Archive for October, 2006
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 31, 2006 at 3:52 pm · Filed under Korean Politics, The Fifth Column
I know I speak for everyone when I say just how thankful I am that the Democratic Labor Party’s head defied the wishes of the National Intelligence Service and the Ministry of Justice (both overruled by the UniFiction Ministry) to go to Pyongyang while his party’s leadership is under investigation for spying for North Korea. True to the DLP’s promise, the North Koreans have put the issue to rest. They call it “false and a scheme of the U.S. and pro-U.S. factions.” In the very next sentence, they quote Min Hwa Hyop, their version of a Unification Ministry:
This spy scandal is a very old-fashioned scheme, and the South Korean government uses spy scandals whenever they have political crises.”
That is actually true. The problem with applying that theory here is that this investigation, still in its very early stages, has already been enough of an embarrassment to the ruling party that its hidden hand isn’t likely to be behind this. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 31, 2006 at 3:49 pm · Filed under Six-Party Talks, China & Korea, Diplomacy, Counterfeiting, Money Laundering
[Update: According to this Korean language link, the South Koreans were the last of the six parties to know that the talks would begin again. You’d think that after getting seven billion dollars from South Korean taxpayers, they’d have enough left over to afford a phone call. I guess they spent it somewhere else.]
News coming off the wires claims that the North Koreans have agreed to return to six-party talks.
Chinese, U.S. and North Korean envoys to the negotiations held a day of unpublicized talks in Beijing during which North Korea agreed to return to the larger six-nation talks on its nuclear programs, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
“The three parties agreed to resume the six-party talks at the earliest convenient time,” the Chinese statement said.
President Bush welcomed the agreement. “I am pleased and I want to thank the Chinese,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office.
Although it should be obvious by now that the North Koreans will never agree to complete and verifiable disarmament, you can already detect a hint of triumphalism from the State Department. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 30, 2006 at 11:29 pm · Filed under Human Rights, Europe, "United" Nations
The authors, Vaclav Havel, Elie Wiesel, and former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik have co-authored a powerful argument for confronting Kim Jong Il’s atrocities against the North Korean people, which they call “one of the most egregious human-rights and humanitarian disasters in the world today.” They also call for a ”renewed international effort to ameliorate the crisis facing the country’s citizens:”
For more than a decade, many in the international community have argued that to focus on the suffering of the North Korean people would risk driving the country away from discussions over its nuclear program.
But with his recent actions, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-il, has shown that this approach neither stopped the development of his nuclear program nor helped North Koreans.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 30, 2006 at 12:33 pm · Filed under Korean Politics, Diplomacy, U.S. & Korea
After the local elections, I had blogged about the rift in the Uri Party about merging with other parties on the left. In the wake of Uri’s beating in the last round of elections, it’s painfully obvious that the left is weak and fragmented and only stands a chance if it unites. Note, for example, how Uri can’t win in South Jeolla province because other lef-wing parties win instead. In that spirit, a former Justice Minister and Uri founder has called for a grand alliance of the left. Superficially, it makes perfect sense for them, and the Chosun Ilbo thinks the proposal is “picking up steam.”
Beneath the electoral calculus, however, there are some real obstacles to this. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 30, 2006 at 12:02 pm · Filed under Inside NK, Famine & Food Aid
Several days ago, a well-informed contact asked me whether I had heard rumors of a new disease spreading rapidly in northeastern North Korea, in the vicinity of Camp 22. I hadn’t. The rumor — I emphasize it was unverified and described to me as such — was that this was a made-in-the-lab germ that had spread from one of the concentration camps in the vicinity to the population on the outside. It all sounded a bit conspiratorial to me, until I read this from the Daily NK, which may be the only media source with multiple sources inside North Korea:
A number of sources in North Korea told the Daily NK on Wednesday about an epidemic spread along the northern border area of NK including Hyesan, Bochun and Baek-am counties, all in Ryanggang Province. The area was closed and quarantined.
