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Category: South Korea

September 22, 2006

The Sunshine Policy Is Dead, Part 2

South Korea has pretty much trashed its relations with the United States and Japan, and  its netizens are waging two boundary disputes  with the Chinese.  It’s a good thing reunification is just around the corner: South Koreans are more and more disenchanted with  North Korea, with a growing number losing enthusiasm for unification and believing their Stalinist neighbor could start a war, a survey released on Friday said. The poll by the daily JoongAng Ilbo was taken nearly two months...
Categories Appeasement/Korean Politics
September 22, 2006

Kim Jong Il Unplugged, Part 11: Eyes on Seoul

Green eyeshades are turning toward Seoul, Kaesong, and Kumgang.  If you think things were bad before, this is where U.S.-Korea relations will be severely tested.  The U.S. Treasury Department isn’t going to put up with Seoul acting as Kim Jong Il’s financier for long, and  with the  likely exceptions of some shady  Russian banks  and whatever China is secretly providing at the state-to-state level, South Korea is Kim Jong Il’s last cash cow. Kumgang That poll yesterday — the one...
Categories Appeasement/Money Laundering/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea
September 22, 2006

The Death of an Alliance, Part 52: Thirty Days

The Air Force, via  USFK Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Garry Trexler,  speaking at a public lecture, has given the South Korean Defense Ministry thirty days to find it some training range space, or see the air component relocated.  I’ll go that one further:  if the air cover leaves, the ground forces leave, too.  With the exception of small Special Forces and SEAL teams, the U.S. military fights combined arms warfare.  Take away the air cover and we go home.  I...
Categories An Alliance?/Korean Politics/ROK Military/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
September 21, 2006

The ‘C’ Word, Part 2: Yu Gi Joon Is a Vicarious Thug

[Update: Great minds think alike Oh, and did I forget to mention that Yu is spokesman for his party? Shoulda mentioned that.] I’ve previously stated — and will now restate — that it’s time for the United States government to condemn, in some appropriate but unambigous manner, any suggestion of a coup in South Korea. I yield to no one in my distaste for Roh Moo Hyun, who I believe will eventually share culpability for the needless deaths of many...
Categories Korean Law/Korean Politics/ROK Military/U.S. & Korea
September 19, 2006

Self-Fulfilling Demagoguery

The background research for Roh Moo Hyun’s national security policy was a “progessive” TV documentary. The claim: The USFK could strike North Korea and lead the South Korean army into a war without even consulting Roh first: A ruling-party official quoted Roh as saying at the time, “Could the U.S. carry out a bombing raid on North Korea as it wishes without our knowledge? It is possible. South Korea can’t even claim the status of a sovereign state. The truth:...
Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Politics/U.S. & Korea
September 18, 2006

Yoduk Story Update

Tickets are now on sale at this link. Here are two background reports from the BBC and the L.A. Times. There have been numerous reports on “Yoduk Story” on this blog, including on alleged attempts by South Korea to censor it. Previously, Horace Jeffery Hodges had commented that the English translation for the YS production in Seoul was, well, Konglishy. After making some inquiries with people who are involved in bringing YS to America, I’m pleased to pass on that...
Categories Activism/Human Rights/Korean Society
September 18, 2006

Uri Goes Wobbly

… on troop control. Twenty members of the Uri Party issued a statement Monday calling for flexibility in the handover of wartime operational control of Korean troops to Seoul. “There has to be a structure allowing for flexibility in the timetable, with respect to South-North relations, the North Korean nuclear issue, and the state of affairs in Northeast Asia including security on the peninsula,” they said. It was the first time ruling party voices have publicly called for linking the...
Categories An Alliance?/Korean Politics/ROK Military/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
September 16, 2006

