From today’s Washington Post: BEIJING — More than two years after taking office amid uncertainty about his political views, Chinese President Hu Jintao is emerging as an unyielding leader determined to preserve the Communist Party’s monopoly on power and willing to impose new limits on speech and other civil liberties to do it, according to party officials, journalists and analysts. Some say Hu has cast himself as a hard-liner to consolidate his position after a delicate leadership transition and could...

Today’s New York Times reports two major new developments in the North Korea story. The Administration’s long-lived patience with North Korea may finally be at an end as it contemplates asking the U.N. for a resolution that would authorize any nation to stop North Korean ship and planes to search for nuclear material. Meanwhile, North Korea may be preparing to test a nuclear weapon. First, the general terms of the conceptual resolution: The resolution envisioned by a growing number of...

From today’s Washington Post: BEIJING — More than two years after taking office amid uncertainty about his political views, Chinese President Hu Jintao is emerging as an unyielding leader determined to preserve the Communist Party’s monopoly on power and willing to impose new limits on speech and other civil liberties to do it, according to party officials, journalists and analysts. Some say Hu has cast himself as a hard-liner to consolidate his position after a delicate leadership transition and could...

Another U.N. Cave-In. Look how this U.N. Human Rights Commission hearing on China ended: “During his speech on April 5, 2005, with previous agreement from both the Commission secretary office and the UN security guards, Rev. Bob Fu displays and demonstrates an electric-shock baton smuggled out of China recently [pictured here]. It was made in China used by the Chinese police and interrogators to torture victims of religious victims. However, the Chinese delegate immediately registers a complaint to UNCHR that...

Another U.N. Cave-In. Look how this U.N. Human Rights Commission hearing on China ended: “During his speech on April 5, 2005, with previous agreement from both the Commission secretary office and the UN security guards, Rev. Bob Fu displays and demonstrates an electric-shock baton smuggled out of China recently [pictured here]. It was made in China used by the Chinese police and interrogators to torture victims of religious victims. However, the Chinese delegate immediately registers a complaint to UNCHR that...

According to a recent federal criminal complaint, South Korean citizen Tongsun Park was the bag man who carried Saddam’s millions to U.N. officials. A growing body of evidence suggests that Park invested $1 million in a company set up by the son of Maurice Strong, the U.N. Special Envoy to North Korea. Park was born in North Korea and Strong has admitted to seeking his advice in the course of his special envoy duties. After exposure of the payments, Strong...

According to a recent federal criminal complaint, South Korean citizen Tongsun Park was the bag man who carried Saddam’s millions to U.N. officials. A growing body of evidence suggests that Park invested $1 million in a company set up by the son of Maurice Strong, the U.N. Special Envoy to North Korea. Park was born in North Korea and Strong has admitted to seeking his advice in the course of his special envoy duties. After exposure of the payments, Strong...

Aaaaaaaaaaa-ron? The NHRC is so concerned about human rights that it has taken a stand on teachers reading diaries written by schoolchildren expressly for the purpose of learning to write. When there was debate over sending Korean troops to Iraq, the commission raised an objection, asking the administration and the National Assembly to protect the human rights of Iraqi war casualties. National borders didn’t matter then, nor did the realities of individual countries, nor vital national alliances. But faced with...

Aaaaaaaaaaa-ron? The NHRC is so concerned about human rights that it has taken a stand on teachers reading diaries written by schoolchildren expressly for the purpose of learning to write. When there was debate over sending Korean troops to Iraq, the commission raised an objection, asking the administration and the National Assembly to protect the human rights of Iraqi war casualties. National borders didn’t matter then, nor did the realities of individual countries, nor vital national alliances. But faced with...

Aaaaaaaaaaa-ron? The NHRC is so concerned about human rights that it has taken a stand on teachers reading diaries written by schoolchildren expressly for the purpose of learning to write. When there was debate over sending Korean troops to Iraq, the commission raised an objection, asking the administration and the National Assembly to protect the human rights of Iraqi war casualties. National borders didn’t matter then, nor did the realities of individual countries, nor vital national alliances. But faced with...

At the Asia-Africa summit, whatever that is: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has reiterated his country’s “deep remorse” over its colonial aggression in Asia. . . . Mr Koizumi said: “In the past Japan through its colonial rule and aggression caused tremendous damage and suffering for the people of many countries, particularly those of Asian nations. Japan squarely faces these facts of history in a spirit of humility.” The wording repeats previous Japanese apologies – but analysts say the international...

At the Asia-Africa summit, whatever that is: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has reiterated his country’s “deep remorse” over its colonial aggression in Asia. . . . Mr Koizumi said: “In the past Japan through its colonial rule and aggression caused tremendous damage and suffering for the people of many countries, particularly those of Asian nations. Japan squarely faces these facts of history in a spirit of humility.” The wording repeats previous Japanese apologies – but analysts say the international...

The (anti-)Unification Ministry, hereafter known as the Ministry of Silly Talks ©, appears to be going into the foreign policy business, but forgot to tell the Foreign Ministry. Meanwhile, the United States is sending signals that it may press for U.N. sanctions even over Seoul’s opposition. April 21, 2005 ã…¡ Mixed messages regarding the six-party talks came out of Seoul yesterday, with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon refusing to rule out referring the North Korean nuclear issue to the...

Good News in Afghanistan: As a high school kid, I taught English to Afghan refugees, leading to some friendships that have lasted to this day, so Afghanistan never ceased to be a place of great interest to me. In the days of the Soviet-Afghan War, I probably followed the news from there as closely as I do events in North Korea today, so stories like this one are heartening: KABUL (Reuters) – Two senior members of Afghanistan’s former Taliban regime...

The (anti-)Unification Ministry, hereafter known as the Ministry of Silly Talks ©, appears to be going into the foreign policy business, but forgot to tell the Foreign Ministry. Meanwhile, the United States is sending signals that it may press for U.N. sanctions even over Seoul’s opposition. April 21, 2005 ã…¡ Mixed messages regarding the six-party talks came out of Seoul yesterday, with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon refusing to rule out referring the North Korean nuclear issue to the...

Good News in Afghanistan: As a high school kid, I taught English to Afghan refugees, leading to some friendships that have lasted to this day, so Afghanistan never ceased to be a place of great interest to me. In the days of the Soviet-Afghan War, I probably followed the news from there as closely as I do events in North Korea today, so stories like this one are heartening: KABUL (Reuters) – Two senior members of Afghanistan’s former Taliban regime...

Roh Moo-Hyun’s official mouthpiece, Cho Ki-sook, isn’t happy about all that media disinformation about trouble in the U.S.-Korea alliance. “It is totally improper to argue that President Roh Moo-hyun has been attempting to divide the nation between forces supporting the U.S. and opposing it,” Cho said during a media briefing at Chong Wa Dae. Cho made the remark amid mounting criticism by major papers over President Roh’s statement on relations between Seoul and Washington while he was making a state...

Thanks to an anonymous source for referring this: Canadian Maurice Strong, an influential entrepreneur, withdrew as U.N. envoy for Korea on Wednesday while investigators probed his ties to a lobbyist suspected of bribing U.N. officials with Iraqi funds. Strong, who has served in a variety of U.N. posts since 1947, was a part-time adviser to Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the six-party talks aimed at getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programs.” He is suspending himself with the secretary-general’s...