February 3, 2007

Sand???

A sand supplier under virtual control of the North Korean army has notified its South Korean customers that the price of sand exported to South Korea would be going up by 60 percent. On Thursday, the Korea International Trade Association, the Korean Aggregates Association and importers of North Korean sand said that the North recently sent an unexpected notice that it would raise the price of sand next month by W900 (US$1=W937) from US$1.6 (W1,500) to 2 euros (W2,400) per...
Categories NK Economics/NK Military
February 3, 2007

Here Comes the Election!

Update: I’ve been expecting this, and I expect more of it: There is a fourth reason why the P.P. [the new leftist party that will officially replace Uri this month] will recover considerable support, and it’s the timeless appeal of nationalism, particularly in Korea (ht). The P.P. leaders, Comrade Chung and (especially) Kim Geun Tae, show no sign of any ethical, political, or financial restraints to stop them from setting new lows in crass appeals to those sentiments, to include...
Categories Anti-Americanism/Korean Politics/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/UCMJ & SOFA
February 3, 2007

Canadian Report Accuses Chinese Military of Large-Scale Organ-Harvesting

You will recall that last year, the Falun Gong-linked Epoch Times accused the Chinese government of harvesting the organs of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners at a hospital in a place called  Sujiatun.  The story emerged just as Chinese dictator Hu Jin Tao was packing his bags for a trip to Washington.  Eager to avoid diplomatic disaster,* the U.S. Embassy collected a team to inspect the site; after a few days, the Chinese let them in.  Initially, they reported “no...
Categories China/Human Rights
February 3, 2007

Diverted N. Korean Food Aid Traced to Single Recipient

Update 2/5/07:  The Joongang Ilbo thinks Kim Jong Nam is on the clock for his father after all: While staying abroad, Jong-nam has been reporting back to his father on the situation here and in the United States,” the source said. “What is important is that he has been allowed by his father to make contact with people from South Korea and the United States at will. This, from an unnamed source.  It’s a terrific argument for keeping that $25...
Categories China & Korea/Kim Jong Il/Kremlinology
February 2, 2007

Kim Geun Tae Tourette’s Watch

“Defection is an act of treason against democracy,” Mr. Kim said. He speaks  as an  authority on the subject, of course. This being an election year, I think this has the potential to become a regular feature.  The goal here is to provide a deep enough data pool to support  medical science’s first known  DSM-IV certifiable  diagnosis by a lawyer with no formal education in psychology. You, too, can be a part of medical history.  Submit your entries to onefreekorea@yahoo.com.
Categories Korean Politics
February 2, 2007

Jay Kim’s Irreconcilible Differences

With some Americans disturbing calm waters with the suggestion of an “alliance at risk,” Korea thinks it has found a man — a “former Korean congressman” — who can quietly bridge our widening differences: A former Korean-American congressman launched on Thursday a forum led by first-generation figures like himself to help advance Korea-U.S. relations. Chang-jun “Jay” Kim said the Washington Korea-U.S. Forum will start with 16 participants who are professionally active in political, economic, judicial and academic fields and have...
Categories America/An Alliance?/U.S. & Korea/Washington Views
February 1, 2007

Axis, Schmaxis (6)

North Korea and Iran are cooperating in developing long-range missiles, the deputy director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency said yesterday. Army Brig. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly said during a speech that North Korea test fired a long-range Taepodong missile in July, and Iran is working on a space launcher that would help develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that could hit the U.S. “Not only North Korea, but Iran has shown some significant developments in their [own] missile systems,” Gen....
Categories Axis of Evil/Iran/WMD
February 1, 2007

Czechs End N. Korea Slave Trade

Czech authorities have decided to end the practice of having North Koreans work in Czech factories under what one human rights organization has described as “slave” conditions. “We have decided not to offer new work visas to North Korean citizens and not to prolong the existing visas,” the Interior Ministry official responsible for asylum and migration policy, Tomas Haisman, said in an interview. The ministry announced the decision, citing October’s U.N. resolution condemning and imposing sanctions on Pyongyang because of...
Categories Europe/Human Rights/Human Trafficking
February 1, 2007

