Korean Law – Page 4

April 13, 2006

Links of Interest

* The United States wants South Korea to join it in imposing sanctions against North Korean shipping. South Korea will not agree, though the move would be almost exclusively symbolic. * LiNK will hold a fund-raising happy hour at the K Street Lounge, 1301 K St. NW, Washington, DC, on April 20th at 6 p.m. Join us as LiNK DC hosts the K Street Lounge Happy Hour! With free first drinks, we promise a great time networking with like professionals...

Activism/An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Appeasement/Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/Korean Law/Korean Society/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/WTF?

April 7, 2006

Daily NK on Ma Young-Ae

The Daily NK is clearly skeptical about Ms. Ma’s claim for asylum from South Korea: We do know that the South Korean government does not consider the North Korean democratization movement as good, and tries interrupting the movement by taking every opportunity. However, the South Korean government does not imprison and torture activators like the past administrations. We understand Ma Young Ae could be afraid of the government, yet many activators who got even more severe threats and interruptions are...

Defectors/Korean Law/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized

April 5, 2006

Who Is Ma Young-Ae, and What Does She Know?

[Updated 6 Apr 06; scroll down] Via The Flying Yangban, it looks like the U.S. may be on the verge of accepting its first North Korean refugee. Like the Yangban, I’m happy about it. Unlike the Yangban, I don’t see this as necessarily precedent-setting for the broader issue of accepting refugees fleeing persecution in North Korea. Reason: this refugee is also fleeing persecution in South Korea. No, that wasn’t a typo: Ma came to South Korea in 2000. In April...

Abductions/An Alliance?/Appeasement/Censorship/Counterfeiting/Defectors/Human Rights/Japan/Japan & Korea/Korean Law/North Korea/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views

April 4, 2006

Anti-American Protest Video at Usinkorea

The Korea Sojourner, a/k/a usinkorea, has put up a video montage of some recent anti-American protests. In some parts, especially where he puts up the lyrics to the latest catchy hate song (which has an unmistakably North Korean sound), he does a service to the uninitiated. Soundtrack, too! Judge for yourself: 1. Just how “peaceful” these peace activists are; 2. How effectively the Korean police have kept their violent acts away from U.S. forces that are defending Korea; 3. If...

An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Law/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized

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,...

An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Law/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/Uncategorized

March 31, 2006

S. Korea’s Press Freedom Continues to Decline

That’s the conclusion of the International Press Institute, whose latest country report blames the Roh Administration for pursuing a political vendetta against unfriendly press: Towards this end, in 2005, the government used its authority to create legislation and use it as a weapon in its fight against the three big conservative dailies: the Chosun Ilbo, the Dong-a Ilbo and the Joong Ang Ilbo. At the beginning of January, the governing Uri Party pushed through the National Assembly two press reform...

Censorship/Democracy/Korean Law/Korean Society/Media Criticism

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...

An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Law/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/UCMJ & SOFA

March 28, 2006

First Act, Last Laugh

Update: New information (see comments) suggests that the Chosun Ilbo may have considerably exaggerated the success of “Yodok Story;” the government also looks to be backing away from denying that it put pressure on producers and investors. Update 2 (8/06): I withhold final judgment, but the preponderence of reports I’ve heard go like this: plenty of empty seats at the first curtain call, but the seats tended to fill up to nearly full with the late arrival of ticketholders....

Activism/Censorship/Defectors/Democracy/Human Rights/Korean Law/Korean Society/Media Criticism/Refugees

February 18, 2006

Joongang Ilbo on Biracial Koreans

The Joongang Ilbo’s Kim Soe-Jung has a very long, thoughtful, and comprehensive piece on the subject. It never lost my interest for a moment. What makes this article unlike so many in the Korean press since the Hines Ward phenomenon is that it deals more with the question about how people should be treated than the question of who is Korean. There are also facts you may not have known, such as the explosive growth in mixed marriages in Korea,...

Korean Law/Korean Society

February 17, 2006

The Value of a Life in North Korea

DailyNK reporter Han Young Jin, a defector from Pyongyang, tells a heartbreaking story about the death of his friend, and about how absolute power corrupts absolutely. Must reading.

Defectors/Human Rights/Inside NK/Korean Law/North Korea