Archive for November, 2007
Posted by Joshua on November 30, 2007 at 7:50 am · Filed under Washington Views, U.S. Politics
I last saw Henry Hyde at the final hearing at which he presided as Chairman of the International Relations Committee. Months later, despite the passage of control to another party, a larger-than-life portrait of Hyde still hangs in hearing room of the re-named Foreign Affairs Committee. Nearly all that has been written about Henry Hyde after his passage yesterday has focused on his role in Whitewater or his steadfast opposition to abortion — in other words, things about which the journalists writing history’s first draft make their disagreements with Hyde a bit too obvious. I do not mean to depict Henry Hyde as a man without flaws; I mean to correct this distortion by adding what others have chosen to overlook — matters that history ought to remember as at least equally significant. History’s better-edited draft will reflect the esteem in which he was held by colleagues of both parties:
“It is with profound sadness that I receive this news. My dear friend, Henry Hyde, was a giant. His integrity, intelligence and patriotism were of towering proportions. Our deep personal friendship always transcended partisan political considerations and was reminiscent of an era of congressional collegiality. Henry’s passionate commmitment to public service and to the American people will serve as a beacon for generations.
“Henry Hyde was a strong and effective chairman and deeply engaged in U.S. foreign policy. Under Henry’s leadership, Congress approved groundbreaking, bi-partisan legislation to fund the global battle against the scourge of HIV/AIDS. The U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003 would not have happened without Henry’s strength and persistence, and it stands as a testament to his life and work. We are now in the midst of renewing the mandate of this vital legislation, and Henry’s leading role in it will be very much on his colleagues’ minds. [Chairman Tom Lantos]
Powerfully shaped by his service in World War II, Hyde projected America’s values and sought to wield American influence to help Asian societies evolve toward freedom, justice, and equality. Hyde demonstrated this by speaking up for the victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery and opposing the practice of honoring Japanese war criminals. On one occasion, he even went so far as to threaten to disinvite a Japanese President from visting Congress. To some, this stance was controversial, unnecessarily disturbing an ally whose contemporary behavior is far more responsible. But Hyde understood the importance of applying principle with consistency, even to one’s friends. He understood that by demanding that Japan face and account for the crimes of its past, he could better help Japan bring home its abductees from North Korea. Hyde put the world on notice that history would remember, to better deter other crimes. Nor did Hyde ever forget the one abductee from Illinois, an elderly, wheelchair-bound pastor who couldn’t even vote for him.
To those with an interest in Korea, Hyde will be remembered with reverence for his moral clarity about North Korea. Hyde saw North Korea for the threat to regional peace and security it chose as a disturbingly profitable business model. Hyde was among the first observers of South Korea’s dangerous loss of clarity in that regard. He was particularly disturbed by South Korea’s silence in the face of a quiet slaughter of millions of North Koreans, and his advocacy for their survival shows us just that “quiet diplomacy” still has meaning beyond farce.
Hyde was also privately furious about the disgraceful treatment of American soldiers by too many South Koreans, and I will personally never forget that it was Henry Hyde who invited me to address his committee on their behalf.
When violent, North Korean-inspired rioters tried to tear down a statue of Douglas MacArthur at Incheon, on the fourth anniversary of 9/11, South Korea’s leftist president, Roh Moo Hyun mumbled a few words of token disapproval, while some of his co-partisans in the National Assembly seemed positively sympathetic. It was a moment that clarified South Korea’s stunning ambivalence about the values that so many Americans had died to preserve in South Korea. The event was particularly symbolic for its location and for its timing. It was clearly intended as a symbolic attack on America and its values, notwithstanding the fact that those values were the genesis of Korea’s prosperity and even the possibility of that protest. When no one else would, Hyde found a quiet, powerful way to force Korea to confont the widening gap between its values and America’s by going to the statue and offering his former commander a final salute:
Before this old Congressman joins his former Commander and also fades away, let me offer a few reflections on what General MacArthur’s legacy means to the people of the United States, the people of Korea, and the people of the Asia/Pacific.
[Discussion of MacArthur’s liberation of the Philippines and has magnanimous occupation of Japan.]
Yet, even this achievement was not MacArthur’s finest hour. No, it was here, in the harbor just beyond where this statue stands in lasting tribute, that General MacArthur reached the zenith of his distinguished career. On September 15, 1950, the General directed those U.S., Allied and South Korean forces, who rode the crest of the high tides for which Incheon is world famous, to victory once again.