An anonymous former defector in Seoul reported, based on a telephone conversation on Wednesday with her family living in Hyesan, because of a spread of scarlet fever, transportation around the region was interrupted.
Break out of scarlet fever in that area was, reportedly, the first time since 1945.
And “residents of Hyesan do not possess any medical knowledge about the disease,” the informant continued.
In response, says the Daily NK, the North Koreans closed the border, stopped issuing travel permits, and halted rail traffic in the region. I’m not sure that the border closings would be noticeable amid a general tightening of Chinese border security now, but if this is true, and if the outbreak crosses into China, the news would be impossible to contain. It would also represent yet another reason for China to want to rid itself of Kim Jong Il’s regime. It would also justify calls for the North Korean regime to admit World Health Organization personnel to identify and contain the outbreak (which the regime would never do, of course).
Here is the wiki page on scarlet fever.
This differs from the rumor I heard in only one regard — I heard the name of another, much more dreaded disease. I emphasize: this one needs more detail and more verification.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 30, 2006 at 11:46 am · Filed under Korean Politics, The Fifth Column
The Chosun Ilbo spoke with Kim Seong-Kew, who just resigned as Chief of the National Intelligence Service. Read this and see what you make of it:
Asked who will succeed him, Kim told the Chosun Ilbo it was “very important” who becomes the next NIS chief. “Some of the candidates are unsuitable due to concerns that they tend to do what [politicians] want them to do. Considering the presidential election next year and the operations of the NIS, the right candidate would be politically neutral and have a global view and knowledge,” he said.
Kim would neither confirm nor deny that he was directly or indirectly pressured over the investigation by other former student activists of the so-called 386 generation now in influential positions. “I don’t care,” he said. “The investigation of North Korean spies will continue until the truth is found, and everyone [in the NIS] will work hard to do that even if it costs them their job, regardless of my resignation.” He said “everyone” in the agency was conducting the probe with “a strong sense of patriotism and is working to improve our nation’s security by arresting North Korean spies.” The remarks hint at discord either between the NIS and some politicians or within the NIS over the investigation. The NIS chief tendered his resignation to President Roh Moo-hyun on Thursday, when news of the spy scandal broke, reportedly saying he did not “want to be a burden” in the planned reshuffle of the foreign and security lineup.
I would be very interested in seeing just how far this one goes.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 30, 2006 at 11:37 am · Filed under Geopolitics, Appeasement, Washington Views
Eric Sayers of the Center for Security Policy has produced a very interesting paper called “Contain and Transcend: A Strategy for Regime Change in North Korea.” Eric doesn’t think we can or should actually promote democracy or encourage dissent inside North Korea — I think we can and should – but he gets the essential formula right: starve the regime, reach out to the people. This one is a must-read think piece. Eric also keeps a fine blog, The Neo-Reaganite.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 30, 2006 at 11:34 am · Filed under Uncategorized
A second North Korean ship has been inspected in Hong Kong, but there aren’t many details.
The officials from the Hong Kong Customs and Marine Department said the North Korean vessel, Kang Nam 5, has been barred from leaving the port after its inspectors found about a dozen safety violations Thursday. Details of the suspected violations were not available.
Another vessel, the Ponghwasan, apparently was not stopped or inspected, despite fears that it carries banned cargoes.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 30, 2006 at 11:33 am · Filed under NK Economics
Foreign capital continues to flee South Korea, and this time, the trend is far more pronounced than the last time I’d blogged about it.
Foreign investors’ exit from South Korea is accelerating amid worries over a worsening business climate here and the economy’s falling growth potential, the central bank said Sunday.
According to the Bank of Korea, foreign direct investment in Asia’s fourth-largest economy reached a mere US$790 million in the first nine months of this year, about one-fourth of the $3.42 billion during the same period a year earlier.
