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Category: History

July 8, 2006

Photos of Korea, Circa 1906

Many thanks to my wife for finding and saving these (she’s standing over my shoulder). Unfortunately, she didn’t think to save the link, so I’d appreciate it if anyone could tell me where these were originally published. The photographer was … some German guy. Some of the pictures seem so real, you almost expect the subjects to shoo you away. Scroll over them for captions, and look for them in a book soon to be published. Pick up an extra...
Categories Korean History/Korean Society/Miscellaneous
June 7, 2006

135 Years of Covering Korea

Don Kirk, the Christian Science Monitor’s Korea Correspondent, has joined up the Choe Sang-Hun for a journalistic perspective on Korea that stretches across more than a century. If I were going to be in Seoul, I would definitely not miss this, and I’m looking forward to seeing the published product. Thanks to Don Kirk for sending: Covering Korea: Then and Now KOREA WITNESS: 135 Years of War, Crisis and News in the Land of the Morning Calm Contacts: Publisher, EunHaeng...
Categories Korean History/Media Criticism
May 31, 2006

Posting Problems; No Gun Ri Redux

I am continuing to struggle with technical problems relating to spam attacks and our countermeasures against those. We hope to have those resolved soon. It’s fitting that we should have begin this as a discussion about infiltration and collateral damage, because I’m giving an abbrevated version of a much longer post on the “shocking new revelations” about No Gun Ri. That’s probably for the best, because if you examine the reports in light of the deeper historical record, there’s nothing...
Categories History/Media Criticism
May 28, 2006

The Dictator on My Bar Napkin

Two recent news stories again raise the one of the most difficult questions free societies face: what role should governments play in limiting the expression of views that are tasteless, offensive, or which might even be lies designed to strip that society of its freedom? Let’s begin with some context. If the first casualty of prosperity is taste, a corollary to this rule is that the depth of affliction is proportional to the speed with which a society achieves prosperity....
Categories Anti-Americanism/Censorship/Democracy/History/Korean Education/Korean Society/Unintended Humor/WTF?
May 15, 2006

Growing U.S.-Japanese Fracas Over Yasukuni Visits

Yesterday, I added the following “Link of Interest:” Rep. Henry Hyde, Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, has a message for President Junichiro Koizumi. Hyde, a veteran of the Pacific Theater of World War II and no fan of Japan’s revisionist view of history, suggests that Koizumi won’t be invited to address the House during his upcoming state visit if he intends to visit the Yasukuni Shrine this summer. . . . I swear there must be a clock...
Categories Diplomacy/History/Japan/Japan & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
May 14, 2006

Links of Interest

Richardson has already linked it, but I want to add is that this one could be very, very important to what happens in North Korea. The United States is considering economic sanctions on Chinese banks which have business transactions with North Korean companies allegedly implicated in the development or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), a news report said Sunday. ================= Rep. Henry Hyde, Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, has a message for President Junichiro Koizumi. Hyde,...
Categories Activism/An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Censorship/China/China & Korea/Defectors/Democracy/Diplomacy/History/Human Rights/Korean History/Korean Law/Korean Politics/News Links/NK Economics/North Korea/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views/WMD
April 28, 2006

N. Korea Freedom Week Updates

First, please join us on the West side of the U.S. Capitol today, starting at 11:30. The rally will last well into the afternoon, with plenty of opportunities to frighten powerful and cynical people throughout the day. Some of us may even make a special appearance at the South Korean Embassy later this afternoon. At 6 PM, Suzanne Scholte of the North Korean Freedom Coalition will lead a rally at the Chinese Embassy that will become an all-night prayer vigil....
Categories Abductions/Activism/Appeasement/China & Korea/Defectors/Democracy/Human Rights/Japan/Japan & Korea/Korean History/North Korea/Refugees/Resistance/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
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
January 6, 2005

The Problem with Yasukuni

[Update: Some of this post’s links to the pictures of the displays and plaques at Yasukuni have gone dead. That’s unfortunate. This and this should give you some of the flavor.] You may be one of those who wonder what the big deal is all about. So was I, once. Japan, after all, has become a good citizen in Asia, so why dwell on the past? Why the fury, even today? Then I visited the place myself, tacking on some...
Categories History/Japan/Korean History