Archive for April, 2004
Posted by Joshua Stanton on April 30, 2004 at 11:13 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
What brought me to this cause was my offense that that oxymoron called the “world community” abets genocide. Being an American soldier brought me to Korea, but I can’t deny that being Jewish played some role in bringing me to feel so strongly about it. Don’t Jews have a particular historical responsibility to act at a time like this? It’s especially true now that we have read David Hawk’s report on the concentration camps, the BBC reports on gas chambers, and Amnesty’s accusations of using food as weapon of political cleansing (see all of this and more here). Let me be clear–every American should care about this, and most who know the facts do. I have been deeply impressed by the compassion of so many Christians brought to this cause by their faith, and of a few key Jewish leaders like Rabbi Cooper and Michael Horowitz. Still, Jews must do more to lend their weight to issues like this one, lest they be seen as a group exclusively concerned about Israel. Concern for Israel should be a part of a greater principle, not our ultimate end. The earthly Messiah of a free world belongs to everyone.
If you are Jewish–or have friends who are–and find some truth in what I say here, then please leave a comment telling me how we can start recruiting this support. One way that occurs to me–we could show the BBC documentary “Access to Evil,” which exposed the North Korean gas chambers, in as many synagogues as possible.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on April 30, 2004 at 10:59 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Rebecca at NKZone was challenged on her estimate that 1,000 people were there. While I’d put the number closer to 500-700, there were clearly hundreds of people at the Capitol at the end of the march. Even a thousand people is not a large demonstration by Washington standards, but it’s significant in light of where the nascent movement for human rights in North Korea was a year ago–there wasn’t one.
The single most impressive factor was the youthfulness of the crowd (thanks to LiNK). Both old and young were there, but there were at least two under-30s for every over-50. The second was who they were–people with full-time jobs, students at the country’s best universities, people with businesses to run, in short, people who had other things to do, who don’t specialize in street theater, but showed up out of deep dedication. Every racial and ethnic group I can imagine was represented, as well as every side of the political spectrum. The speakers were Catholics, Protestants, and Jews. Another important fact is that people from all over the United States and worldwide met, exchanged ideas, and established connections that will make all of our efforts more effective and improve our coordination.
What we accomplished this year bodes well for next year, and every other year until we crush this nefarious regime and dump its pieces on the ash-heap of history.
Posted by joshua on April 30, 2004 at 6:13 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
What brought me to this cause was my offense that that oxymoron called the “world community” abets genocide. Being an American soldier brought me to Korea, but I can’t deny that being Jewish played some role in bringing me to feel so strongly about it. Don’t Jews have a particular historical responsibility to act at a time like this? It’s especially true now that we have read David Hawk’s report on the concentration camps, the BBC reports on gas chambers, and Amnesty’s accusations of using food as weapon of political cleansing (see all of this and more here). Let me be clear–every American should care about this, and most who know the facts do. I have been deeply impressed by the compassion of so many Christians brought to this cause by their faith, and of a few key Jewish leaders like Rabbi Cooper and Michael Horowitz. Still, Jews must do more to lend their weight to issues like this one, lest they be seen as a group exclusively concerned about Israel. Concern for Israel should be a part of a greater principle, not our ultimate end. The earthly Messiah of a free world belongs to everyone.
If you are Jewish–or have friends who are–and find some truth in what I say here, then please leave a comment telling me how we can start recruiting this support. One way that occurs to me–we could show the BBC documentary “Access to Evil,” which exposed the North Korean gas chambers, in as many synagogues as possible.
Posted by joshua on April 30, 2004 at 5:59 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Rebecca at NKZone was challenged on her estimate that 1,000 people were there. While I’d put the number closer to 500-700, there were clearly hundreds of people at the Capitol at the end of the march. Even a thousand people is not a large demonstration by Washington standards, but it’s significant in light of where the nascent movement for human rights in North Korea was a year ago–there wasn’t one.
