Archive for September, 2006
Posted by joshua on September 30, 2006 at 2:42 pm · Filed under An Alliance?, Anti-Americanism, U.S. Military, U.S. & Korea, The Fifth Column
Nothing really surprising here:
North Korea on Tuesday criticized the U.S. military for giving American names to certain areas in South Korea, arguing that it is part of a ploy to “permanently Americanize South Korea.”
Americanize South Korea? Perhaps you can be forgiven for suggesting that if you live in an oppressed, suffocated, isolated tyranny where reading up on current events can get you killed. Since we’re on the subject, where has the U.S. military given an American name to a place that isn’t a U.S. military installation? But here, I think, is the interesting part:
“This is a brazen-faced act aimed at infusing the idea of U.S. worship and U.S. phobia into the South Koreans in a bid to benumb their consciousness of national independence and permanently Americanize South Korea,” the North Side Headquarters of the Nationwide Special Committee for probing the Truth behind the GIs’ Crimes said in an article carried by the North’s official new agency, KCNA.
The headquarters is a North Korea branch of an inter-Korean organization tasked with delving into alleged civilian massacres by the U.S. military during the 1950-53 Korean War. The body was established by civic groups of the two Koreas in 2000.
Notice the benign, value-neutral, and mind-numbingly dishonest term: inter-Korean organization. As if anyone in North Korea, on his own initiative, just decides to form or join a political organization of any kind. It’s another excellent application for the term “unifiction,” any pretense of political unity that is in jarring disharmony with reality, as if using The Force will make it so. Do just a little research, and it’s apparent that this “inter-Korean organization” is a transparent pawn of the North Korean propaganda machine (see reports here, here, and here, repeating the long-discredited fabrication that the U.S. used bioweapons during the Korean War; exposed by the opening of the Soviet archives, per Jasper Becker’s “Rogue Regime.”).
In my testimony, I said that some crime by U.S. soldiers anywhere is a statistical certainty, and that those seeking to exploit every incident involving them will always find something to exploit, even if they have to make it up or provoke it themselves. I guess this info adds some context to their motives, and reveals much about the perspectives of “vigilante” groups that just happen to show up right at the moment — with cameras — when GI’s and Koreans commence brawling. Again, some GI’s make themselves easy targets when they act like drunk asshats, go to off-limits areas, or break curfew. Since expecting competent law enforcement from the Korean police would be asking too much, our commanders need to understand that plucking people like that off the streets and pulling their pass privileges is a SAEDA issue.
Korea needs to learn to distinguish between free speech and subversion by elements acting in concert with the enemy. These groups are not interested in justice, reform, or accountability for crime, all of which are legitimate motives. Their desired end state for these groups is unification under Kim Jong Il’s terms, and to that end, they will continue to take advantage of every crime or trespass. Should Korea be expected to ignore bad behavior by Americans? Not at all. Let Koreans who wish to do so say what they want, film what they want, and go where they want, but if they take their orders from the enemy in Pyongyang, then South Korea ought to be able to break that link, and if necessary, charge them with conspiracy.
That, in turn, requires South Korea to define the term “enemy,” because ultimately, it’s South Korea’s job to control the conduct of its own citizens, just as it’s ultimately our responsibility to control our own troops. If North Korea isn’t an enemy, then we are in a unilateral information war we won’t win, and the alliance is overdue for a drastic overhaul.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on September 30, 2006 at 12:05 am · Filed under Appeasement, Human Rights, Korean Law
[Updated] Kudos to the Bar Assocation for doing what the cowardly and politicized National Human Rights Commission won’t.
The report included testimony similar to that in papers issued by Amnesty International and other rights groups, describing forced abortions and infanticide in North Korea’s political prisons.
The bar association report was the first of its kind, although the group issues annual reports on human rights in the South. It was issued against a backdrop of criticism by rights activists of the nation’s official human rights group, which has declined to comment on issues in North Korea. The association interviewed 100 North Korean defectors who arrived here after 2000. The interviews were conducted from May to July; 64 of the 100 were women.
