June 14, 2010

Kaesong Death Watch

Contrary to a recent North Korean statement suggesting that the regime was shutting down Kaesong once and for all, the factories are still shipping goods, although the experiment itself is pining for the fjords. The complete failure of South Korea or the United States to respond to the sinking of the Cheonan with sufficient measures to deter the next attack, on one hand, and the failure of North Korea to extract more money from South Korea or the United States,...
Categories North-South/Sunshine/Useful Idiocy
June 11, 2010

11 June 2010

So, did you hear about Lee Myung Bak’s plot to kill Kim Jong Il? ___________________________ Sure, the idea that we can punish North Korea for sinking the Cheonan by staging some event at the World Cup is absurd in itself, but hey, it’s still not as dumb as blaring K-pop over loudspeakers at the DMZ. It might have some merit in the context of a broader campaign of subversion, which doesn’t appear to be taking shape. ___________________________ There aren’t many...
Categories Anju Links
June 11, 2010

North Korean Spy Ring Infiltrated ROK Army, Obtained War Plans

Andy Jackson talks about that South Korean general under investigation for spying for the North. Oh, and apparently, he gave the North Koreans their own copy of the best parts of OPLAN 5027. A government official told the JoongAng Ilbo that the investigation will likely expand because more suspects were linked to the case. “Aside from Park and Kim, there were at least five people involved,” the source said. “The authorities are looking closely at them and some will soon...
Categories ROK Military/The Fifth Column
June 10, 2010

Once Again, South Koreans Prove Exceptionally Prone to Mass Hysteria

There are times when I wonder if South Koreans will ever learn anything from the entire Mad Cow fiasco, when all it takes to spread mass hysteria in a prosperous, technologically advanced, industrialized society is a 16 year-old with high speed Internet: Police said yesterday that the boy, resident of Yeosu, South Jeolla, identified only by his surname, Yoo, sent 15 friends an online message that South Korea had decided to “make a pre-emptive military attack on North Korea” because...
Categories Korean Society/Technology
June 10, 2010

Why I Don’t Give a Damn About Gaza

Ethan Epstein sees hypocrisy in the silence that prevails among leftists over a blockade far more total and deadly than anything ever imposed on Hamas: For example, Gazans are permitted to receive items such as medical equipment and medicine, insecticide, coffee, tea, and, best of all, hummus paste. North Koreans, on the other hand, live under a total blockade, one imposed by their government. They are only permitted to receive what their government allows them ““ and that isn’t much....
Categories Media Criticism/Useful Idiocy
June 9, 2010

The Apprentice: Pyongyang

The Chosun Ilbo reports that Kim Jong Il’s appearance at a surprise session of the Grand People’s Assembly was the latest chapter in the largest purge in North Korea for almost two decades: Some 100 senior officials were ousted in the latest purge, including Pak Nam-gi, the director of the Workers Party’s Planning and Finance Department, who was executed by firing squad over the botched currency reform late last year. That was Kim’s fifth massive purge. A South Korean security...
Categories Kremlinology
June 9, 2010

At Last, China Regrets June 4th Shootings!

And obviously, I refer to the killings of three Chinese citizens and the wounding of a fourth by North Korean border guards: Foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang, briefing reporters in Beijing, said the shooting incident occurred in the early morning hours of June 4, around the northeastern town of Dandong, when the Chinese civilians crossed into North Korea to engage in illicit trading, common along the 880-mile border. South Korean and Japanese media reported that the Chinese were in a...
Categories China & Korea/Drugs & N Korea
June 8, 2010

Brazil: The New Venezuela?

Is Brazil Joining the Axis of Evil? I’d be skeptical if anyone less than Bertil Lintner had written this, but Lintner has a well established history of finding out some rather amazing things that no one else can: Recent indications are that Pyongyang has sought willing trade partners outside of Asia and its new closest commercial ally appears to be Brazil. Relations between the two countries have warmed considerably since leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva became president in January...
Categories Axis of Evil/Proliferation
June 7, 2010

The Kaesong Syndrome

It is much like that other psychological syndrome we sometimes observe in hostages who paradoxically express feelings of sympathy and adulation for their captors. The particular phenomenon I call the Kaesong Syndrome occurs when businesses become economic hostages of a despotic regime, and later begin to mimic its despotic exploitation of their workers, and finally, to parrot its demands in both substance and manner. The South Korean companies operating at the Kaesong Industrial Complex yesterday demanded that the South Korean...
Categories Appeasement/North-South/Sunshine
June 7, 2010