Sixteen nations responded, under the UN banner, to South Korea’s call for assistance by providing combat troops. Three of those nations — Australia, the Philippines and the United Kingdom - are represented here today. Five other nations provided medical assistance. We express our thanks to all of these nations for their efforts in the common cause of Korean liberty.
For in this victory at Incheon, MacArthur, and the troops he commanded, delivered the people of South Korea from evil — the evil of that oppressive regime which lies a mere few miles to the North, where children still starve and Christians still suffer martyrdom for mere utterance of the words, “Deliver us from evil.”
And, so, I ask our good friends and allies in the Asia/Pacific — in Australia, in the Philippines, in Japan, and, most importantly, here in the Republic of Korea — to remember how the old soldier depicted in this statue touched their nations in his rendezvous with destiny.
I look at the gleaming office towers of Seoul, the modern highway which brought us here today, and this port city of Incheon, a transshipment point for that commerce which has made the Republic of Korea the eleventh largest economy in the world, and I say, “Thank God for General MacArthur.”
I view today a democracy in full bloom, where every South Korean citizen feels empowered to publicly voice his or her opinion, and say, “Thank God for MacArthur’s victory at Incheon.” Such freedom was, of course, not free. The price of that freedom which South Koreans enjoy today was paid, not only by the blood shed here in the battle of Incheon, but also by the blood of patriots who died in the streets of Gwangju. Those who died in Kwangju are martyrs for liberty, just as were the American patriots who bled and died at Lexington and Concord. And, so, we salute them.
I am well aware that there are those in South Korea today who take a different view of this battle site and of this monument. There are those who even say that they wish General MacArthur had never come to Incheon, as Korea would then be united. My mother’s family came from another divided country, Ireland, so I have some understanding of the pain caused by this tragic political separation. But at what price should unity be purchased? At the loss of peace and prosperity? At the loss of liberty?
In his farewell address back in 1951, General MacArthur said: “Of the nations of the world, Korea alone, up to now, is the sole one which has risked its all against communism. The magnificence of the courage and fortitude of the Korean people defies description. They have chosen to risk death rather than slavery.”
I ask the people of South Korea to remember these words and also to recall what the statue here of General MacArthur symbolizes. This statue stands for more than just one man, great a man though he was. It stands for fidelity. In times of war and in times of peace, the American people have stood with you — in times of tension and in times of calm — in times of want and in times of plenty.
There have been sweeping changes in the world since the Berlin Wall came down and the Cold War ended. Korea has found new friends. But there is an old American proverb which states, “Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver but the other is gold.” General MacArthur’s legacy is pure gold.
Now the time has come for this old Congressman, who, like MacArthur, “tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty,” to offer his old Commander one last salute.
[SALUTE IN DIRECTION OF STATUE]
And I join General MacArthur in bidding you all a fond farewell.
He was a giant among giants, a gentleman to all, and a man whose consistency and determination were never stronger than when he defended those who could not defend themselves. He was the single most powerful voice for the tortured people of North Korea, most of whom will never know his name. We will miss him.
Update: If you want to send condolences, here is the address:
The Hyde Family
P.O. Box 501
Batavia, IL 60510
Posted by Joshua on November 29, 2007 at 4:52 pm · Filed under Appeasement
The Northern Limit Line (NLL) is the disputed martime boundary between the Koreas, the western extension of the Korean DMZ (map here). The sea border was one of the issues that the 1953 Armistice talks never resolved, so the South Koreans drew a line. Since then, the North Koreans have realized that the waters near the NLL are rich crab fishing grounds, and that crab bring in badly needed foreign exchange. Thus, the North Koreans have developed a habit of literally testing the waters, and those tests sometimes get people hurt or killed (and quickly forgotten by their leaders).
Appeasement-minded Korean President Roh Moo Hyun sought to buy himself a legacy by turning some of those disputed waters into an (barf bags ready?) international peace park. Ferocious public opposition has prevented Roh’s negotiators from giving away this resource at the very end of his disastrous term in office, and since North Korea isn’t looking to give away anything in return, a deadlock is the natural result.
Posted by Joshua on November 29, 2007 at 3:15 pm · Filed under Inside NK, Deprogramming
I have never believed that Kim Jong Il would actually permit openness, reform, or transparency to breach the blockade he has painstakingly placed around his people. Fresh reports of the ghastly public execution of a factory manager for the “crime” of making international phone calls (and the deadly stampede that followed) make that point vividly enough. Despite billions of dollars in South Korean aid — aid that is ultimately paid for by the American taxpayers who finance South Korea’s defense – North Korea is more closed, cruel, and hostile than ever.
