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Category: Korean Politics

August 3, 2007

Newsweek: Seoul Paid Ransom to Fake Kidnappers

First, a few updates.  A representative for the hostages’ families has rejected invitations  from radical groups to turn this into the next anti-American election year  issue: The families of the Korean hostages spoke out against a movement to hold the U.S. responsible for the unresolved crisis, saying anti-American demonstrations could put the hostages’ lives at greater risk. The families turned down an offer by some anti-American organizations to stage a candlelight rally. Lee Jeong-hoon, a representative of the families, said...
Categories Anti-Americanism/Appeasement/Korean Politics/Terrorism/Iraq
July 31, 2007

Ransom Is Not a Countermeasure

The Taliban have now murdered a second South Korean hostage.  I don’t know what I can say about the Taliban that I haven’t already said, other than that the odds are good they can be tracked down for their trials and whatever appropriately miserable  fate awaits them in Pol-e-Charki Prison.  There have been a lot of stories recently  reporting that  dozens of their fighters have been killed.  Stories like this may or may not indicate a more significant trend.  Insurgencies...
Categories Anti-Americanism/Korean Politics/Terrorism/Iraq
July 30, 2007

A Basket of Ants

It’s not an uncommon event for  South Korean political parties to split and re-unite during election years, and as you may recall,  Kim  Dae Jung’s Millenium Democratic Party looked hopelessly split this time five years ago (before it successfully capitalized on anti-Americanism to  eke out  a narrow win).  It’s anyone’s guess what this hopelessly confusing picture will look like next week, so instead of wasting time on analysis that will be meaningless tomorrow, here’s a brief chronology of what’s happening:...
Categories Korean Politics
July 28, 2007

Not Ready

I have resigned myself to a Lee Myung Bak presidency in Korea, something I can do without much difficulty because (a) there will be much amusement, hilarity, scandal, and great blog material,  and  (b) because I’m not South Korean [Update:   or North Korean].  Superficially, Lee is the furthest “right” of the major candidates, and while  South Korea’s idea of “right” may  not be my thing, it’s  the linear opposite of South Korea’s idea of  “left,” which I unreservedly  despise.  Concepts...
Categories Korean Politics/Terrorism/Iraq/U.S. Politics
June 12, 2007

S. Korean Election Update: Uri’s Support Falls to 9%, Below DLP’s

The most surprising news of this Korean political season was buried near the bottom of a news story about the contest between the candidates for the Grand National Party nomination.  Only the interesting news wasn’t about the GNP candidates:  The GNP had by far the most support among parties with 52.9 percent. Next was the radical Democratic Labor Party with 10.3 percent, and only then Uri with 9.1 percent. The Democratic Party garnered 5.1 percent, the New Party for Centrist...
Categories Korean Politics
April 3, 2007

FTA Hits Opposition in U.S. Congress

The Economist’s blog reports, After a long drawn out, and highly fraught, negotiation that pushed right up against the deadline, America and South Korea have inked a new trade deal. It is the largest America has signed since NAFTA. However, tensions between the Bush administration and resurgent protectionists in America’s new Democratic Congress make it highly uncertain that the pact will be ratified. I don’t yet know if the opposition will be enough to defeat the deal, but some key...
Categories Human Trafficking/Korean Politics/NK Economics/U.S. Politics
April 1, 2007

FTA Agreement Reached FTA Talks Near Failure: The Death of an Alliance, Part 66

[Update 2:   Well, as it turns out, the two sides did reach an agreement, although it’s not clear how comprehensive.  Both sides — mainly us — made major last-minute concessions.  Talks were ongoing until minutes before the legal deadline. Beef tariffs will be phased out over  15 years, which is a long time.  (We’ll see if the Koreans actually accept the next shipment.)   Korea also gets to protect its rice market.  There’s really only one bright spot I...
Categories Anti-Americanism/Korean Politics/NK Economics/The Fifth Column/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Politics
March 31, 2007

An FTA Pre-Post Mortem

At this hour, it looks like free trade talks with South Korea are about to fail, despite their extension for another 48 hours.   It may be  a bit  early for  the Chosun Ilbo  to have  published this post-mortem, but any free-trade agreement we reach now will be unworthy of the name and hardly worth doing from an American perspective.  Yes, I still  believe an US-Korean FTA is a good idea, but it’s pretty hard to  write a good one when...
Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Politics/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Politics
March 21, 2007

Anju Links for 3/21

*   It’s a pity both sides can’t  lose:  It’s Taliban v. Al-Qaeda in Pakistan, with high casualties on both sides (I’ll be praying for more).  it’s nice to see that the bad guys are just as capable of  self-destructive division as we are. * Larry “Bud” Melman has passed away.   He was 85. *   Fifth Column Update:   South Korea’s  far-left “civic groups” have seen a significant decline in membership.  This fits with other recent evidence that...
Categories Abductions/Appeasement/Korean Politics/Six-Party Talks/Terrorism/Iraq/The Fifth Column
February 6, 2007

Come Here and Let Us Hate You!