The single most impressive factor was the youthfulness of the crowd (thanks to LiNK). Both old and young were there, but there were at least two under-30s for every over-50. The second was who they were–people with full-time jobs, students at the country’s best universities, people with businesses to run, in short, people who had other things to do, who don’t specialize in street theater, but showed up out of deep dedication. Every racial and ethnic group I can imagine was represented, as well as every side of the political spectrum. The speakers were Catholics, Protestants, and Jews. Another important fact is that people from all over the United States and worldwide met, exchanged ideas, and established connections that will make all of our efforts more effective and improve our coordination.
What we accomplished this year bodes well for next year, and every other year until we crush this nefarious regime and dump its pieces on the ash-heap of history.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on April 30, 2004 at 4:54 am · Filed under Uncategorized
I first heard this at the rally, but I had to see it to believe it.
North Korea is praising “heroes” in Ryongchon who ran into burning or collapsing buildings–not to save their wives and kids–but to save portraits of the Great Leader, Dear Leader, and Dogs Playing Pool (not really, but wouldn’t that be a better story?). First reaction: as if. Second reaction: even the North Korean people have to quaking with quiet fury when they feel the indignity of that kind of excrement thrown on their raw wounds.
Frankly, I’m convinced that the real effect of the North Korean regime on the people has been to squeeze every last drop of idealism out of them. Not even the people who write that kind of crap could take it seriously. Even taking fear into account, the fact that they’re willing to do it for a living proves my point.
Unification is going to be very, very rough. Seoul can’t stop talking about how expensive it will be. It will be, but the real barriers will be psychological.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on April 30, 2004 at 3:47 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Between all of the activities of this day, a full-time job, a family, and closing on a house, it’s been a very busy week. Yes, I was there. There were certainly hundreds of people there, maybe a thousand. I will plead exhaustion for now and just convey a few brief impressions:
1. In spite of 9/11, it’s still astonishingly easy to walk into a Senate office building and personally deliver your views to the most powerful people on earth.
2. Remember the name Adrian Hong. Adrian is just 20, and just a few weeks ago, he started building an organization called LiNK, Liberation in North Korea. Now he has chapters all over the country and brought several hundred students to the demonstration. It astonishes you that such a modest, approachable person can build such an organization that quickly. Thanks to Adrian, the faces in the crowd were overwhelmingly young.
3. No matter how hard I try, it’s just not physically possible for me to chant a slogan or wear one on a T-shirt, any more than I could, say, do backflips. Yet my cynical side leaves just enough room for me to admire those who can do those things for good reasons, and who had the conviction to be there.
4. I met a number of North Korean defectors, and simply put, they’re hard to understand. They have a frightened aloofness beaten into them by growing up in a fearful world. They make speak a language similar to South Korean, but their personalities are no more South Korean than Japanese, or Congolese. They are their own species of human being. The psychological barriers around them are like force fields. Not until this moment did it occur to me what struck me most about them–only once did I see even one of them smile, and this was clearly forced, though with the best of intentions. This was from the oldest of them, and like the rings of a tree, one can see that the younger North Koreans are physically smaller and more deeply hurt than their elders. Granted, it wasn’t a night at the operetta, but I have never seen people so deprived of the capacity for joy. I also sensed that the women among them possessed the preponderance of the strength. Soon Ok-Lee stands out among them all, notwithstanding Kang Chol-Hwan’s great accomplishments as a writer and journalist. Mrs. Lee is a small, frail woman, visibly scarred by her years in the camps, and yet she speaks with the quiet, dignified power of deep convictions.
5. There are still good people in South Korea. It was very encouraging to see that people like the NKNet members have precisely the same values as we do. Still, I sense more peril for their own country than they do. They remain optimistic that they can change public opinion at home. I wish I could agree. I have about given up on South Korea.
Now, our suspense is to see if we did any good. The North Korean Freedom Act is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Asia Subcommittee. Every letter could help make the difference.
Posted by joshua on April 29, 2004 at 11:54 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
I first heard this at the rally, but I had to see it to believe it.
North Korea is praising “heroes” in Ryongchon who ran into burning or collapsing buildings–not to save their wives and kids–but to save portraits of the Great Leader, Dear Leader, and Dogs Playing Pool (not really, but wouldn’t that be a better story?). First reaction: as if. Second reaction: even the North Korean people have to quaking with quiet fury when they feel the indignity of that kind of excrement thrown on their raw wounds.