If you believe that North Korean society must be opened, and if you realize that the regime will continue to oppose openness, you have to overcome some creative challenges to imagine how this can happen. An idea I’ve previously advocated here, at Front Page Mag, and here, in the WaPo’s Post Global, is the creation of a clandestine network of North Korean journalists. How encouraging, then, to see that this has reportedly come to fruition. Let history take note that while the Daily NK was the first major outlet for North Koreans to report on their own lives, the people who trained the Rimjinnang’s courageous reporters were Japanese.
There is no one from the privileged class. They are simply urban residents who are well-educated, ordinary North Korean citizens who understand the value of this information.
Those who I have educated in China have entered North Korea, organized and educated people who wanted to participate in our activities. New reporters occasionally visit China to keep a relationship with other reporters. There are several groups of reporters. They cannot be mobilized at the same time for the sake of security.
They are working around Pyongyang and the central districts of different provinces. Those in border areas must take extra precautions because the surveillance near the border has recently become very strict. [Daily NK]
Remember these people in your prayers, because any of them who are caught will be treated as harshly as you can imagine.
Posted by Joshua on November 29, 2007 at 11:52 am · Filed under Six-Party Talks, Diplomacy
It took the Annapolis Summit — not North Korea — to galavanize conservative suspicions about Secretary Rice and our State Department. That part of the world doesn’t interest me much because I wrote it off as hopeless after visiting it in 1990 (I mean the Middle East, not Annapolis). My few days in Israel and a Hamas-controlled village in East Jerusalem have persuaded me that there isn’t going to be peace there until the Palestinians make the fundamental decision that terrorism won’t accomplish their objectives. Negotiating the big picture is a waste of perfectly fine crabcakes* until Israel has someone to negotiate with in good faith.
Enough of that morass. But I brought this up to point you to this criticism of Annapolis by Powerline’s Paul Mirengoff, who could just as well be speaking about North Korea.
* Poor Israel can’t catch a break. Didn’t it occur to anyone in the State Department that the local delicacy isn’t kosher? Lest anyone misunderstand, I’m suggesting a minor diplomatic bungle here, not veiled anti-semitism. I mean, remember this?
Posted by Joshua on November 29, 2007 at 6:51 am · Filed under Six-Party Talks, Appeasement, Diplomacy
They’re trying to sound like Chris Hill’s message to the North Koreans will be that the end of this year is a hard deadline, and that we expect everything to be listed in there the first time. It’s encouraging. I’ll believe it when I see it. Thanks to a reader for forwarding. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Joshua on November 29, 2007 at 12:02 am · Filed under Uncategorized
[This page is no longer being maintained]
This page is a group effort. If you spot a new report of a dangerous Chinese-made product, please drop a link in the comments below, and don’t forget to click here to ”Digg” and spread the word.
The CPSC has started getting deeply involved in this, and now, they’ve demanded and gotten an agreement from Chinese regulators to do a better job of policing themselves. Whether the Chinese are (a) willing and (b) able to abide by that agreement remains to be seen, but now that consumers and retailers are reconsidering the consumer appeal of “Made in China,” China has an incentive to keep the death traps off our shelves.
[Last update: 13 September 2007]
Toys and Products for Children
- Imaginarium Wooden Coloring Cases. Reason: Lead paint on the outer packaging of the wooden case. Units sold: About 27,000.
- Barbie Accessories. Reason: lead paint. Units sold: About 675,000. There are so many affected accessories that the CPSC page includes a chart.
- Big Big World 6-in-1 Bongo Band toys. Reason: lead paint. Units sold: About 8,900. CPSC description: “The recalled toys have two bongos, including one with a yellow and green plastic drum base with a blue drum surface. The other bongo is yellow and green plastic drum base with an orange drum surface with ‘It’s a Big, Big World’ printed on it.” Fisher-Price is offering free replacements.
- Geo Trax Locomotive Toys. Reason: Lead paint. Units sold: About 90,000. CPSC description: “These toys are red with yellow paint on the ladder and horn details. The recalled models … have a date code between 212-6CK through 325-6CK or 001-7CK through 232-7CK marked on the bottom of the product. The packaging on the Freightway Transport model is marked H5705 and the packaging on the Special Track Pack model is marked K3013.”