According to the report, 90 percent of the defectors interviewed said there was little in the way of legal rights or procedures for detainees. More than 80 percent said they had suffered torture in detention. The bar association said a convict’s personal background, such as family ties with the governing Workers’ Party, influenced the severity of punishments.
There’s much more at this Korea Times story (ht Richardson):
About 22 percent of them experienced or heard from others that the authorities do not allow suspects to sleep during investigation, while 21.1 percent said torture was widespread. Some 17 percent directly or indirectly experienced abusive language and sexual harassment during investigation, and 17.5 percent underwent investigation for more than two months without an arrest warrant.
The authorities usually informed suspects of the charges against them when they were being arrested, but arrest warrants are were rarely issued, the report said.
Prison inmates also usually suffer from torture and maltreatment, including abusive language, sexual harassment and beatings. Political offenders face compulsory labor 12-15 hours a day, according to the report.
Well, that’s odd, because I could have sworn that some of America’s finest legal scholars had concluded that North Korea was a model of procedural fairness:
We were struck by the design of the DPRK criminal justice system. We even found in a bookstore the Criminal Procedures Act of the DPRK in English [J: Found? This apparently struck no one as an obvious plant?]. Several principles seem quite progressive and reflect more of restorative justice, than retributive justice. The prime objective of the criminal justice system is rehabilitation or setting an example, not punishment. There is an element of the latter, as there are jail terms for crimes, but this is not the major thrust of their system. In fact, they have codified a process by which those affected by the decision or the conduct of the accused have a real role in the process and those that contributed to the delinquent act or were involved in educating the person (i.e. a parent or friend) have to be available in the process to receive a “lecture” from the court. Penalties include submitting the accused to “social” or “public education.” Those arrested are required to have their families notified within 48 hours. A defense counsel is to be provided to represent the rights of the accused.
We were told that there was no death penalty and that the maximum penalty for any crime is 12 years, with the objective being to try to determine why the person committed the crime and to help that person become a productive member of society. A lack of a death penalty was seen by the delegation as a sign of a civilized nation. There appear to be labor camps where people work out their sentences. No effort was made to hide the presence of these camps. The U.S. media’s recent reports on the poor conditions, high mortality rate and lack of proper care or food, in the camps requires further investigation. In light of the false and exaggerated claims about starvation in the country in general, these reports must be viewed with a grain of salt. We will ask to visit these camps on future delegations.We asked about the penalties for crimes against the state and whether there was a separate system for those crimes. There is not, but provisions are made for crimes that present a “social danger.” This seems consistent with a socialist society organized around the “common good,” but very general and could be subject to abuse. How it is applied remains to be discovered. However, the North Koreans we met with seemed professed to not understanding how someone would really formally challenge the decisions of the collective, as there is, according to them, an elaborate mechanisms for participation and input at various levels off society.
It appears we have reached what is known as “an impasse.” Either all of those North Koreans starved themselves to the bone and walked all the way through China to perpetrate this elaborate “grand deception” — their words — or the credibility of the Holocaust-denying Stalinists at the National Lawyers’ Guild has pretty much reached a new low, somewhere between Axis Sally and Walter Duranty. Which leads me to this:
Much is written about the alleged starvation, even referred to as intentional, of the North Korean people by their government. On our trips in the countryside, both north and south of Pyongyang, we covered nearly 500 kilometers. During that time we had the opportunity to see agricultural communities and small towns. We noticed that the people on the whole looked well dressed and active. We saw no one who looked malnourished or emaciated and our observations were confirmed by many of the foreigners we met who had dealings around the country.
Don’t miss the “singing anti-war songs in the orchards” vignette, or the deeply enlightening discussion on Juche, either.