Frankly, I’m convinced that the real effect of the North Korean regime on the people has been to squeeze every last drop of idealism out of them. Not even the people who write that kind of crap could take it seriously. Even taking fear into account, the fact that they’re willing to do it for a living proves my point.
Unification is going to be very, very rough. Seoul can’t stop talking about how expensive it will be. It will be, but the real barriers will be psychological.
Posted by joshua on April 29, 2004 at 11:54 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
I first heard this at the rally, but I had to see it to believe it.
North Korea is praising “heroes” in Ryongchon who ran into burning or collapsing buildings–not to save their wives and kids–but to save portraits of the Great Leader, Dear Leader, and Dogs Playing Pool (not really, but wouldn’t that be a better story?). First reaction: as if. Second reaction: even the North Korean people have to quaking with quiet fury when they feel the indignity of that kind of excrement thrown on their raw wounds.
Frankly, I’m convinced that the real effect of the North Korean regime on the people has been to squeeze every last drop of idealism out of them. Not even the people who write that kind of crap could take it seriously. Even taking fear into account, the fact that they’re willing to do it for a living proves my point.
Unification is going to be very, very rough. Seoul can’t stop talking about how expensive it will be. It will be, but the real barriers will be psychological.
Posted by joshua on April 29, 2004 at 10:47 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Between all of the activities of this day, a full-time job, a family, and closing on a house, it’s been a very busy week. Yes, I was there. There were certainly hundreds of people there, maybe a thousand. I will plead exhaustion for now and just convey a few brief impressions:
1. In spite of 9/11, it’s still astonishingly easy to walk into a Senate office building and personally deliver your views to the most powerful people on earth.
2. Remember the name Adrian Hong. Adrian is just 20, and just a few weeks ago, he started building an organization called LiNK, Liberation in North Korea. Now he has chapters all over the country and brought several hundred students to the demonstration. It astonishes you that such a modest, approachable person can build such an organization that quickly. Thanks to Adrian, the faces in the crowd were overwhelmingly young.
3. No matter how hard I try, it’s just not physically possible for me to chant a slogan or wear one on a T-shirt, any more than I could, say, do backflips. Yet my cynical side leaves just enough room for me to admire those who can do those things for good reasons, and who had the conviction to be there.
4. I met a number of North Korean defectors, and simply put, they’re hard to understand. They have a frightened aloofness beaten into them by growing up in a fearful world. They make speak a language similar to South Korean, but their personalities are no more South Korean than Japanese, or Congolese. They are their own species of human being. The psychological barriers around them are like force fields. Not until this moment did it occur to me what struck me most about them–only once did I see even one of them smile, and this was clearly forced, though with the best of intentions. This was from the oldest of them, and like the rings of a tree, one can see that the younger North Koreans are physically smaller and more deeply hurt than their elders. Granted, it wasn’t a night at the operetta, but I have never seen people so deprived of the capacity for joy. I also sensed that the women among them possessed the preponderance of the strength. Soon Ok-Lee stands out among them all, notwithstanding Kang Chol-Hwan’s great accomplishments as a writer and journalist. Mrs. Lee is a small, frail woman, visibly scarred by her years in the camps, and yet she speaks with the quiet, dignified power of deep convictions.
5. There are still good people in South Korea. It was very encouraging to see that people like the NKNet members have precisely the same values as we do. Still, I sense more peril for their own country than they do. They remain optimistic that they can change public opinion at home. I wish I could agree. I have about given up on South Korea.
Now, our suspense is to see if we did any good. The North Korean Freedom Act is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Asia Subcommittee. Every letter could help make the difference.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on April 26, 2004 at 4:54 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
At this moment, as you read this, young children in Ryongchon and Sinuiju are dying prolonged, agonized deaths. Their parents sit beside their kids in helplessness and despair, watching them die.
And what are their government’s leaders doing to respond to the crisis and ease their suffering? They’re all at the theater, watching creepy mass games. Meanwhile, truckloads of aid and busloads of doctors and nurses are blocked at the border. The risk of political infection is apparently a greater concern than scores of children dying of real ones.
This suffering is as unnecessary as the accident itself, and as preventable as the famine. In fact, it’s a microcosm of the famine itself. The only issue open to debate is whether the North Korean government actually wants them to die or simply doesn’t care.