- Fisher-Price Dora the Explorer, Big Bird, and Elmo toys. Reason: Lead Paint. Units sold: a mere 1.5 million. More Information and Product Photos here and here. I found some of these toys in my own kids’ playroom.
- Die-cast vehicles featuring the Sarge character from the movie “Cars” (photo). Reason: Lead Paint. Units sold: 253,000. More information and product photos here and here.
- 63 Varieties of Mattel toys, made since 2002 and sold before January of this year, including 44 Polly Pocket toys, 11 Doggie Day Care toys, 4 Batman toys (photo), a One Piece toy, and Barbie and Tanner play sets. Reason: Small, powerful magnets in the toys come loose and are suspected of causing deaths and injuries to children who ingested them. If two more more magnets stick together inside a child’s body, they can block the child’s intestinal tract. Number of Items Sold: a mere 9.3 million. Many of the magnetic toys are older and may have been purchased as early as 2003. More Information and Product Photos here and here.
- Hasbro Easy-Bake Ovens. Hazard: The oven door is a hand trap. Kids get their hands caught in the opening to the scorching hot oven. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, “Easy-Bake has received 249 reports of children getting their hands or fingers caught in the oven’s opening, including 77 reports of burns, 16 of which were reported as second and third-degree burns. Easy-Bake also received one report of a serious burn that required a partial finger amputation to a 5-year-old girl.” Units: About 1 million.
- Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Toys. Reason: Lead paint. Units sold: A mere 1.5 million. More photos and information here.
- SpongeBob SquarePants™ Address Books and Journals. Reason: Lead paint. Units: About 250,000.
- Priddy “Trucks” Shaker Teether Books. Reason: Choking hazard; small pieces of the teether can break off. St. Martin’s Press has received two reports of children biting off pieces of the teethers. No injuries reported. Units: About 35,000.
- Spinning Tops and Tin Pails. The recalled tops and pails are primarily metal and have wooden handles. The tops are painted with Thomas and Friends, Curious George, or a circus scene. The pails are painted with Thomas and Friends, Curious George, or in a solid red or yellow color. Hazard: Lead paint. Units: About 66,000 spinning tops and about 4,700 pails.
- Children’s Divine Inspiration Charm Bracelets. The recalled charm bracelets have silver-colored charms, including angels, crosses, and hearts, and clear and pink beads that hang from a silver-colored chain. They were sold at dollar stores and other small retail stores nationwide from March 2004 through August 2007. Hazard: Lead paint. Units: About 7,900.
- TOBY & ME Jewelry Sets. The three recalled jewelry sets include: a princess pink and clear crystal bead necklace and bracelet set with a painted metallic crown pendant; a pink and white pearl necklace and bracelet set with a painted metallic poodle pendant; and a pink pearl necklace, earrings and ring set. All sets are sold in a pink gift box with “TOBY & ME” printed on the front and “TOBY & ME” hangtags attached to the packaging. Hazard: Lead paint. Units: About 14,000.
(Lead is toxic if ingested by young children. Under current regulations, children’s products found to have more than .06 percent lead accessible to users are subject to a recall. More information about the effects of lead poisoning here.)
Other Dangerous Chinese Products
- Sandals from Wal-Mart. Reason: They cause severe chemical burns to the feet of those who wear them (warning: images may gross you out). Units sold: Unknown, but multiple users have reported the burns, and Wal-Mart has pulled them from the shelves.
- Condoms. From the Washington Post: “Tens of thousands of condoms provided free by the District to curb HIV-AIDS have been returned to the health department because of complaints that their paper packaging is easily damaged and could render the condoms ineffective.” Insert your own overpopulation joke.
- Outdoor candles. Reason: Apparently made from surplus napalm. Units sold: About 83,000. On the plus side, they’re useful for acts of sectarian violence and backyard reenactments of “Saddam and the Kuwaiti oil fields.” Light fuse, get away, call Red Adair.
- Iced Tea Makers. Reason: They burst into flame, a true feat of deathtrappery for something you fill with water. Units sold: 10,000.
- Emergency Tool Kits. Reason: “Booster cables in the recalled kits can have undersized wiring and inadequate connections, posing a fire and shock hazard to consumers.” Units sold: About 43,000, mostly in flea markets and other discount vendors.
