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Category: Appeasement

January 12, 2007

UniFiction Ministry Plans ‘Peace Education’ and ‘Unification Education’ in Public Schools

From the Ministry’s own Web site: Minister Lee said, “The inter-Korean relations have improved from confrontation and tension to reconciliation and cooperation. Excuse me????   In order to match such improvement, peace education needs to be introduced into the curriculum of school and unification education. I want to promote the peace education in a future-oriented way so that the people can foster their ability to keep peace firmly and it can contribute to the peace in Northeast Asia as well...
Categories Appeasement
January 10, 2007

Be Sure the Survivors Stay Buried

The South  Korean government is going all out to find the remains of its  Korean War dead:  The Defense Ministry has set up a task force to retrieve and identify the remains of the dead from the 1950-53 Korean War, officials said Wednesday. The team of 85 is modeled after the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. Its mission is to excavate remains and identify them through DNA analysis, they said. Col. Park Sin-han, chief of the team, said they would...
Categories Abductions/Appeasement/Korean War/ROK Military
January 10, 2007

Two Questions for Lee Jae-Joung

1.  If poverty is  really the reason why North Korea builds nukes, then why is it that the people who actually built the thing  have so much higher a standard of living than  I do  (contrarily, I wonder how much Lee really knows about what poor North Koreans think about this)? 2.  If the key to denuclearization is ending poverty in North Korea, why has your government tolerated the North Korean regime’s theft of your government’s aid from the neediest...
Categories Appeasement/Famine & Food Aid/WMD
January 5, 2007

Because the Last One Solved So Much …

… South Korea is  begging the North Koreans for another summit.  Except that it really isn’t: During the interview, Lee said, “Now is the time for the North to give an answer (to the opening of a second summit). I hope the North will prepare fully to hold (the summit) at an early date.” But Lee said it is not proper for the Seoul government to make a specific request about this matter under the current circumstances, apparently referring to...
Categories Appeasement/Diplomacy/WTF?
January 5, 2007

Yet Another Nuke Test?

Yonhap is reporting suspicious vehicle movements, plus South Korean denials that  another test is likely (the power of bilateral engagement and  “carrots” will save us … just like before!).  Until Google Earth goes real time, the most accurate indicator of  a North Korean provocation we ordinary folks  are going to get is the exact opposite of whatever South Korea predicts. Update: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice caution[ed] the communist nation that a second nuclear test “no doubt would deepen its...
Categories Appeasement/Japan/Japan & Korea/WMD
December 12, 2006

On Second Thought, We Can Too Remain Silent (Updated)

Update:   To extend the Marmot’s comment on this issue, sometimes it is necessary to call bullshit to cry freedom.  I thought it would be fun to contrast the South Korean Human Rights Commission’s  refusal of jurisdiction  to investigate or talk about human rights in North  Korea with its March 26,  2003  condemnation of the U.S.-coalition invasion of Iraq.  As I found this morning, the English versions of the HRC’s previous statements and annual reports  had recently and mysteriously vanished...
Categories Appeasement/Human Rights/Korean Politics/Unintended Humor/WTF?
December 11, 2006

A Human Rights Lawyer Who Can’t Read a Two-Page U.N. Resolution?

President Roh Moo-hyun on Saturday told South Korean expatriates in New Zealand that preventing North Korea’s possible collapse is a “very important strategy” for our government because the North “will never wage war unless attacked or collapsing.” Seoul is therefore “concerned” about the suspension of humanitarian aid to the North under UN Security Council Resolution 1718, he added.  [link] Leave aside the sheer density of illogic in that brief statement, most of which speaks for itself.  Either Roh, a former...
Categories "United" Nations/Appeasement/Famine & Food Aid/WMD
December 9, 2006

S. Korean Businessman Praised for Helping to Print Distorted Textbooks

Books printed by the recipient of the donated printing press have been known to deny the legitimacy of the Republic of Korea, support policies that  have killed millions of Koreans,  and falsely accuse  American soldiers of an organized campaign of rape on the streets of Seoul.  Unlike past controversies over foreign textbooks, however, police predict absolutely  no outrage on the streets this time.  Foreign analysts who were asked to explain the uncharacteristic calm simply shook their heads in befuddlement and...
Categories Anti-Americanism/Appeasement/Unintended Humor/WTF?
November 29, 2006

Kim Jong Il Unplugged, Part 15

The United States has leaked a new set of sanctions on “luxury items” that can no longer be exported to North Korea, in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718: [T]he list of proposed luxury sanctions, obtained by The Associated Press, aims to make Kim’s swanky life harder: No more cognac, Rolex watches, cigarettes, artwork, expensive cars, Harley Davidson motorcycles or even personal watercraft, such as Jet Skis. Electronic goods like I-pods and plasma TV’s are also banned.  Defectors helped...
Categories "United" Nations/Appeasement/Kim Jong Il/Kremlinology/Washington Views
November 29, 2006

O Roh Is Me

It’s time for another installment of President Roh Moo Hyun’s whiney, self-pitying Hamlet act. “I hope I won’t be the first president to fail to complete his full term in office. Speculation about his intentions ran wild. The opposition Democratic Labor Party said the president was “threatening the public. Insiders do not rule out an extreme step, saying Roh is in a brittle psychological state. If you’re surprised by any of this, you must be a new reader.  Recall that...
Categories Appeasement/Korean Politics/U.S. & Korea
November 23, 2006

Betraying Sergeant Chang

What else can be said about something like this?  It’s easy enough to blame the girl on the phone, but in light of past events like this,  the more salient questions are (1) whether she was  just following orders. More on how ROK POW’s lived in North Korean captivity here and here.  And  Staff Sergeant  Chang’s pain didn’t end when he escaped, either: Chang Moo-hwan, 79, a third POW who returned to South Korea after the defection of Cho, said...
Categories Abductions/Appeasement/Korean War
November 20, 2006

Kumgang Revenues Continue to Decline

Whether it’s because of  the diminishing  appeal of tyranny tourism or North Korea’s sheer belligerence, South Koreans have never been less enthusiastic about the Kumgang tourist resort: Tour organizer Hyundai Asan on Sunday said fewer than 300 tourists now visit Mt. Kumgang over the weekend. During the same period last year, weekend visitors to Mt. Kumgang numbered 400-500. The number of ordinary tourists has dwindled to fewer than 2,000 bookings for December tours, but activist groups have booked the tours...
Categories "United" Nations/Appeasement/Korean Politics/NK Economics
November 20, 2006

‘Unlike in the past, it is absurd to call a person unqualified because he was a pro-North leftist.”‘

This is the statement attributed to ruling  Uri Party lawmaker Im Jong-Seok during the confirmation hearing for Lee Jae-Joung, South Korea’s next Minister of Appeasement Unification.  Fine, then.  Is it equally absurd for a civilized democracy to question the fitness of a pro-fascist rightist  for a senior cabinet position?  Does Korea’s left hereby waive all grievances against Park Chung-Hee for his collaboration with Imperial Japan, along with any hereditary claims against his daughter, just in time for next year’s election? ...
Categories Appeasement/Human Rights/Korean Politics/Korean Society
November 17, 2006

Proliferation Security Watch

The AP has a very detailed story on the search of a North Korean ship in the Indian Ocean, along with a nice summary of other searches in the recent past.  In this case, it sounds like all they found was cement. In other searches, Hong Kong authorities detained two North Korean cargo ships in October for safety violations apparently unrelated to the U.N. sanctions. Myanmar permitted a North Korean cargo ship in distress to anchor at a port in...
Categories "United" Nations/Appeasement/China & Korea/Japan & Korea/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/WMD