More cognitive dissonance in the Korean papers today; this time the subject is the future of President Bush’s North Korea policy: Korea Times: US Impatient Over Stalled Nuclear Talks Joongang Ilbo: U.S. analyst: Bush will focus diplomacy on North They’re not quite mutually exclusive, and the Joongang‘s headline reflects that it’s one person’s opinion, in this case, a think-tanker from the left-realist (formerly right-realist) Council on Foreign Relations, which probably isn’t especially ingratiated in the Bush Admin today. I’d advise...

Same paper, same day, same historical dissonance: Headline 1: Ex-Forced Laborer Demands Compensation Headline 2: Tongdaemun Merchants to Build Plants in Kaesong [North Korea] Did the accountants forget something when they calculated the cost of doing business? I’m just saying . . . . If you’re not familiar with the Kaesong Industrial Park project, click here.

According to this, all 120 GNP members are co-sponsoring. There are 299 seats in the assembly. The backers thus need to pick off 30 more votes from somewhere, although I can’t see where they’re going to get them this time. I will try to get my hands on an English version to see if the thing has any teeth. Uri, of course, does not even want to discuss this subject. The main significance of this is that (1) it’s a...

Diplomacy. Is China ready to get serious with North Korea about its uranium program? If so, it appears to be because we made it clear to China that we are.

Same paper, same day, same historical dissonance: Headline 1: Ex-Forced Laborer Demands Compensation Headline 2: Tongdaemun Merchants to Build Plants in Kaesong [North Korea] Did the accountants forget something when they calculated the cost of doing business? I’m just saying . . . . If you’re not familiar with the Kaesong Industrial Park project, click here.

According to this, all 120 GNP members are co-sponsoring. There are 299 seats in the assembly. The backers thus need to pick off 30 more votes from somewhere, although I can’t see where they’re going to get them this time. I will try to get my hands on an English version to see if the thing has any teeth. Uri, of course, does not even want to discuss this subject. The main significance of this is that (1) it’s a...

Diplomacy. Is China ready to get serious with North Korea about its uranium program? If so, it appears to be because we made it clear to China that we are.

Welcome Command Post readers! Regular readers of this site can find my synthesis of the latest news on the North Korean economy here. It’s either the world’s most painful economic reform or a sign that the regime is desperately pitching members of its political base out of the sinking lifeboat.

Welcome Command Post readers! Regular readers of this site can find my synthesis of the latest news on the North Korean economy here. It’s either the world’s most painful economic reform or a sign that the regime is desperately pitching members of its political base out of the sinking lifeboat.

Could it be? From this story, it looks like the Special Rapporteur, apppointed just last fall, is going to issue a report in March that will condemn both Russia and China for failing to comply their their treaty obligations toward North Korean refugees. It will also reportedly blame North Korea itself for creating the conditions that cause them to flee, including an unfair food distribution system and a lack of transparency that hinders international food aid. I hope the boys...

Eight more North Korean refugees have crawled over the wire to enter the Japanese school in Beijing.

Has South Korea’s new fugitive slave law cost its first life? The Reverend Jeffrey Park is a U.S. citizen and Durihana activist (English language article on them here). A few weeks ago, he was trying to help a group of North Korean refugees get from Jilin, China to South Korea via Burma. The ROK embassy in Rangoon refused to help, so Reverend Park found himself wandering back to China through the dangerous mountains of Laos in the middle of the...

Before you read the story I link below, I strongly recommend you read Dr. Andrei Lankov’s overview of the North Korean food distribution and rationing system. I disagree with some of Dr. Lankov’s policy recommendations, but he is an invaluable source of knowledge about the North Korean government, such as it was when he was there, at least. The essential point to take from his article is that food rations have been a practical non-entity for everyone except the elite...

Two North Korean fisherman were rescued by South Korean maritime police today. It doesn’t sound like a defection; they had engine trouble and drifted for two weeks.

North Korea has officially declared itself pissed about the “outpost of tyranny” moniker. They need to call back the guy who wrote “human scum” and “sea of fire.” This time, the best they could do was to compare Bush to a Christian fundamentalist missionary. Which probably made him shake his head and say, “so?”

An Amicable Divorce for the U.S. and Korea? That’s the recommendation of two alumni of the center-left Brookingslibertarian Cato Institution (Bandow has long advocated a U.S. withdrawal from Korea). On the surface, the idea makes some sense, given the divergence of common values and interests, however, I haven’t read their piece in detail. Thanks to Dave Sheridan, who runs this superb blog, for pointing out my error on the think tank.

Could it be? From this story, it looks like the Special Rapporteur, apppointed just last fall, is going to issue a report in March that will condemn both Russia and China for failing to comply their their treaty obligations toward North Korean refugees. It will also reportedly blame North Korea itself for creating the conditions that cause them to flee, including an unfair food distribution system and a lack of transparency that hinders international food aid. I hope the boys...

Could it be? From this story, it looks like the Special Rapporteur, apppointed just last fall, is going to issue a report in March that will condemn both Russia and China for failing to comply their their treaty obligations toward North Korean refugees. It will also reportedly blame North Korea itself for creating the conditions that cause them to flee, including an unfair food distribution system and a lack of transparency that hinders international food aid. I hope the boys...