- Blankets, woolen and cotton clothing sold in Australia and New Zealand, including children’s jammies. Hazard: Levels of formaldehyde at 900 times that considered safe. More: A very disturbing photo of an injured child here, although I’ve been unable to verify the link between the products and the photo. Number and places of units sold: still unknown. As of this writing, the story was less than a week old.
- Vinyl Baby Bibs, including some sold under the brand names Especially for Baby and Koala Baby. Hazard: lead contamination. Units: Unknown, and so far, there’s not much useful product information at the CPSC site. The bibs were sold for less than $5 each at Toys R Us and Babies R Us.
- Toddler Drinking Bottles, sold in the UK supermarket chain Asda (and possibly elsewhere?). ”The drinks bottles involved in the recall are orange with a snail and spider image, pink with a butterfly image and yellow with a star image.” Reason: Choking hazard. The caps can break off. Units sold: 115,000.
- Toothpaste supplied to hotels worldwide. Hazard: According to the FDA, “[I]ndependent tests showed some samples of the toothpaste contained diethylene glycol, or DEG,” a toxic chemical.
- Menu Foods Pet Food. Reason: Wheat gluten used in the product contained a banned rodenticide called aminopterin. The contamination is blamed for the deaths of 16 pets and injuries to many others. China denies that it was the source of the contamination. More information here.
- Light truck radial tires sold under the brand names Westlake, Compass, Telluride and YKS and manufactured by Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. Hazard: An unwelcome tendency for the treads to separate while being driven on. Units: A mere 450,000.
- Classic Beauty Rest Electric Warming Throws, model numbers B00106 through B36506. Reason: Fire hazard. According to the CPSC, “[b]unching, folding or tucking of these electric throws can cause them to overheat, resulting in smoldering, melting, fire and burn hazards…. Bilt-Safe has received 38 reports of the throws overheating, including at least 15 reports of fires and four reports of consumers suffering blistering or minor burns to the hand, leg and back.” Units sold: About 37,100.
Things You Probably Wouldn’t Buy Anyway
Why I Created This Page
First, my own kids are 3 and 5, and when I went looking for one site that listed the dizzying number of recalled toys, I didn’t find one. Second, because I wanted to protest and draw attention to the way China treats North Korean refugees. So in the spirit of attaching a financial price to a willful disregard for the lives and safety of others, I present this compilation of dangerous products made in China and shipped to store shelves near you.
You may ask: my agenda aside, why pick on China when products from other countries have also been found to be unsafe? Because that’s where the extra incentive is needed. Check the CPSC Web site, and you’ll see that no other country even approaches China in the sheer number of unsafe exports that caused safety recalls.
If you want to thank me, please Digg this page, send a donation to the North Korean Freedom Coalition or Liberty in North Korea, and write to your newspaper and ask them why they seldom mention what may be the world’s worst concentration camp since the fall of Nazi Germany. That’s where North Korean refugees often end up when China rounds them up and sends them back to the loving arms of Kim Jong Il, in blatant violation of the Refugee Convention, which China signed. The majority of North Korean women refugees hiding from the Chinese police are exploited by either the authorities or criminal gangs.
Posted by Joshua on November 28, 2007 at 4:15 pm · Filed under Korean Society, History
I’ve very much enjoyed the first installment of reviews of World War Two-era Korean films at Gusts of Popular Feeling, and look forward to the next ones. The first film reviewed was made in 1941, a pro-Japanese propaganda film called “The Volunteer,” surprising not only for its cinematic technique and moments of artistry, but also for its mention of discriminatory treatment of Koreans by the Japanese.
The Japanese character (the one who told Choon-ho about the opening of the military to Korean volunteers) would likely be termed a caricature of a Japanese person today, except that this film was made at the height of the Japanese military control over every aspect of society in the Japanese empire. What the censors missed was this: in the final shot showing the Japanese character, he’s standing next to the crafty Kim Deok-sam and his sons, who were so clearly identified as the ‘bad guys’. Perhaps, in 1941, that was as much resistance as anyone could hope for.
The post contains many screen shots and is well worth reading.
It never fails to stun me what a continuum history is, and how much insight the past gives us into the present. In those days, Korean films might have been artistically advanced for their time on a micro level, but on a macro level, they were still shills for a propaganda machine supporting a fascist system. Not at all like now, of course.
Korean films in those days didn’t mention comfort women or forced labor, but we all know that Japanese censorship wouldn’t have permitted that. Korean film makers today don’t have such a convenient excuse for ignoring Camp 22, as modern-day South Korean censorship is far less effective than Imperial Japan’s. History will be less forgiving of that omission.
