April 6, 2006

Links of Interest

The Flying Yangban has lots of good stuff up today. If you’re in or near Seoul and aren’t working with LiNK yet, they’re holding another meeting Saturday afternoon. Andy also links to an analysis from the International Crisis Group, giving the encouraging conclusion that the U.S. will never allow anything made in Kaesong to be included in a free-trade agreement. He also informs us of the latest machinations in South Korean politics. Yet more calls for America to disengage from...
Categories Abductions/Activism/An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Appeasement/Blogs & Blogging/Geopolitics/Human Rights/Islam/Korean Politics/NK Economics/North Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
April 5, 2006

Who Is Ma Young-Ae, and What Does She Know?

[Updated 6 Apr 06; scroll down] Via The Flying Yangban, it looks like the U.S. may be on the verge of accepting its first North Korean refugee. Like the Yangban, I’m happy about it. Unlike the Yangban, I don’t see this as necessarily precedent-setting for the broader issue of accepting refugees fleeing persecution in North Korea. Reason: this refugee is also fleeing persecution in South Korea. No, that wasn’t a typo: Ma came to South Korea in 2000. In April...
Categories Abductions/An Alliance?/Appeasement/Censorship/Counterfeiting/Defectors/Human Rights/Japan/Japan & Korea/Korean Law/North Korea/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views
April 5, 2006

The Other Nuclear Option

Much info on the economic front of late, including some initial, sketchy evidence to back U.S. claims that the sanctions are biting. The Chosun Ilbo continues to tremble over what the U.S. Treasury Department’s next move could be. Have a look at Section 311 (115 Stat. 298) of the USA PATRIOT Act, and if you can bear it, keep reading. It empowers Treasury to declare all of North Korea a jurisdiction of special money laundering concern — as we’ve apparently...
Categories China/China & Korea/Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/Drugs & N Korea/NK Economics/Six-Party Talks/Uncategorized
April 4, 2006

Anti-American Protest Video at Usinkorea

The Korea Sojourner, a/k/a usinkorea, has put up a video montage of some recent anti-American protests. In some parts, especially where he puts up the lyrics to the latest catchy hate song (which has an unmistakably North Korean sound), he does a service to the uninitiated. Soundtrack, too! Judge for yourself: 1. Just how “peaceful” these peace activists are; 2. How effectively the Korean police have kept their violent acts away from U.S. forces that are defending Korea; 3. If...
Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Law/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized
April 4, 2006

Treasury Official: NK Sanctions Are Leaving a Mark

Last week, we heard that Kim Jong Il was trying to wait out President Bush. This week, a new report suggests that the converse may also be true: The U.S. Treasury Department says its ongoing financial sanctions against North Korea put “huge pressure” on the regime that could have a “snowballing … avalanche effect.” Under Secretary Stuart Levy was quoted in the latest edition of Newsweek, which analyzed the possible effect on the regime from Washington’s identification of the Banco...
Categories An Alliance?/Appeasement/China/China & Korea/Counterfeiting/NK Economics/Six-Party Talks/Uncategorized/WMD
April 3, 2006

Oranckay on Kaesong and Workers’ Rights

I’m sure Pete and I disagree as much as any two people in the Korea blogosphere, but you’ve got to read what he has to say about the Hanky’s anti-human rights / anti-workers’ rights editorial. The Oranckay has a long history with the Korean unions, which I’ve called out for their hypocrisy for being absent from the Kaesong debate. Kudos to pete for being willing to risk burning bridges for the sake of advocating a consistent view that’s true to...
Categories Korean Politics/Korean Society/NK Economics
April 3, 2006

NYT: Labor Grows Scarce in China

It may be one of the more significant trends we’ve seen in China — there is no longer enough cheap labor for every factory to continue to run on a low-tech, low-wage, labor-intensive basis. The result is that factories are now paying better wages and improving working conditions. It’s also causing some foreign investors to consider other countries where labor is cheaper and more plentiful. Could this mean that China’s manufacturing boom is topping out? I’m no economist, but I...
Categories China/NK Economics
April 3, 2006

Lefkowitz Denounces Kaesong Slave Labor; U.S. Continues to Squeeze NK’s Finances

It’s like they’re reading this blog . . . or perhaps great minds just think alike. You may recall that recently, I blogged about a media visit to the Kaesong Industrial Park. Piecing together several excellent reports allowed one to gather: (1) the extraordinary degree of control over the North Korean workers; (2) the extraordinary degree of supervision of the South Korean visitors; (3) the fact that the North Korean workers actually receive just $8 a month, not the widely-reported...
Categories "United" Nations/Activism/An Alliance?/Appeasement/China/China & Korea/Defectors/Diplomacy/Human Rights/NK Economics/North Korea/Refugees/U.S. & Korea/Uncategorized/Washington Views/WMD
April 3, 2006

J Diplomat Kills Himself Over PRC Extortion Attempt

What’s interesting to me about this Japan Times story is that the authorities of both countries appear to have had little interest in keeping matters from getting public and nasty. Espionage is a fact of international relations, but it only tends to become a matter of public acrimony in the presence of inter-governmental hostility. Update: The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that Japan has cut off new loans to China “due to strained relations.”
Categories Asia/China/Diplomacy/Geopolitics/Japan
April 3, 2006

Gordon Cucullu on N.K. Tunnels

Well, I admit it. I’m jealous that GI Korea scooped me on covering Cucullu’s lecture at the Rayburn House Office Building last Friday, which I had to miss because of the demands of my day job. Fortunately, I did run into Gordon at a meeting the evening before, and I was able to join a group where he was being shown ground-penetrating radar images of North Korean tunnels that purportedly run beneath (among other places) Kunsan Air Base, at the...
Categories NK Military/North Korea
April 1, 2006

ROK Police Failed to Protect U.S. Marines

Just in case you thought my most recent rant about South Korea failing to protect U.S. troops (the ones defending its country) was off-base, well, have a look: The appearance of anti-war demonstrators as the beachfront site of a joint U.S.-Korea military drill on Thursday showed an apparent lack of interest by authorities in keeping exercise sites free of demonstrators and other civilians. Authorities said yesterday that the police in the vicinity of Manripo Beach, in Taean, South Chungcheong province,...
Categories An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Korean Law/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military/Uncategorized
April 1, 2006

A Brief History of Insincerity

As a young activist, Roh Moo Hyun called for the expulsion of U.S. forces from Korea. As a candidate, Roh Moo-Hyun rhetorically moved his nation from America’s tit to its feet and promised not to “kowtow” to its long-time protector and benefactor. Speaking before the United Nations last September, President Roh Moo Hyun said this before the entire UN General Assembly: The world must completely divest itself of mindsets and vestiges reminiscent of imperialistic tendencies that appear to linger in...
Categories "United" Nations/An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/Humor/Satire/Korean Politics/Uncategorized/WTF?
April 1, 2006

2ID KATUSA Escapes Captivity in N. Korea

Some translation is appropriate for non-military readers: KATUSA means Korean Augmentee to the U.S. Army, and 2ID means Second Infantry Division, a brigade of which remains stretched out in an arc perpendicular to the Northern approaches to Seoul. Hundreds of KATUSAs still serve with U.S. Army units there today, but the first KATUSAs served during the Korean War. Here’s what happened to one of them: Lee participated in the Korean War after enlisting in August 1950 as a Korea auxiliary...
Categories Abductions/Appeasement/China & Korea/Defectors/Human Rights/Korean History/North Korea/Refugees/ROK Military/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military