Don’t get me wrong; I actually like Dick Cheney.   He’s from Wyoming, which practically makes him a neighbor, and he  may be one of the few people out there who’s hard-line enough for my taste, particularly on North Korea, but you have to admit that he has lacked rock star appeal recently.  That’s why it’s puzzling to see even hypersensitive South Korea feel slighted by the fact that Cheney will give the place a miss in an upcoming Asia trip. ...
Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Politics/U.S. & Korea
February 6, 2007

Uri Officially Loses Plurality in National Assembly

Much sound of little rat paws scratching on wet  steel plate today: “With our deep regret and apologies to the public, which is against the Uri Party, we are determined to give up our current power and become a seed to form a new united party,” Lee Jong-gul said at a press conference, accompanied by other defectors. The mass defection reduced the ruling party to second place in the 296-member parliament with 110 seats. The helm was transferred to the...
Categories Korean Politics
February 3, 2007

Here Comes the Election!

Update: I’ve been expecting this, and I expect more of it: There is a fourth reason why the P.P. [the new leftist party that will officially replace Uri this month] will recover considerable support, and it’s the timeless appeal of nationalism, particularly in Korea (ht). The P.P. leaders, Comrade Chung and (especially) Kim Geun Tae, show no sign of any ethical, political, or financial restraints to stop them from setting new lows in crass appeals to those sentiments, to include...
Categories Anti-Americanism/Korean Politics/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/UCMJ & SOFA
February 2, 2007

Kim Geun Tae Tourette’s Watch

“Defection is an act of treason against democracy,” Mr. Kim said. He speaks  as an  authority on the subject, of course. This being an election year, I think this has the potential to become a regular feature.  The goal here is to provide a deep enough data pool to support  medical science’s first known  DSM-IV certifiable  diagnosis by a lawyer with no formal education in psychology. You, too, can be a part of medical history.  Submit your entries to onefreekorea@yahoo.com.
Categories Korean Politics
January 29, 2007

KCTU Update: Moderation at Last!

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of Korea’s two umbrella labor unions, elected Lee Seok-haeng, its former general secretary, as the new president in a vote of representatives. Lee garnered 482 votes from 919 representatives, or 52 percent.  [link] With that overwhelming mandate, expect courageous and decisive reforms. “With all my strength, I will do what should be done and won’t do what shouldn’t. I will restore our organization by studying situations on the spot, and from that...
Categories Korean Politics/Korean Society/The Fifth Column
January 21, 2007

Opposition Legislator Responds to Shenyang-Gate with Refugee-Protection Bill

SEOUL, Jan. 21 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s main opposition party plans to introduce a law revision aimed at helping North Koreans and South Korean abductees fleeing the communist country, a senior party official said Sunday. Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, secretary-general of the Grand National Party (GNP), said the bill will help prevent the forced repatriation of defectors from North Korea and expedite Seoul’s diplomatic efforts to bring them to South Korea. “The National Assembly passed a similar GNP-initiated bill in 2004...
Categories Appeasement/China & Korea/Korean Law/Korean Politics/Refugees
January 20, 2007

Court Order Extends Uri’s Life Support

It’s a setback for Comrade Chung and Kim Geun Tae* The Seoul district court yesterday dealt a crucial blow to the Uri Party leadership by ruling that its revision of party regulations is invalid, accepting arguments in a petition filed by party members associated with President Roh Moo-hyun. The ruling effectively invalidates the plans of the party leadership, who had been gearing up to launch a new party, whereas pro-Roh members want to stay under the Uri Party umbrella. Eleven...
Categories Korean Politics
January 18, 2007

I’m Kim Jong Il, and I Approve This Message!

The message is, “if you elect  the Grand National Party, I’ll nuke you!”  “South Koreans are well aware that if the GNP takes power, it will destroy North-South relations and leave them only with the calamity of nuclear war,” wrote the Rodong Shinmun, the North Korean Workers’ Party daily. “The GNP and their puppets stand to be destroyed.” The daily again denied the GNP’s charge that the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, in similar remarks on Jan....
Categories Appeasement/Korean Politics/WMD/WTF?
January 17, 2007

Wendy Cutler for President

At this point, I oppose the FTA  because Korea does not seem to be serious about opening its markets fundamentally.  Nor do  I  believe that  Korea should be rewarded for  doing so much to demagogue anti-Americanism, or to  undermine U.S. national security interests or  the humanitarian imperatives of the North Korean people.  Those are the reasons I don’t buy things made in Korea these days, and I know that the FTA would  instead reward Korea’s worst politicians and labor unions...
Categories An Alliance?/Diplomacy/Korean Politics/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea