RSOI Downsizing. The United States has cancelled a key part of this year’s exercise, one of two major exercises staged yearly in Korea (Ulchi Focus Lens being the other). There will be no joint ROK-U.S. Marine practice landing this year. There are several possible ways to see this, but all would be purely speculative on my part. I’m not persuaded that the official story is a full explanation, however. Still, given the likelihood of a Marine landing in Korea, I...

Michael Ledeen sees Bush’s foreign policy as an extension of the Reagan Doctrine, too. Of course, he’s not the first one to expand on that theory.

Human Rights Update: The Chosun Ilbo has printed a summary of the State Department’s human rights report on North Korea here. Sure, the summary is interesting if you don’t have time to read the full report. What’s more interesting is that the South Korean government has nothing to contribute to this discussion, other than to do its best to quench it by sequestering defectors or excluding them altogether. Koreans have to read a summary written by a government on another...

RSOI Downsizing. The United States has cancelled a key part of this year’s exercise, one of two major exercises staged yearly in Korea (Ulchi Focus Lens being the other). There will be no joint ROK-U.S. Marine practice landing this year. There are several possible ways to see this, but all would be purely speculative on my part. I’m not persuaded that the official story is a full explanation, however. Still, given the likelihood of a Marine landing in Korea, I...

Someone at the Korea Herald is getting huffy about an idea that’s gaining currency in Washington–U.S. disengagement from Korea. Now, I have plenty of reservations about the idea in its more extreme form (more on that below), but reactions like this one are only going to persuade Americans that disengagement is long overdue: Although chances are slim that policymakers in Washington would pay serious attention to such an unconventional idea, it is a little annoying to notice that even some...

Someone at the Korea Herald is getting huffy about an idea that’s gaining currency in Washington–U.S. disengagement from Korea. Now, I have plenty of reservations about the idea in its more extreme form (more on that below), but reactions like this one are only going to persuade Americans that disengagement is long overdue: Although chances are slim that policymakers in Washington would pay serious attention to such an unconventional idea, it is a little annoying to notice that even some...

Someone at the Korea Herald is getting huffy about an idea that’s gaining currency in Washington–U.S. disengagement from Korea. Now, I have plenty of reservations about the idea in its more extreme form (more on that below), but reactions like this one are only going to persuade Americans that disengagement is long overdue: Although chances are slim that policymakers in Washington would pay serious attention to such an unconventional idea, it is a little annoying to notice that even some...

The new Department of State human rights report on North Korea is here. Given the paucity of information, it’s a running year-by-year tally, noting changes when they have occurred, which are seldom much for the better. One significant stat is that the State Department believes there are now no more than 30-50,000 North Koreans in China, and that this is at least partially the result of a Chinese crackdown. It could also be true that the estimate of 300,000 was...

The new Department of State human rights report on North Korea is here. Given the paucity of information, it’s a running year-by-year tally, noting changes when they have occurred, which are seldom much for the better. One significant stat is that the State Department believes there are now no more than 30-50,000 North Koreans in China, and that this is at least partially the result of a Chinese crackdown. It could also be true that the estimate of 300,000 was...

Sanctions Update: Technically, they’re not supposed to be (1) sanctions (2) against North Korea, but everyone knows they are both of the above. The BBC reports on Japan’s new shipping regulations, which took effect today.

Sanctions Update: Technically, they’re not supposed to be (1) sanctions (2) against North Korea, but everyone knows they are both of the above. The BBC reports on Japan’s new shipping regulations, which took effect today.

As linked below, a North Korean has been arrested in China for murdering three people in Seoul in 2003. I don’t know whether the man is guilty, of course, but I wouldn’t be surprised that some North Koreans turn to crime, given the fact that North Korea is a society that inculcates its citizens with violence and blurs the moral absolutes that protect individual rights. Given that a certain percentage of human beings are inherently evil, I suppose the conditioning...

Lebanon Update: Things are getting very interesting there. It’s all starting to take on a somewhat Ukrainian look, and the Syrians really don’t dare to suppress them violently at this point. What they might do is turn Hezbollah loose on the demonstrators, however. That would mean civil war, and it would be an opportunity to support the Lebanese who seek the extinction of Hezbollah as a political and military force. Nothing resembling victory in our own war against terrorists is...

As linked below, a North Korean has been arrested in China for murdering three people in Seoul in 2003. I don’t know whether the man is guilty, of course, but I wouldn’t be surprised that some North Koreans turn to crime, given the fact that North Korea is a society that inculcates its citizens with violence and blurs the moral absolutes that protect individual rights. Given that a certain percentage of human beings are inherently evil, I suppose the conditioning...

Lebanon Update: Things are getting very interesting there. It’s all starting to take on a somewhat Ukrainian look, and the Syrians really don’t dare to suppress them violently at this point. What they might do is turn Hezbollah loose on the demonstrators, however. That would mean civil war, and it would be an opportunity to support the Lebanese who seek the extinction of Hezbollah as a political and military force. Nothing resembling victory in our own war against terrorists is...

Section 301 of the North Korean Human Rights Act required the State Department to submit a report on the conditions facing North Korean refugeess, and what we can do to help them. The report is out, and you can read it here. China takes some blunt frontal criticism for flagrantly violating the U.N. Refugee Convention, but the report is indefensibly soft on both South Korea and the UNHCR itself. Both are content to hide behind the Chinese police, hoping the...

Section 301 of the North Korean Human Rights Act required the State Department to submit a report on the conditions facing North Korean refugeess, and what we can do to help them. The report is out, and you can read it here. China takes some blunt frontal criticism for flagrantly violating the U.N. Refugee Convention, but the report is indefensibly soft on both South Korea and the UNHCR itself. Both are content to hide behind the Chinese police, hoping the...

Japan has successfully launched a satellite into space with a new rocket capable of carrying heavier payloads. Although the space program isn’t technically military, Japan intends to launch spy satellites to watch North Korea in the near future.