We learned that under the Juche principle, a strong leader is necessary to guide the will of the collective as represented in the Workers Party and the Assembly. However, as discussed below, the North Koreans have an elaborate system from the shop or farm level up to receive input on key national issues. How well this is utilized is a project for further delegations, but to assert that there is no democratic participation, only top-down decisions, in the DPRK appears an exaggeration….
From all observations, in light of the survival of their nation under great pressure and great obstacles, it appears that there are many positives that are overlooked by the simplistic rhetorical bashing of the media. We can only conclude that the people we met appear to have genuine respect [!] for the insights and actions of the “Dear Leader” who is guiding their country. Yet, we questioned whether challenging him openly would result in prison or other penalty.
Do tell how.
From our own experiences in the U.S. or Canada, we have seen people in our own countries persecuted for their beliefs and opinions. We have watched while Muslims are attacked or detained without due process, teachers fired if they opposed the war and brutal attacks by police against those opposing the war in Iraq. Look at the reaction to Michael Moore as “disloyal” for calling the war fictitious and saying to President Bush “Shame on you, Mr. President.”
What, this Michael Moore? Yet again the Homeland Security goons are foiled; his Web site pops right up and poisons my fragile psyche with dangerous incitement to ”campaign” in “elections” to overthrow against our beseiged social order, which must be defended at any cost. How can the Bush Adminstration say that we are safer than we were five years ago when we still haven’t caught Michael Moore? (Pssst — FBI, look in Manhattan!)
Maybe you had to be there. For example, I don’t recall having seen Andrei Lankov so fired up. I took a few bites out of Eric Sirotkin myself, because I concluded that he is a despicable, fetid, mendacious disgrace to the profession, just as lawyers who actually advance the cause of civil and human rights are a credit to it. Naturally, Lankov nailed it:
PS I just wonder if Mr. Sirotkin will ever feel sorry. I assume not. It is what I love about intellectuals!
The KBA’s work, on the other hand, is actually based on first-hand reports of those who had sacrificed everything to speak freely. It’s work that badly needs to be done, and the KBA will earn itself a very good legacy this way. I wince a bit to say this now, but some of the Bar Association’s members haven’t really distinguished themselves lately, considering their feud with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court over legal reform. Some members’ shennanigans, including impeachment talk, were a threat to the independence of the judiciary, and they were also flat-wrong on substance — specifically, the awfulness, incompetence, and dishonesty of Korean police reports and the danger of relying on hearsay.
Posted by joshua on September 29, 2006 at 11:48 pm · Filed under Uncategorized, "United" Nations
If it’s still possible, that is. Add corruption to the list of U.N.’s fatal flaws and despotic tendencies, of which Ban Ki Moon is already an accomplished practitioner.
The Times said Friday the Korean government “has pledged millions of dollars in aid and offered other incentives to members of the United Nations Security Council to secure its candidate as the next UN secretary-general.” Under the sardonic headline, “Millions of dollars and a piano may put Korean in UN’s top job” and the subtitle “Aid campaign is crucial in race to succeed Kofi Annan,” the day’s top story in the paper’s online edition broadly hints that the Korean government may be using means other than Ban’s impeccable credentials to ensure he gets the job.
Well! I am shocked, shocked to see such behavior at the United Nations, especially from a protege of Korea’s most distinguished Nobel Laureate.
As examples of “aid diplomacy,” the newspaper cites Korea’s tripling of its aid budget for African countries to US$100 million in February, the tens of thousands of pounds it contributed to sponsoring this year’s African Union summit in the Gambia in July, and its donation of $180 million for an education program in Tanzania, a temporary member of the UN Security Council.
The Foreign Ministry denied the two issues are linked.
Whatever you say.