Remarkable Sky News Video of the Underground Railroad

Hundreds of refugees are risking their lives attempting to escape a brutal existence in North Korea. Sky News Asia correspondent Peter Sharp reports from China’s northern border where a savage winter is providing an impetus for an exodus of the weak and vulnerable: Hunger is stalking the bleak, windswept hills of North Korea. And for some of  the long-suffering residents of Kim Jong-il’s hermit kingdom it has  proved the final straw.  [read the rest] You can see the video here;...
Categories Famine & Food Aid/Refugees
January 31, 2007

Hey! Clarify This!

South Korea expressed concern over “undiplomatic” remarks made by the top U.S. military officer here regarding possible delays in the relocation of U.S. military bases, a Foreign Ministry official said yesterday.  [link] Background here.  The Foreign Ministry would also like you to know that this is not an “official” warning; it’s really just the diplomatic equivalent of a fix-it ticket.  No fine, no court appearance.  Guess that “I support the alliance” bumper sticker paid off after all.  “The comment (made...
Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/China & Korea/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
January 30, 2007

An Ex-JAG’s Guide to Trouble and Lawyers in Korea

I started commenting on this thread on The Marmot’s Hole, responding to someone who may or  may not have been beaten by Korean police after a drunken “protest.”  This drew a few responses, including this one from fellow lawyer Brendan Carr: To my way of thinking, private lawyer is a waste (and I’m one of the private lawyers) — TDS counsel take great pride in fighting for their clients’ rights and contrary to your expectations, TDS counsel have no fear...
Categories UCMJ & SOFA
January 30, 2007

Wobble Watch

President George Bush has told the Treasury Department, which has been handling financial sanctions regarding North Korea, to cooperate with the State Department regarding the six-party talks, sources in Washington said.  Nevertheless, the cooperation comes with a catch. Washington has said the Treasury Department should cooperate only when Pyongyang promises at the next round of the six-party talks to take measures to “disable” its Yongbyon nuclear reactor.  [link] Later, the article specifies that “disable” means something irreversible that falls short...
Categories Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/Money Laundering/NK Economics/Six-Party Talks
January 30, 2007

Almost Right

The Joongang Ilbo (among others)  writes about discontented foreigners, but disappoints by limiting itself to the financial issues faced by a limited cross-section of foreigners:  Let’s think about what it will be like if they return to their mother countries with mistrust and hate in their hearts. It will have a boomerang effect on Korean businessmen and students who are abroad. In this globalizing world, must we cut ourselves off through this exclusive attitude?  [link] Yes, and  this recognition is...
Categories Anti-Americanism/Korean Society/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military
January 29, 2007

Vaporize the Messenger

“People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten. You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word.”   — George Orwell, 1984 Today, the Dong-A Ilbo reports a surprising defection, and an unsurprising, yet on some level, rather  remarkable result: Recently, rumors have been spreading in North Korea that Jeong Ha Cheol (74-year-old), the propaganda...
Categories Defectors/Kremlinology
January 29, 2007

Dastardly Chinese Try to Claim Paektusan!

Update:   Yup — called it. The netizens’ charge of  the ChiCom lines was repulsed,  and the South  Korean government leads the  panicky flight … like 1951 all over again.  North Korea, whose physical boundaries are at the center of the dispute  (more), is no doubt preparing its latest draft North-South statement on Tokdo.  So what do the Chinese know that we don’t? ========================= It’s pretty thin gruel if you read the report, but on the other hand, China is in a...
Categories Censorship/China & Korea/History
January 29, 2007

KCTU Update: Moderation at Last!

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of Korea’s two umbrella labor unions, elected Lee Seok-haeng, its former general secretary, as the new president in a vote of representatives. Lee garnered 482 votes from 919 representatives, or 52 percent.  [link] With that overwhelming mandate, expect courageous and decisive reforms. “With all my strength, I will do what should be done and won’t do what shouldn’t. I will restore our organization by studying situations on the spot, and from that...
Categories Korean Politics/Korean Society/The Fifth Column