Category: Anju Links

WHAT IS IT WITH THESE PEOPLE? When asked whether he’d carried a letter from the President to Kim Jong Il, Special Envoy Stephen Bosworth misled reporters: Bosworth artfully evaded reporters’ queries about the letter in Seoul last week, after he left North Korea. Asked whether he had brought a letter, he sidestepped the question, saying: “As for a message to the North Koreans from President Obama, in effect, I am the message.” Reporters in Asia then reported that he had...

BOSWORTH ARRIVES IN PYONGYANG: I’ve paid as much attention to Stephen Bosworth’s visit as I think the likely outcome justifies, but North Korea Leadership Watch has it all covered. More here and here at Yonhap, which calls the talks “crucial,” thus causing me to slowly shake my head in pitiful dismay. FUNNY, THAT’S JUST WHAT DAVID ASHER WONDERED: Curtis Melvin looks at North Korea’s reported trade figures and wonders how it manages to close the immense trade deficit they suggest....

AN INTERNATIONAL GROUP OF LAWMAKERS has called for better treatment for North Korean refugees: The lawmakers issued a joint statement calling on Pyongyang to end its gross human rights violations, including political detentions, torture, and public executions. The statement was signed by lawmakers from eight Asian nations: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Also signing the statement were African lawmakers from Djibouti, Ivory Coast, and Senegal and one lawmaker from Croatia. They statement demanded China stop...

WELCOME TO SEOUL, MR. PRESIDENT: “I want to emphasize that President Lee and I both agree on the need to break the pattern that existed in the past in which North Korea behaves in a provocative fashion, then is willing to return to talks, and then talks for a while, and then leaves the talks and seeks further concessions. If we’ve finally learned, I’ll admit that Obama is the last man I’d have expected to finally learn it. Call me...

A QUOTE SOMETIMES ATTRIBUTED TO TROTSKY is that “revolution is impossible until it is inevitable.” On the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, my thoughts always return to just how impossible it all seemed up until the very moment happened. The fall of The Wall is among a few of those “I remember where I was” moments. Ironically, I was driving a Chinese student friend to the grocery store. Events in his country just months before gave plenty...

HOPE, CHANGE, AND PEACE IN OUR TIME: Kim Jong Il announces that he’s reprocessed another 8,000 fuel rods, enough to make at least one more bomb. Thank goodness Chris Hill came along in time to end this d*ck-measuring contest with the give-and-take of compromise. Thank goodness our president isn’t afraid to talk to his enemies. Now please send Philip Goldberg to freeze the bank accounts of Orascom, Koryo Tours, and the Korean Friendship Association. CYBER ATTACKS UPDATE: After some doubts,...

THE BALLOON PEOPLE are back! OBAMA IS “LEERY” of direct talks with North Korea: “[A] State Department official said Tuesday that the U.S. will not agree to one-on-one talks unless it is given assurances in advance that the outcome will be a deal to resume six-party negotiations.” Well, good for them. No talks will ever disarm North Korea, but always good to show them we mean what we say. SOUTH KOREA PLACES A CAP on what local Commie-sympathizing fifth-columnists can...

ROH MOO HYUN takes the Fifth. NO WORSE THAN HAVING THEM THERE, I guess: The Economist calls for proceeding with six-party talks without the North Koreans. I happen to be a supporter of continuing this charade, but only because charades have cosmetic value. CITING SOUTH KOREAN INTELLIGENCE SOURCES, the Joongang Ilbo reports that the North Korean military is reasserting itself “over several key policy-making issues” in a restructuring of the ruling Worker’s Party. This would dial back a trend reported...

RISING CRIME against the “upper classes” and “party officials” in North Korea’s border regions. THAT’LL TEACH ‘EM: Behold the dreaded awesomeness of European diplomacy! A FEW DAYS OLD, but here’s some idea of the emerging policy paralysis in the Obama Administration. I’m starting to believe that the Obama Doctrine will be, “Never make a decision.” THE SEAL MEN of Seoul. I’d say my main question was answered: Kim doesn’t crawl in his “off” hours. He can walk fitfully with crutches....

THE STATE DEPARTMENT given the North Koreans a stern talking-to.  Because, you know, they’re still reeling from that U.N. presidential statement. OH, GOODY:  North Korea wants to talk to South Korea about God-only-knows what. IT NEVER FAILS TO AMAZE ME how North Koreans, including defectors, often continue to revere Kim Il Sung, even after the break with the system.  Don’t underestimate the ability of reverence and skepticism to coexist. NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES you hear that the Pentagon and...

U.S., JAPAN MOVE TO ENFORCE SANCTIONS: Japan and the US have submitted to the UN the names of North Korean companies they believe to be associated with the country’s weapons programme.  The list of companies has been sent to the UN’s Security Council’s sanctions committee for consideration. The move to enforce sanctions against North Korea follows the country’s long-range rocket launch on 5 April.  Diplomats say China, which has a lot of trade with North Korea, will want to study...

PRESIDENT LEE CALLS FOR the release of a South Korean man held at Kaesong. Or, they could declare him to be a North Korean citizen and put him to work on the assembly lines for two bowls of rice a day. GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE: The Daily NK talks about targeting Kim Jong Il’s finances with sanctions. More here. Also, this bit of perspective: The total amount that North Korea had spent developing nuclear weapons and missiles is placed at...

THE WIFE AND CHILDREN OF NORTH KOREA’S TRADE REPRESENTATIVE in Shanghai have defected to the South: The woman, identified only as Ri, arrived in Seoul in early March through the South Korean Embassy in Singapore and is now going though questioning like other North Korean defectors, North Korean sources said. Ri reportedly sought protection at the embassy in Singapore in January while her husband was in Pyongyang for a meeting. She decided to defect to South Korea after a troubling...

FISTS STILL NOT UNCLENCHED, APPARENTLY: North Korea threatens to shoot down U.S. spy planes, and the threat is classic KCNA: “If the brigandish U.S. imperialists dare to infiltrate spy planes into our airspace to interfere with our peaceful satellite launch preparations, our revolutionary armed forces will mercilessly shoot them down,” the ministry quoted the radio as saying. [AP, Jae Soon Chang] JAPAN’S REACTION TO NORTH KOREA’S MISSILE THREAT IS “JUSTIFIED:” Not an especially surprising statement, until you see who said...