Hmmmm. I wonder if we’ll ever find out just what this was all about: Abruptly canceling his scheduled attendance at a South Korean prosecutors’ forum, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill is scheduled to return to the United States today. Mr. Hill was to give a lecture Thursday at the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office about new U.S. law on North Korean human rights. The U.S. Embassy canceled the meeting yesterday, announcing Mr. Hill has to return to the United States for consultations,...

Kaesong Update: Will a South Korean-proposed “Kaesong clause” kill the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement? We can only hope so, although South Korea has already signalled that it’s not a deal-breaker (thus proving that they can sometimes be just as bad at negotiating with us as with the North Koreans). Why should we snatch the Axis of Evil from the jaws of death when it’s this intractible on nukes and human rights? As Uncle Vic says, “you wanna play, you gotta...

Seen on CafeUSA: Somehow, I think the entertainment value is mostly going to be inadvertent. CafeUSA is the public affairs blog of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, and to be fair, most of the pictures are at least somewhat better.

Supporters of South Korea’s leftist President Roh-Moo Hyun have announced a fresh campaign to persuade citizens to cancel their subscriptions to the often-critical Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo, and to subscribe instead to the pro-government Kyunghang Sinmun and Hankyoreh Sinmun. The latter newspapers both strongly support the Roh administration’s policy of appeasing North Korea and assuming a more neutral role toward the United States, which maintains 34,000 troops in Korea for that nation’s defense. The group, known as Nosamo, or...

Supporters of South Korea’s leftist President Roh-Moo Hyun have announced a fresh campaign to persuade citizens to cancel their subscriptions to the often-critical Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo, and to subscribe instead to the pro-government Kyunghang Sinmun and Hankyoreh Sinmun. The latter newspapers both strongly support the Roh administration’s policy of appeasing North Korea and assuming a more neutral role toward the United States, which maintains 34,000 troops in Korea for that nation’s defense. The group, known as Nosamo, or...

From today’s Times of London comes this remarkable report headlined, “Chairman Kim’s Dissolving Kingdom.” It paints a picture of rapid decay among the state’s mechanism of control, as if only inertia and an initial spark are delaying the regime’s rapid (and most likely, violent) collapse. It’s a long report and an absolute must-read, but here are the major points one distills from the piece: 1. The erosion of the fear state is equally visible to casual observers and insiders. The...

Not even the BBC, the New York Times, or the Washington Post can deny it–the Iraqi election appears to have been a big success: BAGHDAD, Jan. 30 — Iraqis voted in their first democratic election in nearly half a century Sunday with many observers saying the day appeared to have yielded higher turnout than expected and less violence than feared. Insurgents killed about two dozen people, including a U.S. Marine. But the level of mayhem by forces striving to disrupt...

From today’s Times of London comes this remarkable report headlined, “Chairman Kim’s Dissolving Kingdom.” It paints a picture of rapid decay among the state’s mechanism of control, as if only inertia and an initial spark are delaying the regime’s rapid (and most likely, violent) collapse. It’s a long report and an absolute must-read, but here are the major points one distills from the piece: 1. The erosion of the fear state is equally visible to casual observers and insiders. The...

Not even the BBC, the New York Times, or the Washington Post can deny it–the Iraqi election appears to have been a big success: BAGHDAD, Jan. 30 — Iraqis voted in their first democratic election in nearly half a century Sunday with many observers saying the day appeared to have yielded higher turnout than expected and less violence than feared. Insurgents killed about two dozen people, including a U.S. Marine. But the level of mayhem by forces striving to disrupt...

It astonished many of us how a journalist, even one published in a septic little rag like OhMyNews, could visit North Korea and return with nothing but praise for its fine golf courses, telling us–apparently without intentional irony–that “[f]or the average person, life is a day-to-day affair as is the case in any developing or for that matter modern society . . . , [f]or those who have the means, life on the whole is much easier and more enjoyable.”...

It astonished many of us how a journalist, even one published in a septic little rag like OhMyNews, could visit North Korea and return with nothing but praise for its fine golf courses, telling us–apparently without intentional irony–that “[f]or the average person, life is a day-to-day affair as is the case in any developing or for that matter modern society . . . , [f]or those who have the means, life on the whole is much easier and more enjoyable.”...

It astonished many of us how a journalist, even one published in a septic little rag like OhMyNews, could visit North Korea and return with nothing but praise for its fine golf courses, telling us–apparently without intentional irony–that “[f]or the average person, life is a day-to-day affair as is the case in any developing or for that matter modern society . . . , [f]or those who have the means, life on the whole is much easier and more enjoyable.”...

This certainly is an interesting development–another step forward for the North Korean Human Rights Act. One of the Act’s provisions provides for the appointment of the Special Rapporteur, and the running is apparently down to four candidates. I’ll tell you what I know about each of them. It matters very much, because the the appointee would have the rank of ambassador and would be the strongest possible signal of where this Administration is going with its North Korea policy. Paula...

Is the United States disengaging from its commitment to protect Taiwan? Some of the comments coming from President Bush and outgoing State Department Officials (namely Richard Armitage) don’t exactly match the lofty evangelism of democracy that we heard in the inaugural. Meanwhile, young Chinese who found foreign Web sites blocked after the death of Zhao Ziyang wondered what all the fuss was about, and no doubt many learned about the events in Tienanmen Square as a result. The government, for...

I try to keep this blog at a higher level than I would if I reacted to some of the stories we have seen from South Korea over the last few days, but today may mark one of those days when South Korean society has shown us such a historical example of itself at its worst that it cannot, umm, pass without my comment. I have lived for somewhere between thirty and forty years, and for most of them, I...

Is the United States disengaging from its commitment to protect Taiwan? Some of the comments coming from President Bush and outgoing State Department Officials (namely Richard Armitage) don’t exactly match the lofty evangelism of democracy that we heard in the inaugural. Meanwhile, young Chinese who found foreign Web sites blocked after the death of Zhao Ziyang wondered what all the fuss was about, and no doubt many learned about the events in Tienanmen Square as a result. The government, for...

I try to keep this blog at a higher level than I would if I reacted to some of the stories we have seen from South Korea over the last few days, but today may mark one of those days when South Korean society has shown us such a historical example of itself at its worst that it cannot, umm, pass without my comment. I have lived for somewhere between thirty and forty years, and for most of them, I...