Foreign direct investment tumbled to $4.34 billion in 2005 from $9.25 billion the previous year.
“It is true that foreigners are withdrawing their investments in South Korea,” a central bank official said. “They seem to be worried about the worsening of the domestic business climate and the weakening potential of economic growth.”
The South Korean economy is expected to grow around 5 percent this year, but its growth rate is widely forecast to be in the low 4 percent range next year due to sluggish private spending and a global economic slowdown.
Hmmm. Not to be impudent, but would I be out of line to mention that large pink elephant standing across from all of you? Worse, South Korean companies are bailing, too. They’re increasingly investing overseas, rising from $3.32 billion to $4.97 billion compared to the same period last year.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 29, 2006 at 5:37 pm · Filed under Appeasement, Korean Society, The Fifth Column
[Previous posts on the Il Shim Hue Fifth Column scandal here. So far, the NIS has accused the ring of controlling violent anti-American protests, trying to infiltrate civic groups, controlling senior officials of the Democratic Labor Party, and trying to manipulate the Seoul mayoral election.]
As bad timing goes, it’s one for the books. The far-left minor opposition Democratic Labor Party’s leaders had planned their visit to Pyongyang some time ago, before they realized that their party would be at the center of a growing scandal over a North Korean spy ring. Confoundingly enough, they decided to go right ahead with the visit, but couldn’t exactly ignore the scandal, either. How to deal? Note: the following is not, I repeat not, a parody:
The Democratic Labor said, “As for the suspicions of spying, we will speak directly to the North to verify or disprove them.” The Democratic Labor Party will ask about the ”386 spy scandal” when its leaders visit North Korea between October 30th and November 4th.
The DLP said, “Kim Jong Il already promised not to spy on us at the 2000 meeting with Kim Dae Jung. So they will check this and find out what the real story about this spy scandal is.”
That ought to get to the bottom of things … especially if the North Koreans show them their signatures on the cancelled checks (drawn on a Banco Delta account, naturally). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 29, 2006 at 1:54 pm · Filed under Technology, WMD, U.S. Military
The system, mounted in a modified 747, is designed to track missiles in their boost phase. Although it won’t be ready for test firing at a missile until 2008, it should be operational by the end of the decade. And it looks cool.
In a ceremony at the Boeing Co.’s Integrated Defense Systems facility in Wichita, the agency announced it was ready to flight test some of the low-power systems on the ABL aircraft, a modified Boeing 747-400F designed to destroy enemy missiles.
Lt. Gen. Henry “Trey” Obering III, director of the Missile Defense Agency, said he embraced early critics’ comparison of the laser-equipped plane to the Star Wars movies.
“I believe we are building the forces of good to beat the forces of evil. … We are taking a major step in giving the American people their first light saber,” Obering told dignitaries and employees gathered for the ceremony.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 29, 2006 at 1:54 pm · Filed under Famine & Food Aid, Human Rights, "United" Nations
Human Rights Without Frontiers forwards this report on human rights in North Korea from the U.N. General Assembly (north_korea_u1_2006.pdf). On the surface, it’s slathered with diplo-lard, but wipe that off and you can see some fairly strong language.
In addition, it cannot be overstated that the excessive expenditure by the authorities on its defence sector based upon the country’s “military-first” policy causes serious distortions in the national budget and its use of national resources; it is a key impediment to the country’s development process as well as the rights to food and life and other rights.
It also favorably cites a Human Rights Watch report, accusing the regime of food discrimination, although making a comment of its own might have been just too much for the U.N. It might also prove edifying to the fellow travelers of the National Lawyers’ Guild, more so if folded inside a gelatin capsule and administered as a suppository. And, there are things we’ve heard a thousand times about massive concentration camps and oppression like nowhere else on earth.
Yet North Korea continues to be a member of the General Assembly in good standing. How odd.
