Category: Uncategorized

North Korea has officially declared itself pissed about the “outpost of tyranny” moniker. They need to call back the guy who wrote “human scum” and “sea of fire.” This time, the best they could do was to compare Bush to a Christian fundamentalist missionary. Which probably made him shake his head and say, “so?”

An Amicable Divorce for the U.S. and Korea? That’s the recommendation of two alumni of the center-left Brookingslibertarian Cato Institution (Bandow has long advocated a U.S. withdrawal from Korea). On the surface, the idea makes some sense, given the divergence of common values and interests, however, I haven’t read their piece in detail. Thanks to Dave Sheridan, who runs this superb blog, for pointing out my error on the think tank.

Could it be? From this story, it looks like the Special Rapporteur, apppointed just last fall, is going to issue a report in March that will condemn both Russia and China for failing to comply their their treaty obligations toward North Korean refugees. It will also reportedly blame North Korea itself for creating the conditions that cause them to flee, including an unfair food distribution system and a lack of transparency that hinders international food aid. I hope the boys...

Could it be? From this story, it looks like the Special Rapporteur, apppointed just last fall, is going to issue a report in March that will condemn both Russia and China for failing to comply their their treaty obligations toward North Korean refugees. It will also reportedly blame North Korea itself for creating the conditions that cause them to flee, including an unfair food distribution system and a lack of transparency that hinders international food aid. I hope the boys...

Eight more North Korean refugees have crawled over the wire to enter the Japanese school in Beijing.

Has South Korea’s new fugitive slave law cost its first life? The Reverend Jeffrey Park is a U.S. citizen and Durihana activist (English language article on them here). A few weeks ago, he was trying to help a group of North Korean refugees get from Jilin, China to South Korea via Burma. The ROK embassy in Rangoon refused to help, so Reverend Park found himself wandering back to China through the dangerous mountains of Laos in the middle of the...

Before you read the story I link below, I strongly recommend you read Dr. Andrei Lankov’s overview of the North Korean food distribution and rationing system. I disagree with some of Dr. Lankov’s policy recommendations, but he is an invaluable source of knowledge about the North Korean government, such as it was when he was there, at least. The essential point to take from his article is that food rations have been a practical non-entity for everyone except the elite...

Two North Korean fisherman were rescued by South Korean maritime police today. It doesn’t sound like a defection; they had engine trouble and drifted for two weeks.

North Korea has officially declared itself pissed about the “outpost of tyranny” moniker. They need to call back the guy who wrote “human scum” and “sea of fire.” This time, the best they could do was to compare Bush to a Christian fundamentalist missionary. Which probably made him shake his head and say, “so?”

An Amicable Divorce for the U.S. and Korea? That’s the recommendation of two alumni of the center-left Brookingslibertarian Cato Institution (Bandow has long advocated a U.S. withdrawal from Korea). On the surface, the idea makes some sense, given the divergence of common values and interests, however, I haven’t read their piece in detail. Thanks to Dave Sheridan, who runs this superb blog, for pointing out my error on the think tank.

Break It to Us Gently. A week after Curt Weldon returned from making nice with the North Koreans in Pyongyang, (but apparently not with Kim Jong Il himself, interestingly) he has finally gotten around to telling us that North Korea told him it has The Bomb. They also told him they don’t intend to possess it permanently, which isn’t that comforting if you think it through. Thanks for nothing, Curt. Someone take this guy’s passport away.

Warning: Very angry rant ahead. You have been warned. If cynical European mercantilism has ever hit a greater low than lifting its arms embargo on Beijing in spite of considerable deteriorations in China’s human rights record over the last several years, well . . . perhaps it was its corruption of the United Nations so that it could keep arming and trading with Saddam Hussein (admittedly, it’s never hard to corrupt an institution without standards). It’s absolutely stunning that some...

Break It to Us Gently. A week after Curt Weldon returned from making nice with the North Koreans in Pyongyang, (but apparently not with Kim Jong Il himself, interestingly) he has finally gotten around to telling us that North Korea told him it has The Bomb. They also told him they don’t intend to possess it permanently, which isn’t that comforting if you think it through. Thanks for nothing, Curt. Someone take this guy’s passport away.

Warning: Very angry rant ahead. You have been warned. If cynical European mercantilism has ever hit a greater low than lifting its arms embargo on Beijing in spite of considerable deteriorations in China’s human rights record over the last several years, well . . . perhaps it was its corruption of the United Nations so that it could keep arming and trading with Saddam Hussein (admittedly, it’s never hard to corrupt an institution without standards). It’s absolutely stunning that some...

Warning: Very angry rant ahead. You have been warned. If cynical European mercantilism has ever hit a greater low than lifting its arms embargo on Beijing in spite of considerable deteriorations in China’s human rights record over the last several years, well . . . perhaps it was its corruption of the United Nations so that it could keep arming and trading with Saddam Hussein (admittedly, it’s never hard to corrupt an institution without standards). It’s absolutely stunning that some...

The dissident video from North Korea has been translated into English. , although given the length of the tape, I suspect it’s not a full transcript. Thanks to Budaechigae for digging this up.

A Second Chance for Capitalism: On this site, at least. Google explained how to block out offending ads, but I have to catch them first, and then add their URLs to a block list. Please help me keep watch for anything hawking the Great Leader label, although I otherwise intend to take a laissez faire attitude. Please also let me know if you think the ads affects your ability to log on. Traffic is up again, and one reader in...

Gazprom is talking about “promising” oil and gas fields off the North Korean coast. While I’m an advocate of cutting off North Korea’s access to hard currency until it commits itself to human rights improvements, this one doesn’t much concern me. I’ve worked as an exploration geologist and studied how the industry works, and it takes many years and millions of dollars to explore and develop a productive oilfield or gasfield. I doubt North Korea will be under the same...