Posted by joshua on April 26, 2004 at 11:54 am · Filed under Uncategorized
At this moment, as you read this, young children in Ryongchon and Sinuiju are dying prolonged, agonized deaths. Their parents sit beside their kids in helplessness and despair, watching them die.
And what are their government’s leaders doing to respond to the crisis and ease their suffering? They’re all at the theater, watching creepy mass games. Meanwhile, truckloads of aid and busloads of doctors and nurses are blocked at the border. The risk of political infection is apparently a greater concern than scores of children dying of real ones.
This suffering is as unnecessary as the accident itself, and as preventable as the famine. In fact, it’s a microcosm of the famine itself. The only issue open to debate is whether the North Korean government actually wants them to die or simply doesn’t care.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on April 26, 2004 at 11:50 am · Filed under Uncategorized
There is a link to a story on the NK rejection of South Korean aid here, which contains a slide show of photos of Ryongchon. Warning: this is heartbreaking stuff, including many horribly burned children, many of whom appear to have been blinded. What’s more, you have to know that the most critical hours for medical treatment may already have passed. In other words, the paranoia and heartlessness of the government means that the chance has already been lost to save the lives and eyesight of many of those kids.
Two photos struck me in particular. One shows a pile of schoolbags next to a schoolyard wall. No North Korean kid would have just dropped them there. Another is of the only well-dressed person in the entire slideshow. He is clearly a North Korean secret policeman, and he’s gesturing at the photographer to stop taking pictures. There is much to see in the details of these photographs.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on April 26, 2004 at 11:37 am · Filed under Uncategorized
The Beeb is reporting more about the official North Korean response to the Ryongchon disaster. Nothing shocking.
1. As thousands of children lie suffering–many of them blind–on metal file cabinets for lack of hospital beds, the North Koreans are refusing to allow international medical aid that might put the victims in contact with sympathetic foreigners. A disproportionate number of them are children. One must conclude that their suffering means nothing to their leaders; even South Korean aid–much of it raised in telethons–was rejected. Even I was a little surprised by this. After all, bandages and medicine don’t spread infectious ideas, do they?
2. The North Koreans are treating this like a hit and looking for someone to pin it on.
3. The Beebs suggests, as I have, that Kim Jong-Il’s visit and the extraordinary luxury and security he demands, threw the rail system into disarray and contributed to the cause of the accident. Once again, many suffer for the selfishness of one.
Posted by joshua on April 26, 2004 at 6:50 am · Filed under Uncategorized
There is a link to a story on the NK rejection of South Korean aid here, which contains a slide show of photos of Ryongchon. Warning: this is heartbreaking stuff, including many horribly burned children, many of whom appear to have been blinded. What’s more, you have to know that the most critical hours for medical treatment may already have passed. In other words, the paranoia and heartlessness of the government means that the chance has already been lost to save the lives and eyesight of many of those kids.
Two photos struck me in particular. One shows a pile of schoolbags next to a schoolyard wall. No North Korean kid would have just dropped them there. Another is of the only well-dressed person in the entire slideshow. He is clearly a North Korean secret policeman, and he’s gesturing at the photographer to stop taking pictures. There is much to see in the details of these photographs.
Posted by joshua on April 26, 2004 at 6:37 am · Filed under Uncategorized
The Beeb is reporting more about the official North Korean response to the Ryongchon disaster. Nothing shocking.
1. As thousands of children lie suffering–many of them blind–on metal file cabinets for lack of hospital beds, the North Koreans are refusing to allow international medical aid that might put the victims in contact with sympathetic foreigners. A disproportionate number of them are children. One must conclude that their suffering means nothing to their leaders; even South Korean aid–much of it raised in telethons–was rejected. Even I was a little surprised by this. After all, bandages and medicine don’t spread infectious ideas, do they?
2. The North Koreans are treating this like a hit and looking for someone to pin it on.
3. The Beebs suggests, as I have, that Kim Jong-Il’s visit and the extraordinary luxury and security he demands, threw the rail system into disarray and contributed to the cause of the accident. Once again, many suffer for the selfishness of one.
·
Next entries »