At the same time, a new report from Reuters warns that those conditions may worsen this year:
U.S. activist Adrian Hong, whose group Liberty in North Korea helps refugees gain asylum in Western countries, said a recent tour of the region left him “very worried at the moment for the people we have in our shelters.”
China has stepped up security on its border with North Korea, a move that may have represented compliance with U.N. sanctions on illicit weapons trade. But Hong said China was also fencing part of the border in a sign it might be trying to “eliminate the refugee problem by stopping refugees entirely.”
“Once those fences go up and this winter gets difficult, more people are going to try to leave,” said Hong, who talked with recent refugees in China last week and said all relayed accounts of hunger and malnutrition.
Marcus Noland, a scholar at the Institute for International Economics in Washington, said low grain output this year due to floods, appears to reflect hoarding by farmers after the state seized crops last year.
“In certain areas, it’s clear the government just sent the army in to take grain,” said Noland.
History and the political structure of North Korea suggests the army will pass the pain of sanctions on to the population.
“The military is going to get the resources it needs and ultimately the burden of these sanctions is going to be felt by common people,” said Noland.
Justifiable donor fatigue is also a problem. With North Korea refusing to meet basic standards of transparency, donor nations have only contributed 10% of what the WFP has asked for this year.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 29, 2006 at 1:54 pm · Filed under Geopolitics, Japan & Korea, Japan
The Weekly Standard had a very interesting piece last week about Japan’s “quiet revolution” in military policy. Thanks to North Korea (and probably as a result of China’s unilateral arms race, too) Japan is rearming. There are several obstacle to this, and the Abe government is moving to overcome all of them. First is Japan’s own pacifist streak; that ended in 1988 when North Korea shot a Taepondong over Honshu. Second is Japan’s constitution, specifically Article 9’s renunciation of war. The Standard piece explains that this had previously been interpreted to prohibit collective self-defense with allies, such as the United States, and for even such defensive purposes as missile defense. Shinzo Abe is moving beyond that outdated interpretation.
Third, Japan’s neighbors see Japan’s failure to reconcile its rearmament with how things worked out the last time it armed itself. Japan is held to a high burden to prove that it understands the responsible uses of power. In fact, Japan is a democratic society that could not muster popular support for wars of conquest, but that is irrelevant to those in China and South Korea who would exploit legitimate grievances for cynical interests in keeping Japan disarmed. Japan is now showing signs of moving beyond those issues, too.
An internal debate is under way in Japan to transform a controversial shrine, a target of fierce opposition from neighboring countries, a deputy Japanese foreign ministry spokesman said here Friday. Tomohiko Taniguchi, speaking at the Brookings Institution, said his government would welcome the revival of high-level tripartite consultations with Seoul, Tokyo and Washington.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso had suggested in May that the Yasukuni Shrine be “secularized,” enabling the government to remove the class-A war criminals honored at the shrine. The principle of separation of church and state prevents the Japanese government from making such a request, but changing the shrine into a non-religious entity would make it possible without controversy.
….
“That now is the time for the shrine to turn itself around seems to have resonated widely among the congregation and a group of politicians,” Taniguchi said. “The point that Minister Aso is making as a politician is that Yasukuni has to change if Yasukuni wants to survive in the 21st century,” he said.
“One should hope that the debate is going to produce a result with which Yasukuni can change itself.”
The spokesman said “comradeship” has grown among Japan, South Korea and the United States, giving hopes that tripartite consultations could be institutionalized.
The comments of the Japanese official tie this welcome development to diffusing hostility with South Korea, Japan’s natural ally against a hegemonic China and a menacing North Korea. Japan’s older generation, which had demanded the honoring of the war criminals, is dying off. Newer generations, though certainly not fully conscious of their country’s history, are moving beyond the banzai spirit. A strong and free Japan is a development we should welcome, particularly if Japan demonstrates that its new values are far better than its old ones.
It’s a start, at least. I hope secularization will mean updating plaques like these at adjacent the Yasukuni Museum.