Posted by joshua on September 29, 2006 at 11:31 pm · Filed under Censorship, Democracy, The Fifth Column
Now, they’re intimidating the opposition press:
Chosun Ilbo honorary chairman Bang Woo-young (78) was attacked by two men in broad daylight on his way home from the family graveyard in Uijeongbu. After an event commemorating the 22nd anniversary of the death of former Chosun Ilbo president Bang Eung-mo on Friday, his car stopped to enter a two-lane road ahead and two men in their 20s approached it and smashed the rear window with bricks.
S’pose there will be any arrests? S’pose not. You can chalk the absence of a serious investigation up to vicarious censorship. True, the Korean National Police are drooling incompetents, but incompetent police should be retrained or fired. There is no excuse for anyone to get away with this sort of thing. The people who did this should be pursued with diligence, and anyone who ordered them to do it should be exposed and prosecuted.
Posted by joshua on September 29, 2006 at 8:58 pm · Filed under An Alliance?, U.S. Military, U.S. & Korea
The end of the Eighth U.S. Army in Korea comes as no surprise to me; the rumors are not new, and this is easy to downplay as “restructuring.” With less than one complete U.S. infantry division left in Korea, it’s hard to call it EUSA a true Army-level command, but the symbolic value of its removal would be very significant. I suspect it will also mean that the USFK’s new commander will be a three-star.
Posted by joshua on September 29, 2006 at 8:50 pm · Filed under Uncategorized, Washington Views
“As a matter of fact, the average Washington memoir ought to be subtitled ‘If only they listened to me….’”
– Tony Snow
Posted by joshua on September 29, 2006 at 9:23 am · Filed under Uncategorized
There will be a press conference this morning at 10 a.m. at the National Press Club. I wish I had more lead time for you, but I don’t.
I also had a chance to glance at the translated script. It isn’t perfect, but its pretty good, considering that all of the script appears to have finalized long before any of us starting asking about it. I also got to meet some of the cast last night; an impressive group.\
It doesn’t look like President or Mrs. Bush will be there, which on further reflection is probably not that bad a development. Yes, they would attract a lot of attention, but that would include a lot of the wrong kind, and give the event a more partisan tone.
Posted by joshua on September 28, 2006 at 3:32 pm · Filed under Diplomacy
“Ambassador” Han Song-Ryol of “Bastardgate” fame is packing his bags after being recalled to the Land of Edible Grasses. Han was once the opposite number of Amb. Joe DiTrani in the “New York Channel.”
Gee, such a nice guy, too. Sure do hope everything works out for him in Camp 15 his future career plans.
Posted by joshua on September 28, 2006 at 3:15 pm · Filed under Refugees, Southeast Asia
[Update: Grant Montgomery has more on the underground railroad’s recent activities. ]
Twenty of them have arrived in South Korea. Of the remainder, most are still mulling over whether to ask for asylum in the United States or South Korea.
Posted by joshua on September 28, 2006 at 3:13 pm · Filed under Counterfeiting, Money Laundering
Officials in Greece nabbed a North Korean freight vessel that was carrying 1.5 million cartons of contraband cigarettes and arrested the seven seamen aboard, it was announced Monday. [link]
Let’s hope there’s a trial, and that this one won’t be a goose egg like the Pong Su case was. Whether the Aegean could use another artificial reef, I leave to the Greeks, but Greece is always happy to do the exact opposite of what America asks.
The Greek Merchant Marine Ministry said the vessel was discovered about 11 km southwest of the Katakolo port on the Peloponnesus Peninsula in southern Greece, and all of the cargo looked bound for that country. The Evva is currently anchored at the Katakolo port. Greece has uncovered 4 million cartons of contraband cigarettes at sea so far this year, of which 3 million were aboard North Korean vessels.
Stuart Levey recently stated that counterfeit cigarettes are the North’s largest source of income.
Posted by joshua on September 28, 2006 at 2:53 pm · Filed under Diplomacy, U.S. & Korea
President Roh Moo-hyun said Thursday that South Korea had sounded Pyongyang out on the joint comprehensive approach to the stalled six-party talks prior to his recent summit with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington.
