February 28, 2007

Welcome to the Hen House

[Update:   The  Daily NK has more on the working groups.] Those “working groups,” to which most of the  difficult unresolved issues with North Korea have been delegated, are scheduled to meet next month, and get a load of who is chairing them: South Korea will chair a working group on providing economic and energy incentives for North Korea, while China will be responsible for a group on the North’s denuclearization. Russia will head a group concerned with peace and...
Categories Appeasement/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks/WMD
February 27, 2007

Joe DiTrani on the Not-Quite-Agreed Framework and N. Korea’s Uranium Program

[Update: Welcome Think Progress readers.  If you believe that our suspicions about highly-enriched uranium all  rest on slender  aluminum tubes, see also, and see also also.] Ambassador Joseph DiTrani, formerly a member of Chris Hill’s negotiating team and now the North Korea Mission Manager at the Directorate of National Intelligence, piped up in the Senate today when Sen. Jack Reed asked a fairly obvious question — what has changed since HEU was a deal-breaker in 2002?   His answer, though not earth-shaking,...
Categories Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks/Washington Views/WMD
February 27, 2007

‘Monnara Iunnara’ Hits al-Yahoo, Page One

[Update:   Lee explains himself, badly.  The Marmot then proceeds to  tear off his head and crap down his neck.  Ouch.]   [Update 2:   The Wall of Canadians, exposed!   See how Canada controls the entertainment industry, the media, global finance …. even the Bush family!] The South Korean image machine rolls on.   This could be  a serious setback to the hard-won gains of the Tokdo Riders: Another strip shows a newspaper, magazine, TV and radio with the description:...
Categories Korean Society
February 27, 2007

Roh on N. Korean Nukes: ‘What, Me Worry?’

“North Korea has no reason to launch any preemptive attack (on South Korea) unless it is attacked first. Only the people with mental problems believe in the possibility of a preemptive attack by the North.”  [Yonhap] Ahem.   I believe I can explain this, and a lot of other things.  Separated at birth?  Surgical enhancement?  Or will Roh’s administration end like an episode of  Scooby Doo?                            ...
Categories An Alliance?/WMD
February 27, 2007

Bomb Kills U.S. Soldier, S. Korean Soldier in Afghanistan

Still not  many confirmed details yet, but it was a suicide bomber at Bagram, and he was trying to get Dick Cheney: There were conflicting reports on the death toll. Provincial Gov. Abdul Jabar Taqwa said 20 people were killed, but NATO said initial reports indicated only three were killed, including a U.S. soldier, a South Korean coalition soldier and a U.S. government contractor whose nationality wasn’t immediately known. NATO said 27 people were also wounded…. Associated Press reporters at...
Categories ROK Military/Terrorism (NK)/U.S. Military
February 26, 2007

The Death of an Alliance, Part 65: Beyond Dependency, Toward Reunification

[Update:   In the course of a whiney tirade about how America “betrayed” South Korea, Kim Dae Joong also calls for a national conversation about South Korea becoming more self-sufficient in its own defense.  I’d suggest to Mr. Kim that it’s a wee bit early to declare South Korea fully abandoned by America while we still have 29,000 of our people there.  Kim also  admits that the (elected) South Korean government got the deal it wanted, and in light of...
Categories An Alliance?/Reconstruction/ROK Military/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
February 26, 2007

Chronology of a Capitulation: Why Nothing Will Be Solved in 60 Days

Kyodo News has a very distressing report about just what the United States came to Beijing prepared to give up, and give up almost immediately: North Korea’s abandonment of nuclear weapons was stated in a first draft of an agreement document for the six-party talks held earlier this month, but was dropped in a second draft drawn up by the United States after the North Korean side rejected it, negotiation sources said Sunday. Given that North Korea giving up nuclear...
Categories Appeasement/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks/WMD
February 25, 2007

Will a Junta Replace Kim Jong Il?