Top pic from Reuters: Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) destroyer Kurama (L) leads the MSDF fleet during a rehearsal ahead of next Sunday’s naval fleet review, at Sagami Bay off Yokohama October 22, 2006. Japan plans to monitor ships heading to North Korea in waters off its western and southern coasts following the U.N. resolution to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear test. Second pic: from the Yasukuni Web site.
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 28, 2006 at 6:07 pm · Filed under Korean Politics, Anti-Americanism, WMD, The Fifth Column
[Previous posts on the Il Shim Hue cell here, here, and here]
A new report, not yet available in English, claims that North Korea used the Fifth Columnists of the “Il Shim Hue” to help the ruling leftist Uri Party in local elections last May. The report, based on leaks from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, claims that North Korea used Il Shim Hue (rough translation: The One-Minded Hundred) to direct the Democratic Labor Party throw its votes and support to the Uri Party to prevent the GNP candidate, Oh Se Hoon, from winning. Oh won, defeating Uri Justice Minister Kang Kum-Sil.
North Korea also directed Il Shim Hue to assemble detailed dossiers on South Korean politics: politicians, civic groups, issues, parties, you name it. One particular issue that concerned them was how South Koreans reacted to North Korea’s recent nuke test. The NIS claims that Il Shim Hue members canvassed popular sentiment about the test throughout South Korean society. Recent polls show a substantial minority (but thankfully, still a minority) blamed America for North Korea’s nuke test, something the ruling party eagerly latched onto.
Another huge shocker: North Korea had plans to infiltrate environmental groups to use them to inspire more anti-American sentiment. You may recall the recent South Korean film, “The Host,“ a monster flick loosely based on a 2000 incident in which a civilian mortician on a U.S. Army post dumped a small amount of highly dilute formaldeyde into the Han River. The incident became a huge story in the South, and “The Host” inspired some icky and unhinged anti-American comments from one ruling party legislator, which neither the legislator nor his party have retracted, to my knowledge.
As represented by USFK’s illegal release of formaldehyde into the Han River, the tragedy on the Korean Peninsula began with the unclean sperm of the United States fertilizing the egg of the Han River. The monster’s outrages and its eating of people shows the similar tyranny displayed by the United States toward the Korean Peninsula.
The NIS says it recovered CD’s and other electronic files, in code, which documented all of this. The files reportedly contained lists of members and logs of their pro-North activities. One of the files, found in a member’s car, would seem to resolve any questions about where the Il Shim Hue’s loyalties lay:
We young warriors celebrate the health of our 21st Century young Great Leader Kim Jong Il, and swear our loyalty to him! Following the example of our Great Leader’s great history, we will follow the North Korean way of socialism and juche and demolish the National Security Law. We will strive to the utmost for them!
All of this is based solely on the NIS side of the story, of course. The possessor of that particular file claims he simply downloaded it off the Internet. The suspects all denied everything before invoking their rights to remain silent. All deny having ever heard of Il Shim Hue. Their lawyers admit that their clients had traveled to China, but deny that they had met Agent Kim or Agent Yu from North Korea’s Foreign Intelligence Service at a safehouse in China, where they allegedly received their training.
Although the report claims that the suspects all denied everything and lawyered up, the lawyers say their clients were forced to incriminate themselves. In fact, the Korean police do use highly coercive methods, but those tend not to work as well against people who obviously had their stories and their legal rights worked out in advance. And trust me on this, as one who has represented hundreds of criminal suspects: multiple accused never all tell the same story and lawyer up unless they have a very well-rehearsed game plan. It’s an exceptionally rare and wise client who lawyers up, and since Korean cops don’t give rights warnings, that’s even more true in Korea.
The real question that this raises: if North Korea can infiltrate the South, why aren’t we infiltrating the North?