Posted by Joshua on November 28, 2007 at 3:58 pm · Filed under Famine & Food Aid
A combination of last summer’s floods and political idiocy have again combined to worsen the lot of North Koreans:
[I]n August, no food was distributed in the east Pyongyang area. In September, only a half of residents in the area received food rations. In the following month, all received their food. In November, not all received their rations as in September. [Daily NK]
When rations aren’t passed out, citizens have to rely on markets for their food supply. But in preparation for Roh Moo-Hyun’s summit visit, the regime cracked down on the markets and rice prices spiked. They have since settled at a slightly lower price. As I’ve said before, the regime has tried very hard to keep this kind of privation away from the capital, because it knows that it needs to keep the elite classes happy.
This report, quoting the NGO Good Friends, also suggests the possibility of “a new food crisis,” along with “overflowing jails” and a growing number of public executions designed to retain the regime’s total control.
Posted by Joshua on November 28, 2007 at 12:49 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Update: This story says the report below is ”not credible.”
If we’d just run away from Iraq and Afghanistan – and everywhere else — this war would end! End, I say!
Fort [Huachuca, Arizona] officials changed security measures after sources warned that possibly 60 Afghan and Iraqi terrorists were to be smuggled into the U.S. through underground tunnels with high-powered weapons to attack the Arizona Army base, according to multiple confidential law enforcement documents obtained by The Washington Times. [link]
The Times goes on to report that the group’s weapons were to be smuggled through a cross-border tunnel built by Mexican drug traffickers, while many of the cell members had already arrived at a safe house in Arizona. Here’s wishing them a long and dreary stay in Gitmo.
Does anyone still believe that regaining control of our own borders is not a national security issue? Who this country decides to admit lawfully, and in what numbers, are completely separate issues from whether we should regain the ability to decide who comes in and who doesn’t.
Posted by Joshua on November 28, 2007 at 7:49 am · Filed under Appeasement, Diplomacy
Hill has already left for Tokyo and Beijing; the stopover in Pyongyang is still unconfirmed. In Japan, I suppose we can expect Hill to tell his hosts to forget about ever seeing their abducted citizens again, to hurry up and pay ransom, or perhaps both. In China, after performing a full kowtow before Jiang Zemin, Hill will not mention the impending repatriation, torture, and execution of the dissident Yoo Sang Joon or any other North Korean refugee. Ever so stealthily, America has shifted to a “die in place” policy.
The Chosun Ilbo quotes South Korean sources and speculates that Hill would tell the North Koreans to hurry up and come clean on their declaration of their nuclear programs, which is supposed to encompass materials, weapons, and proliferation as well. I doubt that the North Koreans will feel much urgency about that, given how pliable the United States has been about other recent deadlines. From the Chosun Ilbo piece, you can infer that they still haven’t admitted to having a uranium enrichment program. The Daily NK says that the North Korean declaration is already overdue, and that their plutonium count is running considerably below our estimates.
The genius of North Korean diplomacy lies in their diplomats’ ability to persuade credulous counterparts that reform and transparency are just around the corner — year after year, after year.
These developments won’t make it easier for Hill to get money from this Congress, which suggests a new and emerging irony. Democrats often blame the Republican Congress for the collapse of the first Agreed Framework. How ironic if a Democratic Congress will reject the second one, proferred by a Republican administration.
Posted by Joshua on November 27, 2007 at 6:16 pm · Filed under Proliferation
When Israel bombed a mysterious site in Syria last September, the newspapers reported a dizzying number of theories about what was attacked and where. Before summarizing those theories in this post, I warned you that they weren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, and here’s another piece of evidence to throw into the hopper. Jane’s Defense Weekly, a highly respected publication to be sure, claims that last July, the Syrians were loading chemical warheads onto their North Korean-made SCUD-C missiles for a test. Then, God cast a vengeful eye on the pad:
The British military magazine Jane’s Defence Weekly said the explosion killed dozens of Iranians in addition to Syrian victims and caused the leak of chemicals like nerve gas within the facilities. The source said the explosion also killed three North Korean engineers. The Sankei claimed the North has helped Syria develop missiles in various ways, including selling it Scud-C missiles since the 1980s, and loading chemical warheads was part of that cooperation. [Chosun Ilbo]
This was two months before Israel attacked a target in northern Syria that the New York Times later reported to be a nuclear reactor, under construction with North Korean help. As recently as this month, the North Koreans had sent their scientific emissaries back to Syria to talk about how to reestablish their technical cooperation.