China’s Support for Kim Jong Il Undermines the U.N., Nonproliferation, and Regional Peace

Some of us, of course, have never really believed that the United Nations could play much of a useful role in restraining North Korea anyway, other than helping us enlist the support of Old Europe, which is almost alone in paying any heed to the U.N. After all, the institution is led by Ban Ki-Moon, who rose from local obscurity to international obscurity by appeasing Kim Jong Il, and who, by all outward appearances, suffers from a genetic testosterone deficiency....
Categories "United" Nations/Cheonan Incident/China & Korea/Diplomacy/Proliferation/Sanctions
June 6, 2010

Hwang Jang Yop Assassination Team Indicted

In America, lawyers often say you can indict a ham sandwich. In the federal system, an indictment means only that probable causes exists to believe that an offense was committed and that the defendant committed it. In Korea, however, if the prosecution indicts, it means they think they have the goods on you. It means they think that your confession (however coerced) and the statements against you (most likely hearsay) and other evidence (however circumstantial) are enough to convince the...
Categories Korean Law/Terrorism (NK)
June 4, 2010

Laura Ling Names Baby After Clinton

Inappropriate snickering will not be tolerated: Laura Ling told CBS News Chief Legal Correspondent Jan Crawford on CBSNews.com’s “Washington Unplugged” last Friday that while imprisoned in North Korea she remembered thinking that she would never be able start a family. But last night, nearly a year removed from her capture, Ling and her husband, Iain Clayton, celebrated the birth of their first child. And according to People Magazine, as a tribute to former president Bill Clinton and his work in...
Categories Ling/Lee Incident
June 4, 2010

How Al Jazeera Translates “Fair and Balanced” into Arabic

I had to see this for myself to actually believe it: Bjornar Simonsen, one of Alejandro Cao de Benos‘s obergruppenführers in the Korean “Friendship” Association, qualifies as an authority on North Korea in the eyes of Al Jazeera. But just to keep things objective and balanced, Al Jazeera puts Bjornar up against … John Feffer. You may not want to watch this if you’ve eaten processed meat or dairy products in the last hour or so, particularly if you have...
Categories Media Criticism/Propaganda/Useful Idiocy
June 4, 2010

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen Pays Respects to Cheonan Victims

From Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s staff: U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, had flowers placed on her behalf at South Korea ‘s Daejeon National Cemetery in honor and memory of those lost on the Republic of Korea naval ship Cheonan. Statement by Ros-Lehtinen: “As we conclude Memorial Day observances in the U.S. and South Korea and honor the sacrifices of our military personnel, I would like to take the opportunity to, once again, express...
Categories "United" Nations/Cheonan Incident/U.S. & Korea/Washington Views
June 3, 2010

The Telegraph Credits OFK

Thanks to commenter Ut videam, who notes that the Daily Telegraph is now crediting OFK for the four images in question, and even added some nice links. I want to publicly thank the Telegraph for doing the right thing, crediting this site, and for taking the extra step of inserting the links and the complimentary words. To all of the readers who wrote to the Telegraph, or who put up supportive blog posts or comments, thank you from the bottom...
Categories Media Criticism/The Camps
June 2, 2010

2 June 2010

Japan’s unendurable Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, has resigned over his unfulfillable promise to close the Futenma U.S. Marine Corps Base on Okinawa. Good riddance. Although the Futenma issue was the direct cause of Hatoyama’s fall, North Korea’s sinking of the Cheonan forced Hatoyama to climb down on Futenma, which means that Hatoyama’s political career was the one casualty of the Cheonan Incident I won’t mourn. _______________ Jay Solomon of the Wall Street Journal writes that big changes may be coming...
Categories Anju Links
June 2, 2010

Plan B Watch

I really, really like the way the South Korean Foreign Minister is talking lately, and I hope he also expresses the sentiments of U.S. officials with whom he’s spoken: Strangling the flow of cash to North Korea is the most effective non-military way to hold the Stalinist country accountable for the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan, Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said Tuesday. “The U.S. is keeping a close eye on North Korea’s trafficking of counterfeit banknotes, drugs and tobacco...
Categories Cheonan Incident/Counterfeiting/Money Laundering/Sanctions