Posted by Joshua Stanton on October 28, 2006 at 4:41 am · Filed under An Alliance?, Anti-Americanism, U.S. Military, U.S. & Korea, The Fifth Column
[Update: Welcome Gateway Pundit readers; this story is developing rapidly, and now, there’s new evidence that the North Koreans tried to help the ruling leftist Uri Party win the Seoul mayor’s race last May. Plus, more evidence of a North Korean hand in fanning anti-Americanism in the South.]
A widening spy scandal surrounding several senior members of the leftist Democratic Labor Party and a U.S. citizen may have led to the resignation of the head of the National Intelligence Service yesterday. Now, evidence has emerged of a direct link between Pyongyang’s agents in the South and the violent anti-American protests at Camp Humphreys last May (I served at Humphreys six years ago). As I will explain below, that also makes at least an indirect link to some members of the Uri Party.
The protests were organized and led by an organization calling itself “the Pan-National Committee to Deter the Expansion of U.S. Bases.” The Committee frequently mobilized thousands of violent protestors, many armed with bamboo poles and iron pipes. The protests resulted in hundreds of arrests and injuries, including serious injuries. The three groups that played the most important role in those protests were South Korea’s largest labor organization, the pro-North and violent Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the fiercely radical Korean Federation of University Student Councils or Hanchongryon, and the Democratic Labor Party (DLP).
What role did the DLP suspects play?
The [Democratic Labor Party] vice secretary general [Choi Ki-young] has reportedly taken a leading role in pro-North Korean activities. He played a key part in organizing protests against the move of U.S. Forces Korea headquarters to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province and was also involved in demonstrations condemning the government’s support for the UN resolution sanctioning North Korea in the wake of its nuclear test. Party sources said Choi showed more interest in issues like the abolition of the National Security Law and anti-American protests in Pyeongtaek than questions of public welfare. He also participated in candle light vigils over the killing of two middle school girls by a U.S. Army vehicle some years ago.
Lee Jung-hun also leaned toward a pro-North Korean ideology of national liberation when he was a member of the DLP’s central committee. National liberation, along with proletarian democracy, was one of the two major ideological strands among student activists in the 1980s. Since former student activists of the national liberation faction reportedly took a more active part in protests against free trade talks with the U.S. and the move of the USFK base, there is speculation linking the espionage scandal to the organized anti-American movement.
Who else played a key role in organizing those protests? Set your wayback machine for last May, and examine the roles of two men in particular. The first, Father Moon Jeong-Hyun, was a leader of the Committee, and possibly a co-Chairman; prosecutors nearly issued an arrest warrant for him because of the protests’ violence. This excellent article described Moon’s role:
A firebrand Catholic priest leads daily slogan-shouting protests at the epicenter of the worst standoff in nearly four years between South Korean forces and an array of student groups and labor organizations.
The priest, Moon Jeong-hyun, 69, returned here less than a week after holding out for most of a day on the roof of the school building with nine other priests and two National Assembly members defying the riot police, who drove the activists from the building, some of them kicking and screaming.
A distinctive figure with a flowing beard, often seen holding a video camera as he records prayer meetings and confrontations, Moon and his cohorts were promised they would not be arrested before descending down a ladder from the roof on May 4.
Moon has lived in the village for the past two years, making it the center of the same anti-US struggle that he led during enormous protests in Seoul after the deaths of two schoolgirls, run over by a 50-ton US armored vehicle during military exercises nearly four years ago.
“Pray for this land,” Moon preaches to the villagers. “You have prospered on this land. Pray for your homes. You have built these homes. The land is yours. Your prayers will protect you.”
Now Moon is protected by activists manning checkpoints at entrances to the village within shouting distance of police blocking off narrow paved roads across the rice paddies into the village, on the western fringe of the bustling town of Pyongtaek, on the main railroad to Seoul.
The activists carry banners, not weapons, but they’re clearly ready to battle any attempt by police to enter the village.
Now, the really curious part.