Really, I don’t quibble with him floating his trial balloon to the North Koreans. It’s the sequence of it that speaks volumes. While we’re dumping on the South Korean government, don’t miss another fairly shocking example that Jeffery turned up:
In the early stage of the Korean War, the Korean Peninsula was nearly unified by the North Korea-China-Russia alliance. But the U.N. forces, led by the United States, which knew that the security of Japan could not be secured within U.S. domain, took part in the war and hindered the unification.
One thing I don’t do is to make an epithet of the word “liberal,” which I like to define as a philosphy that seeks a more open and tolerant society. There’s nothing liberal about pining for unification under tyranny, and if Kang Man-Kil envies that, he can always just defect without bringing 50 million other South Koreans along. It’s astonishing — even to me — how quickly the Kang Jeong-Koo world view is gaining currency with some South Koreans, even those charged with setting up South Korea’s own songbun system.
Posted by joshua on September 28, 2006 at 10:56 am · Filed under An Alliance?, U.S. & Korea, "United" Nations
“Sometimes I may look like a weak, soft leadership,” Ban said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press. “You may look at me as a soft person, but I have inner strength. This is what normally people from the outside world would have some difficulty in seeing — people from Asia particularly, when we regard humility, a humbleness, as a very important virtue.”
Ban spoke to reporters after being reached at a Manhattan salon, where he was receiving a pedicure, facial, exfoliation, and pore-cleansing treatment.
It came up at yesterday’s hearing, too. Rep. Tancredo spoke of Ban’s “pro-Chinese” orientation, which also sounds about right to me. I think Ban is an awful choice, and I hope there’s still time to stop him. On the other hand, if you think the U.N. ought to go stick to vaccinations, Ban is your man. Institutions like NATO and the Proliferation Security Initiative are already taking over the “adult” business of international security, and the U.N. will become a ghetto for the likes of Hugo Chavez.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on September 27, 2006 at 11:27 pm · Filed under An Alliance?, Anti-Americanism, Washington Views, U.S. & Korea
[Update: For some strange reason, the document was coming up as a previous, incomplete draft. Sorry for any who saw that one; you should be able to see the final version now.]
[Update 1/2007: The complete hearing transcript is now online, including my verbal testimony, written statement, and photographic exhibits, at pages 59-94 (pdf). Other witnesses that day were Amb. Chris Hill, Undersecretary of Defense Richard Lawless, and Korea experts Balbina Hwang and Gordon Flake.]
Well, I can’t thank Rep. Henry Hyde’s staff enough for believing that a fire-eater with high-speed internet access qualifies as an expert competent to testify before a committee of Congress. You have to know that all is not well in the alliance when that can happen, although I really don’t know who’s pretending that all is well these days. My testimony mainly covered anti-Americanism, SOFA and criminal jurisdiction stuff, and those pictures that I will keep flogging until there’s no longer a reason to do so. I guess some bombs need to be thrown (here’s an extra reminder to read our disclaimer). Here’s my statement, which is part of the hearing record. I spent four days writing it, so I sure hope someone reads it.
testimony-2.doc
My observations, below:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by joshua on September 26, 2006 at 11:40 am · Filed under Blogs & Blogging
To the person(s) who nominated TKL for best Asia group blog. Looking at the list of nominees, I’m sure I speak for James and Richardson when I express my appreciation for being in such excellent company.
Posted by joshua on September 26, 2006 at 7:31 am · Filed under An Alliance?, U.S. Military, U.S. & Korea
Ordinarily, allies shouldn’t have to issue ultimata to each other, but in this case, it got results when nothing else did. In a few days, you can expect to see the Roh Administration use this to play the han card for political gain and depict themselves as helpless victims of Yankee bullying. We’ve gained a range, and Roh will gain a moment’s sympathy, but the alliance’s long-term political support will suffer.
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