There’s Nothing New About Korea’s “New” Anti-Americanism

How could the U.S.-Korea alliance ever survive another day with this tension between President Bush and President Roh, and what, with that nasty debate over wartime command? What if I said that I actually refer to George H.W. Bush and Roh Tae Woo? If you really want to track down the point at which the U.S.-Korean relationship went over the cliff, set your Wayback Machine for 1989 and a year of ferocious anti-American demonstrations — complete with fire-bombings — that...
Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/U.S. & Korea
September 16, 2006

The Death of an Alliance, Part 51

First, TKL is privileged to print this exclusive photo of the Bush-Roh luncheon. The pomp and pageantry rolled out for America’s greatest ally since the Marquis de Lafayette does not end there. Roh and the poor ROK Ambassador, Lee Tae-Shik, adjourned to Blair House to meet with a real who’s-who of has-beens. Extra props to whoever invited Richard Armitage, who must be the least popular man in this city this week. Also present: Madeleine Albright, Don Oberdorfer, Donald Gregg, Thomas...
Categories An Alliance?/Diplomacy/U.S. & Korea/Washington Views
September 15, 2006

Daily NK: Kim Jong Il’s Niece Commits Suicide in Paris

After life in Paris, I suppose even a gilded life in Pyongyang would seem less worth living. A niece of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il killed herself in Paris, probably because she did not want to return to her home in the reclusive state, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday. Jang Keum-song, 29, died in Paris – where she was studying – because of what appeared to be an overdose of sleeping pills taken after drinking alcohol, Yonhap cited a...
Categories Kim Jong Il/Korean Society
September 14, 2006

Yoduk Story Update

There is a change of date and location to report: The plans have now been finalized to bring Yoduk Story to the USA! Opening night will be 7:30 pm on Wednesday, October 4, 2006, at the Strathmore located in North Bethesda, Maryland. Performances will be held on October 4, 5, 6 at 7:30 pm, and we also hope to plan a special Friday, October 6 performance at 3 pm especially for students. Tickets will be available for sale beginning this...
Categories Activism/Human Rights/Korean Society
September 14, 2006

Roh’s Tepid Welcome

Sure, you read it here first, but David Sanger has great White House sources, and his new story in the New York Times provides fairly solid confirmation: Mr. Bush is determined to squeeze North Korea with every financial sanction possible until it gives up its nuclear capacity and other illicit activities, or, some believe, until it collapses. I wonder how the Chosun Ilbo will react to this: In past meetings, Mr. Bush has done his best to paper over the...
Categories An Alliance?/U.S. & Korea
September 14, 2006

Anti-Americanism Goes Freudian

This post by the Marmot is a must-read. As represented by USFK’s illegal release of formaldehyde into the Han River, the tragedy on the Korean Peninsula began with the unclean sperm of the United States fertilizing the egg of the Han River. The monster’s outrages and its eating of people shows the similar tyranny displayed by the United States toward the Korean Peninsula. Let me see if I can find just the right words for my reaction to this:
Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/U.S. & Korea/WTF?
September 14, 2006

Kim Dae Jung: Neocons Made Up N. Korean Nuke Crisis

[Updated for your pleasure, and here’s one back at the Marmot, who has much more.] It’s a ruthless totalitarian regime with a history of selling WMD’s to terrorist backers, and its state ideology revels in violence against America. And if the fact that they have a few nukes worries you, it’s obviously all in your head, says ex-South Korean Prez and Nobel prize winner Kim Dae Jung: “How North Korea will do with its missiles and nuclear weapons… Those will...
Categories Anti-Americanism/Diplomacy/WMD/WTF?
September 12, 2006

Human Wrongs Lawyer

Nice to know that Roh’s previous life experiences are still useful to him on occasion. Before he left for the United States, Mr. Roh reiterated his position on human rights abuses in North Korea. Calling such rights a universal value, he added, “Still, I don’t think there is an agreed universal principle yet in international society as to whether a country can take certain measures against another country because of the details of human rights.” He added, “South Korea has...
Categories History/Human Rights/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea