean Augmentee to the U.S. Army, and 2ID means Second Infantry Division, a brigade of which remains stretched out in an arc perpendicular to the Northern approaches to Seoul. Hundreds of KATUSAs still serve with U.S. Army units there today, but the first KATUSAs served during the Korean War. Here’s what happened to one of them: Lee participated in the Korean War after enlisting in August 1950 as a Korea auxiliary...
Categories Abductions/Appeasement/China & Korea/Defectors/Human Rights/Korean History/North Korea/Refugees/ROK Military/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
March 30, 2006

Congress (Again) Considers Asylum for WMD Witnesses

The provision is similar to one that was a part of the failed North Korean Freedom Act, and was inserted into the Immigration Bill by Senator Sam Brownback, the greatest champion of the North Korean people in that body. Unless you’ve been in a secluded location, you may realize that the House and Senate have yet to bridge major difference in that bill. Still, this quote encouraged me: One Washington source said, “Last year, the North Korea policy was much...
Categories Defectors/Human Rights/Refugees/Washington Views/WMD
March 30, 2006

Jay Lefkowitz Interviewed in the Donga Ilbo

I’ll simply link this and recommend it in its entirety. The interviewer asks informed and sharp questions on refugees, regime change, and food aid. Lefkowitz’s answers were adequate but obviously scripted. He’s trying to give the impression that the U.S. will soon start accepting refugees without getting ahead of the Administration; I’m cautiously inclined to believe him, mainly based on other information I’ve heard.
Categories Famine & Food Aid/Human Rights/Refugees/Uncategorized/Washington Views
March 30, 2006

Someone Please Prosecute This Fool

Prosecution Exhibit A  should be this photograph of a South Korean leftist thug putting his hands on a United States Marine.  While there are numerous reasons why this is widely considered unwise, those reasons don’t include  any reason to  fear that the leftist-dominated Korean government will actually prosecute  people like this  for assault.  “Assault” is what you call it when one person puts his hands on another with hostile intent.  It’s a tribute to this Marine’s discipline that he didn’t...
Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Law/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/UCMJ & SOFA
March 26, 2006

WANTED

Two U.S. senior congressional researchers say Washington could bring criminal charges against North Korean leader Kim Jong-il over his country’s alleged counterfeiting of U.S. dollars. The two authors of a Congressional Research Service report say the U.S.’s increasing keenness to back up its allegations with legal evidence is fueling speculation that it is considering going after Kim. Well, that would certainly mark a decisive policy shift — one that it would extraordinarily difficult for future presidents to reverse.  “Earthquake” might...
Categories Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/North Korea/Six-Party Talks/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Law/Uncategorized
March 25, 2006

Yongsan Fire Pics

Thanks to readers who responded to my request for more info on the Yongsan fire last week.  That fire destroyed three buildings on Yongsan or the adjacent Korean Service Corps compound.  Worse, it severely burned  three Korean workers.  One was  burned on 60% of his body and had to be put on a respirator.  Reader “Dan,” presumably a soldier, was living near the scene and ran out to take photographs.  He responded to my request for photos; you can see...
Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
March 25, 2006

The Death of an Alliance, Part 35

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld adds the second hint in about a week that more troops cuts are coming for South Korea.  U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on March 23 that South Korea and the United States have agreed on the transfer of wartime command of South Korean forces to South Korea, and that the two nations are discussing a timetable. Rumsfeld confirmed this in a Pentagon news briefing yesterday and commented on the timing of the turnover, saying, “The...
Categories An Alliance?/China/China & Korea/Diplomacy/ROK Military/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/Uncategorized/Washington Views
February 22, 2006

Congress Criticizes State Dep’t on NK Refugees

[Updated; scroll down] Thanks to a dedicated group of Congressional staffers who forwarded me a scanned copy, which is signed by members of both parties and both houses. I’m going through WordPress hell trying to publish the entire text, but in the meantime, here’s a scanned copy on the Committee’s site.The executive summary is that Congress believes that State is turning away refugees, thus flouting its unanimous will and throwing away America’s credibility on this issue. Update: OK, full scanned...
Categories Activism/Appeasement/China/China & Korea/Defectors/Diplomacy/Human Rights/Refugees/Southeast Asia/Uncategorized/Washington Views
February 21, 2006

House Staffer: Congress to Demand Progress on NKHRA Implementation

If historians were both omniscient and judicious, they would record that Doug Anderson was a great friend of the North Korean people. Anderson, a thin, quiet, and precise young lawyer and staffer for Rep. James Leach, never misses a House hearing on North Korea policy. He is also a key behind-the-scenes advocate of more humane treatment for the people North Korea (meaning I’m not sure he’d want this kind of recognition, warranted though it may be). I’ve never heard an...
Categories Human Rights/North Korea/Refugees/Uncategorized/Washington Views
February 21, 2006

A Modest Drumbeat

The Chosun Ilbo and the  Donga Ilbo are looking at their calendars and seeing a slew of events that will further publicize human rights conditions in North Korea.  Will this be the year our nascent movement finally demonstrates some media sophistication? March:  The State Department  will publish its new human rights report (although I don’t have any reason to suspect anything earth-shaking to come of it).  March 23rd:  European Parliament hearings on North Korea; Freedom House conference in Brussels (we’re...
Categories Activism/Appeasement/Europe/Human Rights/Korean Politics/North Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
February 18, 2006

Sec. Rice: Lefkowitz Will Be More Vocal

It’s the latest suggestion that the Administration is less worried than ever about upsetting Kim Jong Il: The United States will have its North Korea human rights envoy become more active in coming days to get more international attention on the issue, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday. “We are going to get him out more,” Rice said at a U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee hearing. “We need the rest of the international community to also...
Categories Activism/An Alliance?/Appeasement/Diplomacy/Human Rights/Korean Politics/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
February 18, 2006

Comrade Chung Dong Young Wins Uri Leadership

Via Kyodo news, Comrade Chung has won an early test of his strength going into the 2007 presidential race. Chung, former unification minister, was elected by a vote at the party’s national convention in Seoul, defeating seven other candidates. He garnered 4,450 votes, beating his main rival and former Health and Welfare Minister Kim Geun Tae who obtained 3,847 votes in the eight-man race, according to Yonhap News Agency. “The Uri Party and I will fiercely compete with the (opposition)...
Categories An Alliance?/Appeasement/Korean Politics/Washington Views
February 17, 2006

Will U.S. Finally Let in N.K. Refugees?

It’s long past time we did this.  The U.S. government plans to break with long-established policy and start giving asylum to refugees from North Korea. Wording in the 2004 North Korean Human Rights Act that allows it to admit defectors from the Stalinist country has not yet been put into practice due to failure to confirm identities and objections from countries where the refugees were staying. Prominent  activists for human rights in the North – Suzanne Scholte, Jae Ku, and...
Categories Activism/China/China & Korea/Defectors/Diplomacy/Human Rights/North Korea/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Law/Uncategorized/Washington Views
February 17, 2006

Cartoon Idiocy, Part II

After learning that South Korea was in danger of losing the title for “Hub of Petty Despotism,” President Roh Moo Hyun launched his own cartoon war of sorts this week. No embassies were harmed in this production; the only violence was that done to freedom of the press: President Roh Moo-hyun yesterday filed a second libel suit against the mainstream Chosun Ilbo newspaper, saying a cartoon defamed him by circulating false facts. The cartoon, titled “The lie is detected fast,”...
Categories Censorship/Humor/Satire/Korean Law/Korean Politics/U.S. Law/WTF?
February 16, 2006

Banco Delta Sanctions ‘Severe Blow’ to NK Economy

The Chosun Ilbo,  relaying an AWSJ story, reports that the Treasury Department’s action against the Macau-based bank “dealt a severe blow to the secretive country,” “dried up its financial system,” and “brought foreign trade virtually to an end.” In December, I noted reports  that North Korean front companies and spies were fleeing Macau en masse. According to today’s story, Banco Delta has now announced that it’s ending its financial ties with North Korea in an effort to prevent a run...
Categories Appeasement/Asia/China/China & Korea/Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/NK Economics/U.S. Law/Uncategorized
February 13, 2006

Bolton Speech Conspicuously Silent on N. Korea

The Friday event, at the Washington  Omni Shoreham, was by invitation only.  My friend, a very experienced news correspondent, forwards these notes in exchange for a promise of anonymity.  I edited slightly  for spelling and grammar: Bolton sounded fine, convincing enough, on the need for UN reform. I kept waiting for mention of N. Korea, thought it might be coming when he touched on Iran, but no. Wonder whether it was deliberate —  [the Administration]  or State Dept saying, “Don’t...
Categories Appeasement/Uncategorized/Washington Views