Category: Uncategorized

Oops–Correction: We’re Number Three! We’re Number Three! I had originally missed the most significant part of the story–that a significantly larger percentage of South Koreans now considers North Korea to be a threat than the United States. Well, hope does spring eternal. Many Joni Mitchell was right. This could actually cause my head to explode. Original Post: In a stunning public relations victory for Washington, a new survey released today reports that Japan has surpassed the United States as the...

“I’m not anti-American, but . . .” In a meeting with Korean residents in Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday, President Roh Moo-hyun said he found Koreans who are “more pro-American than the Americans” very hard to deal with. “They talk with not Korea but the United States at heart,” he said. “Koreans should think and judge like Koreans.” What, like this guy? Funny, I have yet to meet one of those Koreans Roh is talking about. For the most part, nearly...

Well, this is certainly interesting. As Munin informs us, Japanese leaders, including the Emperor, have repeatedly apologized, acknowledged, or expressed regret for Japan’s wartime atrocities. All of this certainly does undercut the stated reasons for all of the protests again Japan lately–other than the Machiavellian ones, that is. Philippe Roy has photographs of Chinese demonstrators acting like complete asses. Seriously, just what does it accomplish to smash the windows of Chinese-owned sushi restaurants? The Dignified Rant has more evidence to...

Well, this is certainly interesting. As Munin informs us, Japanese leaders, including the Emperor, have repeatedly apologized, acknowledged, or expressed regret for Japan’s wartime atrocities. All of this certainly does undercut the stated reasons for all of the protests again Japan lately–other than the Machiavellian ones, that is. Philippe Roy has photographs of Chinese demonstrators acting like complete asses. Seriously, just what does it accomplish to smash the windows of Chinese-owned sushi restaurants? The Dignified Rant has more evidence to...

Thirty years ago today, Khmer Rouge forces entered Phnom Phenh. And even now, with the mass graves opened, and the bones of the victims there for all to see, some continue to argue that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge are not to blame: [T]o blame the death and destruction caused by foreign invasion and embargo during 1975-79 on Pol Pot’s controversial revolutionary policies is merely reactionary propaganda. —Henry C.K. Liu Does the logic sound familiar? After North Korea signed...

Thirty years ago today, Khmer Rouge forces entered Phnom Phenh. And even now, with the mass graves opened, and the bones of the victims there for all to see, some continue to argue that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge are not to blame: [T]o blame the death and destruction caused by foreign invasion and embargo during 1975-79 on Pol Pot’s controversial revolutionary policies is merely reactionary propaganda. —Henry C.K. Liu Does the logic sound familiar? After North Korea signed...

The Korea Herald reports on some fairly earth-shaking changes in U.S. Army aviation assets in Korea: The 17th Aviation brigade will be deactivated. The 17th–one of my old client units–is one of the largest aviation units in Korea, and probably the major helo transport asset. I’mlooking at one of their coins right now. The article mentioned a cut of 200 troops, which sounds like a gross underestimate. Whatever’s left of the 17th will be put under the 6th Cav, which...

Sleazeball.

Sage Advice from the State Department: For a change. Reacting to President Roh Moo-hyun’s vision of South Korea as the geopolitical fulcrum of Northeast Asia, a U.S. State Department official, who asked that his name be withheld, urged Korean decision makers to remember the errors of the Joseon Dynasty at the end of the 19th century. The official made the statement in a meeting with a South Korean official who visited Washington to explain President Roh’s new doctrine that sees...

South Korea has summarily withdrawn its cooperation from OPLAN 5029, the contingency plan for North Korean collapse, and from other joint contingency planning for natural disasters and WMD recovery. The South Korean decision removes one of the U.S.-Korean alliance’s last remaining raisons d’etre. The Joongang Ilbo reports: South Korea’s National Security Council said in a statement yesterday, “We have terminated the U.S.-South Korea Combined Forces Command’s efforts to map out a plan, code named 5029, because the plan could be...

The Korea Herald reports on some fairly earth-shaking changes in U.S. Army aviation assets in Korea: The 17th Aviation brigade will be deactivated. The 17th–one of my old client units–is one of the largest aviation units in Korea, and probably the major helo transport asset. I’mlooking at one of their coins right now. The article mentioned a cut of 200 troops, which sounds like a gross underestimate. Whatever’s left of the 17th will be put under the 6th Cav, which...

Sleazeball.

Sage Advice from the State Department: For a change. Reacting to President Roh Moo-hyun’s vision of South Korea as the geopolitical fulcrum of Northeast Asia, a U.S. State Department official, who asked that his name be withheld, urged Korean decision makers to remember the errors of the Joseon Dynasty at the end of the 19th century. The official made the statement in a meeting with a South Korean official who visited Washington to explain President Roh’s new doctrine that sees...

South Korea has summarily withdrawn its cooperation from OPLAN 5029, the contingency plan for North Korean collapse, and from other joint contingency planning for natural disasters and WMD recovery. The South Korean decision removes one of the U.S.-Korean alliance’s last remaining raisons d’etre. The Joongang Ilbo reports: South Korea’s National Security Council said in a statement yesterday, “We have terminated the U.S.-South Korea Combined Forces Command’s efforts to map out a plan, code named 5029, because the plan could be...

Tongsun Park, a Korean national charged yesterday in New York for brokering corrupt oil-for-food contracts, has told the Joongang Ilbo that he is considering a deal with U.S. prosecutors to testify against corrupt U.N. officials, and that Kofi Annan is among those targeted for possible prosecution: In a telephone interview from Japan, Mr. Park, 70, told the Joongang Ilbo that he had been offered a plea-bargain from the U.S. federal prosecution in return for testifying before a U.S. court. “I...

Too Much Time on Their Hands. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The South Korean Human Rights Commission is a gathering of busybodies who have too much time on their hands because they’re doing squat to help North Koreans. They’ve taken on the Defense Ministry over Iraq, the Justice Ministry over the death penalty, the Labor Ministry over contract workers, and even the Education Ministry over teachers reading kids’ diaries (which is often how parents and teachers...

“Defector” Update: Some of the S. Korean military guys are in trouble for failing to stop the boat. I honestly have no idea who someone could possibly stop a determined drunk from full-throttling a fishing boat over the NLL. I’m somewhat suspicious (just me talking here) that the government is more upset that the military fired shots and attracted press to the story. When it comes to unauthorized border crossings, the message seems to be, “hold your fire and don’t...

So much for South Korea’s war on prostitution. Things already seem to be unraveling.