Since this isn’t nuclear-related, expect the State Department to have no curiosity about this whatsoever. This is supposed to be a happy occasion! Let’s not bicker and argue over who’s planning to gas who.
Posted by Joshua on November 27, 2007 at 3:58 pm · Filed under Human Rights, "United" Nations
GI Korea points to a rather remarkable historical coincidence, first noted by OFK reader and friend Professor Lee Sung Yoon. It would be pretty embarrasing to the South Korean government . . . if it had any shame at all.
Posted by Joshua on November 27, 2007 at 1:17 pm · Filed under Human Rights, Diplomacy
North Korea no longer feels the constraint of international pressure — particularly American pressure – so it believes that it has a free hand to try to increase its internal control by any means necessary. Witness last week’s decision by South Korea to abstain again from a U.N. resolution condemning the North, a reversal of a hard-won gain. Two of the ways the regime is trying to reassert itself: tightening its border controls and carrying out more public executions.
It’s yet more evidence to debunk the idea that weak diplomacy will improve the lot of the North Korean people.
Posted by Joshua on November 27, 2007 at 11:17 am · Filed under Inside NK
Not sure if I’ve linked this before, but Peter Hitchens (brother of Christopher) has published a very acerbic description of his recent visit to Pyongyang. He runs off the rails at the last sentence of his otherwise excellent piece, when he fails to describe just what kind of policy should be adopted, and how this would really work in practice. Whatever it is, I’m almost certain it’s been tried.
Posted by Joshua on November 27, 2007 at 8:23 am · Filed under Appeasement, Terrorism (NK)
If you stick with me for a modest amount of law, I promise you that this post will end with a nice little adventure in participatory democracy. But to get there, we must begin with how the United States Code defines “international terrorism,” at section 2331 of Title 18:
As used in this chapter -
(1) the term “international terrorism” means activities that -
(A) involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any State;
(B) appear to be intended -
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
(C) occur primarily outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate or coerce, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asylum;
I placed that quotation at the top of this post to give you some context for a new report, via South Korea’s Joongang Ilbo, that our State Department will formally propose removing North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism in early December, perhaps two weeks from now. President Bush’s appeasement-minded North Korea negotiator, Christopher “Kim Jong” Hill, has already gone to Tom Lantos, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, to lobby for the deal.
Lantos’s Republican counterpart, Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, is likely to oppose the move, particularly if there’s a strong public reaction — more on that later – thus setting the stage for a bizarre partisan role-reversal (wake me up when Clinton isn’t still president).
Why North Korea Deserves to Stay on the List
North Korea was originally listed after Kim Jong Il ordered North Korean agents to plant a bomb on a South Korean airliner, killing all 115 on board. Other suspected terrorist incidents are listed in this GAO report. These do not include North Korea’s frequent threats to transform either South Korea or Japan into a “sea of fire,” or its missile or nuclear tests which are patently designed to reinforce extortionate demands for political, diplomatic, or financial concessions.
You’d think that any nation campaigning to be removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism would be on its best behavior, but North Korea knows that its friends in the State Department want it off the list no matter how closely its behavior matches the definition of international terrorism. South Korea will hold a presidential election next month. Conservative opposition candidate Lee Hoi-Chang, who supports putting conditions on South Korean aid to North Korea, recently entered the race. North Korea desperately fears Lee Hoi Chang’s policies, so North Korea’s Korea Central News Agency is publishing a series of statements like these, issued via various pro-Pyongyang front groups abroad:
The General Association of Koreans in China Wednesday issued a statement titled “Let’s decisively eliminate Ri Hoe Chang, a heinous sycophantic traitor and anti-reunification element, in the name of nation.” [KCNA, via The Marmot’s Hole, Andy Jackson]
The Solidarity for Implementing the South-North Joint Declaration reportedly issued a statement on November 20 calling for an all-out struggle against Ri Hoe Chang. . . . The key to frustrating Ri Hoe Chang’s attempt to seize power is to form the all-people front of the struggle. . . . [KCNA, via TMH]
The headline of this editorial simply calls on South Koreans to “eliminate” Lee. You can read Andy’s full post here.