                                [Update:   The Scotsman says that Kim Jong Il is already putting the system through a dry run.] The bad news is that so far, this development is scheduled to take place after Kim Jong Il’s natural death.  North Korean leader Kim Jong-il might consider a “collective” leadership system after he leaves office, a move away from the long-anticipated father-to-son power transfer, diplomatic sources...
Categories Kremlinology
February 25, 2007

Conditions Worsen in Pyongyang

[Update:   The Daily NK  also has an  interesting new  Pyongyang photo gallery from a Russian visitor with a real talent for  furtive photography.  I’m not sure how new this is; some of the pics look vaguely familiar.]   The Emerald City, where only the privileged live and where food has always been relatively plentiful,  is losing is hue: “Nowadays, it is even hard for people in Pyongyang to live. Although rations are given, it is not enough to live...
Categories Inside NK
February 24, 2007

Broadcasting Update

Freedom House is giving Young Howard’s Open Radio for North Korea $25,000.  But it’s not really the amount of money that’s interesting; it’s how it will be spent: The money is to support radio programs for families separated by the Korean War. The station said it was the first monetary support from Freedom House for a Korean NGO. ORNK vowed to boost their programming for separated families. Members of such families can send their stories by phone (0505-470-7470) or e-mail...
Categories Deprogramming
February 23, 2007

U.S., ROK Ministers Agree on OPCON Date

[Update:   But we’re demanding benchmarks!   Gates apparently  shares my fears and has demanded ROK assurances that the date won’t slide yet again.  He’s also demanding “tangible moves,” such as “establishing a military command that would take charge of troop control, and an earlier start to drawing up new military strategies once Combined Forces Command is dismantled.”  Those sure do  sound a lot like “benchmarks,” although that term was understandably avoided.   I think the value of a promise made...
Categories An Alliance?/ROK Military/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
February 23, 2007

The Administration’s North Korea Strategy: Pop Smoke

[Update:   A friend just sent me John O’Sullivan’s  must-read criticism of the deal on National Review Online (thanks!),  and it’s  an absolute direct hit.   O’Sullivan actually attributed Bush’s new policy to Jimmy Carter (ouch!).  Safe to say, conservatives pretty much all want  this deal  euthanized.   I could  swear I’d seen the Kipling reference before somewhere.] [Update 2:  More “Barrel of a Gun” spin from Pyongyang:  In another sense, North Korean authorities seem to be trying to re-integrate the disparity...
Categories "United" Nations/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks/WMD
February 22, 2007

Richardson on David Albright: Put Me Down for “C”

Update:   Albright has published  his views here  in slightly more detail, and I’m even less persuaded than I was before.  Albright completely mischaracterizes the HEU evidence by ingoring  evidence he can’t refute (North Korea’s admissions, Musharraf’s admissions, Libya) and arguing as if all of our  evidence consisted of a receipt for  aluminum tubes we’d found in A.Q. Khan’s lint filter.   The key point  about aluminum tubes  is that they’re  used to make gas centrifuges to enrich uranium.  I’ve never...
Categories Appeasement/Media Criticism/Six-Party Talks/WMD
February 22, 2007

Two Jailbreaks Reported in Hoeryong

As North Korea tries to enforce a crackdown on cross-border smuggling of people and subversive items, it finds that control isn’t as easy to maintain as it once was.  Both incidents involved suspected (cross-border?) smugglers: The source said that in the evening, around 10 PM, unknown arsonist set fire on armory that caused confusion. Amid fire, two smugglers broke the prison bars and escaped. Although the Manghyang district security guards declared state of emergency over Hoiryeong and tried to catch...
Categories Inside NK/Resistance
February 21, 2007

Kim Jong Il Loses North Korean Soccer Mom Demographic

According to the Daily NK’s various sources, Kim Jong Il has  banned  either some or all Japanese cars, after one of them broke down on the road and blocked his path. So far, most of the middle-class North Koreans or low-ranking party officials have been using Japanese cars, whereas the richest riding Mercedes. Also, Korean-Japanese who immigrated into the North are fond of the cars they used to drive in Japan. So the number of Japanese-built cars is more than...
Categories Inside NK/Kim Jong Il