October 2008 – Page 2

October 7, 2008

Well, That Settles Nothing

Numerous international press reports say that Kim Jong Il made a public appearance at a soccer game, thus ending a long absence from public view. The problem with those reports is that all of them are sourced back to Radio Pyongyang and KCNA, which provided no details on where or when, and were not accompanied by photographs or video.

Kim Jong Il

October 7, 2008

Did They or Didn’t They?

I took a few days off from blogging and figured by today I’d know if Chris Hill had succeeded in giving away the store to the North Koreans, but the reporting today is ambiguous. The New York Times says that Hill left Pyongyang with the main “issues unresolved” but quotes or cites no hard authority to substantiate this. The Chosun Ilbo quotes “observers” who see “signs” that Hill’s visit “produced some results,” and also quotes or cites no hard authority to...

Appeasement/Diplomacy/Six-Party Talks

October 3, 2008

If only America was watching ….

Or, to put it another way, if the media had reported other aspects of George W. Bush’s presidency the way they’ve mischaracterized his failed North Korea deal as a “rare triumph of diplomacy,” or so says the cliche-o-meter, Bush would probably have a 60% approval rating right now.* The Weekly Standard blog also digs at Chris Hill’s “choreography” and links to Mike Chinoy’s unintentionally damning description of just how chummy Hill has become with the Heydrichs and Eichmanns of Pyongyang...

Appeasement/Regime Change/Six-Party Talks

October 2, 2008

Anju Links for 2 October 2008

AS FAMINE STALKS NORTH KOREA, A BUILDING BOOM hits Pyongyang. So where is the money is coming from, and why are pastel pink apartment blocks and skyscrapers built on mud the best use for it in such times? What is mysterious is that North Korea appears to be as broke as ever. The country’s economy went into a free fall in the early 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union and other communist allies, and it has barely recovered....

Anju Links

October 1, 2008

CHRNK Updates “Failure to Protect”

Recall that I characterized the original report as “the ultimate must-read” on human rights in North Korea. The report was “sponsored” by Vaclav Havel, Kjell Magne Bondevik, and Elie Wiesel, but actually written by the law firm DLA Piper, in close cooperation with scholars from the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. The original 2006 report called for the U.N. to impose Chapter VII sanctions if the regime did not progress toward ending the mass murder and starvation of...

"United" Nations/Activism/Human Rights

Monthly Archive: October, 2008

Well, That Settles Nothing

Did They or Didn’t They?

If only America was watching ….

Anju Links for 2 October 2008

CHRNK Updates “Failure to Protect”