Some wonder if the South’s governing Uri Party is actually encouraging the standoff in which an assembly member from the party, Im Jung-in, is playing a leading role.
Im was up on the roof with the priests before they all came down on May 4 - and has appeared again at rallies in the village. He talks frequently on his mobile phone with party officials, and his presence in the village symbolizes support for the farmers and activists in the government.
I don’t know that Im was involved with the North Koreans, but he was clearly doing everything he could to cover for others who, with or without Im’s knowledge, were. Im appears to have insured that Moon wouldn’t be arrested for his role in the violent protests. He also joined with five other Uri parliamentarians to demand the withdrawal of riot police in the face of the violent protests:
Meanwhile, six lawmakers from the ruling Uri Party released a statement calling for the withdrawal of riot police from the Pyeongtaek site. “The presence of soldiers and riot police there resulted in unnecessary conflict and misunderstanding with the locals,” they said. “To minimize that, the government needs to withdraw them.” The six are Woo Won-shik, You Seung-Hee, Lee In-young, Im Jong-in, Jung Chung-rae and Choi Jae-cheon.
Im even joined the DLP recently in calling on the government to abolish the National Intelligence Service’s authority to investigate violations of the National Security Law (via the DLP Web site). Im, in other words, was a close collaborator with the senior leadership of a committee whose membership included suspected North Korean spies, and whose activities may have been inspired and directed from Pyongyang. Im did everything in his power to protect them from investigation, arrest, and prosecution, and to secure the release of those already arrested. He did so by using his connections to the leadership of the Uri Party.
For further reading on the pro-North sympathies and affiliations of the other partners in the Committee, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and Hanchongryon, start at page 11 of my congressional testimony. More on South Korea’s Fifth Column here. Here’s one of my favorite quotes, from KCTU President Kim Tae-Il:
During the May 1 North-South Workers’ Rally in Pyongyang, the workers of North and South agreed to unify to carry out the anti-American struggle…. The center of that struggle with the United States is Daechu-ri, Pyeongtaek.
Yes, this is the leader of South Korea’s largest labor organization. One final interesting, though not necessarily damning fact, is that the husband of Prime Minister Han Myeong-Sook was also a close collaborator with the anti-base coalition.
For its part, the DLP claims this is all a nasty plot by those notorious Yankee stooges in the Uri Party.
“The NIS did not elaborate details, but said Lee contacted a North Korean spy when it arrested him. We must say this is a plot by the NIS to set up the anti-North Korea and anti-unification atmosphere while conflicts intensified between North Korea and the United States, and also between the two Koreas,” the statement said.
And unless my eyes deceive me, they also said the opposite:
“We think that this has been set up by pro-Pyongyang forces within the National Intelligence Service,” the party’s spokesman Park Yong-jin said in a briefing.
Emphasis mine. And yes, we can expect more arrests:
Investigators reportedly found a notebook that contained lists of names of South Korean civic group officials and former student activists, with other information that the sources refused to disclose.
The Chosun Ilbo wonders why the NIS Chair, Kim Seung-Kyu, is resigning, and hints at a cover-up. Finally, kudos to U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow — now pushing for South Korean compliance with Resolution 1718 — for being honest with the Korean people about the effect anti-Americanism is having on bilateral relations:
When asked how anti-U.S. sentiment here was viewed in the United States, Mr. Vershbow launched more pointed remarks. “I think there is a perception in the U.S. these days that Koreans have become more and more anti-American, and that they don’t appreciate the U.S. defense guarantee and the commitment of troops on the Korean peninsula, and this contributes to a certain mistrust and sometimes even animosity toward Korea.”
“It’s actually encouraging that the silent majority has been a little bit more vocal in recent weeks in reminding people of just how important our alliance still is.”
Yeah, well, I’m not sure they’re a majority, but I’d agree that they’ve been pretty silent, and that’s really the root of the entire problem.
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