David Schofield thinks that in North Korea, economic reform is becoming just another scheme for enriching the elite at the expense of everyone else: While the United Nations urgently appeals for food aid for severely malnourished North Koreans, that nation has reaped a bumper harvest and there’s food aplenty – provided you can pay for it, and most people cannot. In fact, South Korea is planning to import chicken and duck meat from the North – initially just 100 tons,...

It’s curious that the Korean press has paid almost no attention to the government-in-exile story. I haven’t had a chance to listen to the full Radio Free Asia report, and probably won’t until the weekend, so I don’t know much more than that this group is allegedly dominated by old former Workers’ Party officials. I’m initially inclined to agree that the people who ran the old North Korea into the ground should not be in charge of the new North...

Nothing greases the skids for a nice, fat government contract like a few sexual favors. Not that Americans are immune from this kind of thing. Heck, one of our Army colonels in Korea gave the lawyers a reason to talk about a whole new meaning a sofa as a piece of furniture again. Some of you may recall that they built an addition to the Dragon Hill Lodge on Yongsan Garrison a few years ago. At the time, I was...

It turns out that Jane Goodall does care about chemical testing and infanticide . . . of monkeys. Her concern does not extend to the North Korean people, whose killers she’s helping to portray in a more “compassionate and humanistic“ light. I can already hear you saying it–Jane’s an environmental / animal rights activist. She doesn’t do foreign policy. Oh yeah? If you see no evil in Pyongyang and see it everywhere in Washington, you’re either ignorant of the facts...

North Korea has reportedly opted to nationalize a few million dollars’ worth of KEDO construction equipment. Don’t say I didn’t warn you: [The emotional power of the promise of unification] is certainly sufficient to vacuum up millions more in South Korean cash to keep the Dear Leader in Henessey and razor wire, and the children of his secret police and officer corps eating at least adequately. But for the record, I’ll predict right here that the South Koreans will be...

. . . and for once, doesn’t avert its eyes. Could big changes be on the way? Only if you can get all of the quibbling bureaucrats to agree on what those changes should be, but self-examination is the first step. An internal commission has noticed that the world body lacks clear standards on many of its essential competencies, such as the use of force, self-defense, accountability, and human rights: The panel was very critical of the Human Rights Commission,...

I have company in raising the question, at least when you’re not talking about Israeli politics in frigging Hebrew. You don’t call a Hispanic-American leftist a Fidelista simply because he’s Hispanic. Two guys walk into a bar. Both have identical political views. Both vote Republican. One’s Jewish, one isn’t. Which one gets called a “likudnik?” The one who’s part of the Israeli fifth column, silly. And we know who that is, don’t we (wink, wink)? I spent seven and a...

. . . or the sneakier “Made in DPRK” will be the marking on stuff made in Kaesong. So just how much embodied slave labor would it take to make a product carry that label? What if, the leather and plastic come from South Korea and the cutting and stitching are done in the North? Two years ago it was already common to see North Korean stuff for sale in Seoul. I remember several specific examples–walnuts, shoes, generators. The opportunities...

I have company in raising the question, at least when you’re not talking about Israeli politics in frigging Hebrew. You don’t call a Hispanic-American leftist a Fidelista simply because he’s Hispanic. Two guys walk into a bar. Both have identical political views. Both vote Republican. One’s Jewish, one isn’t. Which one gets called a “likudnik?” The one who’s part of the Israeli fifth column, silly. And we know who that is, don’t we (wink, wink)? I spent seven and a...

. . . or the sneakier “Made in DPRK” will be the marking on stuff made in Kaesong. So just how much embodied slave labor would it take to make a product carry that label? What if, the leather and plastic come from South Korea and the cutting and stitching are done in the North? Two years ago it was already common to see North Korean stuff for sale in Seoul. I remember several specific examples–walnuts, shoes, generators. The opportunities...

. . . or the sneakier “Made in DPRK” will be the marking on stuff made in Kaesong. So just how much embodied slave labor would it take to make a product carry that label? What if, the leather and plastic come from South Korea and the cutting and stitching are done in the North? Two years ago it was already common to see North Korean stuff for sale in Seoul. I remember several specific examples–walnuts, shoes, generators. The opportunities...

(Sankei News Service) Unnamed sources in China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have confirmed that a single bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas in November 1963 has struck a third major political leader–North Korea’s Kim Jong Il. The latest relevation puts to rest persistent rumors stemming from the disappearance of Kim’s portraits from prominent public venues in North Korea. (Full story)

I will print the nearly unedited correspondence between Rev. Douglas Shin and Dr. Vollertsen for you to add to your own mix of information. Clearly, however, the South Korean government is desperately worried that the nascent North Korean human rights movement has cost South Korea needed international support for its appeasement policy. It looks like that desperation has led them to the verge of what is either a colossal blunder or an ill-conceived bluff–banning Norbert Vollertsen from Korea. Here’s the...

(Sankei News Service) Unnamed sources in China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have confirmed that a single bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas in November 1963 has struck a third major political leader–North Korea’s Kim Jong Il. The latest relevation puts to rest persistent rumors stemming from the disappearance of Kim’s portraits from prominent public venues in North Korea. (Full story)

(Sankei News Service) Unnamed sources in China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have confirmed that a single bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas in November 1963 has struck a third major political leader–North Korea’s Kim Jong Il. The latest relevation puts to rest persistent rumors stemming from the disappearance of Kim’s portraits from prominent public venues in North Korea. (Full story)

An unnamed LiNK correspondent from Seoul sent me some, umm, links to press coverage of the human rights symposium. I will put these into the blender with other comments I’ve received. The Joongang Ilbo gave the meeting generally favorable coverage; the South Korean students, however, seem disinterested by all accounts, even LiNK’s. I also smirked a little at this quote from Park Il-Hwan, one of the good guys: “Students in Korea look at the North Korean situation differently from Korean...

I will print the nearly unedited correspondence between Rev. Douglas Shin and Dr. Vollertsen for you to add to your own mix of information. Clearly, however, the South Korean government is desperately worried that the nascent North Korean human rights movement has cost South Korea needed international support for its appeasement policy. It looks like that desperation has led them to the verge of what is either a colossal blunder or an ill-conceived bluff–banning Norbert Vollertsen from Korea. Here’s the...

An unnamed LiNK correspondent from Seoul sent me some, umm, links to press coverage of the human rights symposium. I will put these into the blender with other comments I’ve received. The Joongang Ilbo gave the meeting generally favorable coverage; the South Korean students, however, seem disinterested by all accounts, even LiNK’s. I also smirked a little at this quote from Park Il-Hwan, one of the good guys: “Students in Korea look at the North Korean situation differently from Korean...