It isn’t possible to honestly interpret those remarks as anything other than — at best — a threat to Lee, or — at worst — a call for his assassination. North Korea nearly killed one South Korea head of state, and recently, North Korean-directed thugs may have taken part in the attack on the semi-retired “honorary chairman” of a conservative South Korean newspaper, and planned other attacks against conservative politicians and opinion leaders. Indeed, a recently exposed North Korean cell operating in the South apparently had a hand in organizing multiple violent protests, including some that were directed against U.S. military installations. Has North Korea renounced any of that behavior, given its recency?
Another issue that North Korea will apparently not have to resolve before being de-listed is its kidnapping of dozens of foreign nationals from numerous foreign countries to train its spies (if you count South Koreans, the figures run into the thousands). The failure to resolve that issue before de-listing North Korea could severely damage our relationship with Japan. Instead, removal of North Korea from the list appears to have much less to do with terrorism than with nuclear diplomacy, or more specifically, headines creating the illusion of progress on that issue.
At a meeting in Beijing between the chief US and North Korean nuclear negotiators on October 31, Washington gave Pyongyang “concrete terms” for its removal, Yonhap news agency said.
“The measures for North Korea to take include not only implementing 11 concrete measures aimed at disabling the nuclear facilities by year-end but also clarifying the UEP (uranium enrichment programme) based on more convincing evidence,” a government official told the agency in Boston. [AFP]
What’s missing from these conditions? If you guessed, “anything having to do with terrorism,” you’re absolutely right. Granted, State will probably murmur a few other conditions that do relate to terrorism, but the fact that this question is under serious consideration already suggests that State is prepared to pitch them as softballs.
How You Can Help Keep North Korea on the List
The Federation of American Scientists provides some useful explanation about the process of being listed, or de-listed, as a state sponsor of terrorism in this paper. Here’s a money quote:
Paragraph 6(j)(4) of the Export Administration Act prohibits removing a countryfrom the list unless the President first submits a report to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Senate Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and Foreign Relations. When a government changes (i.e., a government is significantly different from that in power at the time of the last determination), the President’s report, submitted before the proposed rescission would take effect, must certify that (1) there has been a fundamental change in the leadership and policies of the government of the country concerned (an actual change of government as a result of an election, coup, or some other means); (2) the new government is not supporting acts of international terrorism; and (3) the new government has provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future. [FAS]
Here, I will posit that any abduction not fully resolved is a continuing offense as it affects the victim, and his or her family.
Now for the really interesting part. The de-listing process requires publication in the Federal Register, followed by a 45-day public comment period. That means you, I, or anyone else could file a petition to request that North Korea remain on the list, documenting specific examples of North Korea’s terrorist behavior. Several examples come to mind, such as the kidnapping and reported death during interrogation of Rev. Kim Dong Shik, a U.S. lawful permanent resident. Although the South Koreans caught one of the North Korean kidnappers, North Korea has never accounted for him.
Not only am I tempted to write a petition, I’m inviting you to help me write it. I know plenty of smart people, including a number of congressional staffers, read this site regularly. So how can you help? By (1) reading the definition of “international terrorism” I’ve published above, (2) suggesting specific North Korean activities that meet this definition, and (3) — this part is very important — inserting hyperlinks to reliable sources to back up your assertions. You may remain anonymous if you choose to do so, but I need to cite published sources, because this petition will need footnotes and a bibliography.
Now, I said yesterday that the State Department is absolutely determined to take North Korea off the list, no matter how many atrocities North Korea commits. Do I think President Bush has made up his mind to do this? If Condi Rice says so, yes — and she will say so. But Congress has a say, too, and this may be a way to give Congress and opinion leaders some pause and some backbone to start asking some important and still-unanswered questions about, say, just what the hell the Israelis bombed in Syria last September, North Korea’s role in inspiring violent attacks against U.S. soldiers in South Korea, or whether it’s sheer coincidence that when Japan asks for its kidnapped citizens back, North Korea immediately demands “reparations” to resolve the issue.
Does this behavior sound like that of a nation that has decided to change its ways? At worst, we’ll have helped record the stupidity of this decision for history, thus making the decision easier to reverse the next time North Korea gets caught proliferating, infiltrating, or intimidating.
Or, you can write your own petition. The more, the better.
Update: Related thoughts on how North Korea’s bellicose threats of war are used to intimidate South Korean voters, here. It’s characteristic of the North Koreans to pull crap like this, but what’s more regrettable is that one of those echoing the North Korean threats is South Korean ex-president and Nobel laureate Kim Dae Jung.
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