Having had my share of clients who told horror stories about the Korean police, it’s nice to see the Korean press catching on and promoting serious reforms. The SOFA issue might not be so controversial if it weren’t currently an near impossibility to get a fair trial in a Korean court–which goes double for American soldiers.

The Winds of Change Korea briefing is up. Thanks to the Marmot for six–count em’–six frigging links to this blog. Wow.

The Chosun Ilbo ran a very moving piece today, in which its journalists followed a group of North Korean defectors through China, trying to evade the police, but not always quite succeeding: At 3:40 a.m., a People’s Liberation Army soldier stopped the bus and announced he would conduct a search. The inside lights went on and everyone froze. The defectors, however, covered themselves up with blankets and didn’t move a finger, pretending to be lost in sleep. The press team,...

The Korean papers, already sensing that Korea has marginalized itself out of any meaningful role in solving the North Korea crisis, are expending much anxiety on what the United States now intends to do about North Korea, with or without their cooperation. I mostly agree with and recommend the Marmot’s analysis of Michael Horowitz’s statement that North Korea is certain to collapse within a year. Prediction is a dangerous business. I once had this, um, friend, who kept extending his...

The New York Times reprints this Reuters dispatch of the growing calls for Japan to impose sanctions on North Korea. I can’t understand why they haven’t already done it. If they’re concerned about progress in the negotiations, watch how fast the talks move when Kim Jong Il sees his cash flow decline to a trickle. North Korea isn’t Denmark; you need to negotiate from strength.

Life Funds for North Korean Refugees has posted this report of their demonstration in Tokyo, with pictures. They had about 30 demonstrators show. The best part is that Takayuki Noguchi, who spent several months in a Chinese prison, attended the protest and wrote the report.

A nice fisking of the “G.I. crime wave” myth here. Of course, you can’t reason someone out of something he was never reasoned into.

The Chosun Ilbo ran a very moving piece today, in which its journalists followed a group of North Korean defectors through China, trying to evade the police, but not always quite succeeding: At 3:40 a.m., a People’s Liberation Army soldier stopped the bus and announced he would conduct a search. The inside lights went on and everyone froze. The defectors, however, covered themselves up with blankets and didn’t move a finger, pretending to be lost in sleep. The press team,...

The Korean papers, already sensing that Korea has marginalized itself out of any meaningful role in solving the North Korea crisis, are expending much anxiety on what the United States now intends to do about North Korea, with or without their cooperation. I mostly agree with and recommend the Marmot’s analysis of Michael Horowitz’s statement that North Korea is certain to collapse within a year. Prediction is a dangerous business. I once had this, um, friend, who kept extending his...

The New York Times reprints this Reuters dispatch of the growing calls for Japan to impose sanctions on North Korea. I can’t understand why they haven’t already done it. If they’re concerned about progress in the negotiations, watch how fast the talks move when Kim Jong Il sees his cash flow decline to a trickle. North Korea isn’t Denmark; you need to negotiate from strength.

Life Funds for North Korean Refugees has posted this report of their demonstration in Tokyo, with pictures. They had about 30 demonstrators show. The best part is that Takayuki Noguchi, who spent several months in a Chinese prison, attended the protest and wrote the report.

A nice fisking of the “G.I. crime wave” myth here. Of course, you can’t reason someone out of something he was never reasoned into.

South Korea appears to be serious about slamming its doors in the faces of North Korean refugees: “From next year, we will fortify the screening procedure to weed out murderers, criminals sought by international police and people disguising themselves as asylum seekers,” Vice Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo said at a news conference. “Even after their entry, those with criminal records will be punished according to domestic law.” By “domestic law,” I can only hope he means South Korean law. So...

South Korea appears to be serious about slamming its doors in the faces of North Korean refugees: “From next year, we will fortify the screening procedure to weed out murderers, criminals sought by international police and people disguising themselves as asylum seekers,” Vice Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo said at a news conference. “Even after their entry, those with criminal records will be punished according to domestic law.” By “domestic law,” I can only hope he means South Korean law. So...

Maybe you’ve heard of the “Korean wave” that hit Japan recently. Apparently, so have many North Koreans, and the Dear Leader–or whoever is running things up there these days–doesn’t approve. Note that the reporter is none other than North Korean defector Kang Chol-Hwan: A former high-ranking official who recently entered South Korea as a defector said, “These days, among young North Koreans, South Korean culture is rapidly spreading. . . .” An ex-government official of the North who recently visited...

The 44 North Koreans who took refuge in the Canadian Embassy in September have all been flown to a “safe” country. Six more sought refuge in the French and Swedish embassies in Hanoi last week. Doug Shin also e-mailed a link to this article, reporting that a North Korean who worked as a Russian translator in Vladisvostok and had sought refuge in the local South Korean consulate has arrived in South Korea.

The Guardian reports that “European policymakers have been advised to prepare for “sudden change” in North Korea amid growing speculation among diplomats and observers that Kim Jong-il is losing his grip on power.” As with all of these recent reports, however, you need to sift carefully to find any hard facts: Since the summer Pyongyang residents have reported a security crackdown, with extra checkpoints and ID inspections. Even Chinese academics – usually cautious in criticising North Korea – say there...

One good way is to clamp limits on foreign investment, especially if you have an export-based economy. Maybe this is just noise, but it seems to be working. Still, it’s always a pleasure to see George Soros take a beating.