I know more than you do!

Apparently Noh Moo-hyun is getting tired of hearing all the nations of the world citisize South Korea's policies towards the North. During a trip to Australia he apparently said "We dare to take pride in that South Korea knows best about North Korea,"

Normally I would say that he is right. South Korea's unique position with the North should by far give it insight into developments in the DPRK. However, any news watcher worth his weight should remember that just prior to the Nuclear test, Noh and his administration said that there was no way the North would conduct a test.

Silly them I suppose (and the Unification Minister resigned because of it), because soon after the North tested a Nuke and the region has been spinning since.

Even more spies caught.

Well, it seems that some of the North's plans have been unraveling of late. A little while ago an espionage group had received instructions from North Korea by e-mail and infiltrated the far-left Democratic Labor Party and had been under Northern orders to stir up trouble here in the South. And in another semi-related case, a 48 man was arrested in July when he entered South Korea posing as a Filipino visitor. Apparently he had been taking pictures of certain facilities in the South and sending them North.

Of special note in the article it mentions:

The court said it had imposed a relatively light punishment because, in the court's words, "taking pictures of national facilities is not itself a significant threat to national security."Sounding almost apologetic, the court said it was regrettable that the suspect had to be punished "even though he is one of our own."

Far too often are the courts and commissions here going easy on anyone in favor of the North.

I look forward to the day that the Unification Ministry and their friends get investigated with the same scrutiny as the men above.

Everyone is on the same page

Over the past weekend a U.N. committee passed a resolution Friday criticizing North Korea's human rights abuses, with South Korea voting in favor for the first time.
Although it was "non-binding", it is a good indicator that the world is coming on board in condeming the Human Rights situation in the North.

As well, a number of leaders that were in Viet Nam this week for the APEC Summit seemed very willing to voice their concerns on the subject.

Heck, you know it's bad when the Canadians are going to "say" something:
Canada said it sent a senior diplomat to North Korea on Thursday with a strong message calling for a resolution of the crisis over the communist country's nuclear weapons program.
"Canada's position from the beginning is that nuclear test programs are dangerous and unstable for the region," senior Canadian government official Dimitri Soudas told The Associated Press.

"The international community is obligated to approach the issues of the Korean peninsula and the Iranian nuclear program firmly but very cautiously," Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Russia's latest warning that overly harsh actions against Tehran or Pyongyang could undermine efforts to resolve the disputes.

"Right now, all parties need to be flexible and stay calm and exercise self-control and prevent a deterioration" in the situation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.

Well now, all we need is for the South Koreans to get on board and we've got a party.

Oh wait, maybe they just did. It seems that the ROK has finally realized that there is a Human Rights problem in the North and that the South is partially responsible for it (if not now, then in the future). Or, could it be that they simply didn't want the new general Secretary of the UN looking bad on his first day of office?

Either way, let's hope this direction continues. Whether by hook or by crook, this administration is going to have to face facts.

The DPRK being abused by Japan?

Well it seems that the DPRK believes that Japan's sanctions are a hostile move from "a puppet of U.S. imperialists." The Rodong Sinmun is quoted as saying "It is the view of the DPRK that since the U.S. attends the six-party talks, there is no need for Japan to participate in them as a local delegate because it is no more than a state of the U.S. and it is enough for Tokyo just to be informed of the results of the talks by Washington."

So, a week ago they asked that Japan not be invited to the 6 party talks. Now they take it one step further saying that Japan can simply be "informed" by the Us and that it has no real stake in the process.

How soon they forget about kidnappings, threats, and missiles tests - all aimed in Japan's direction. Personally, I'm waiting for the Abe administration to step it up a notch and say - If the DPRK has Nuclear Weapons, then we need them too.

I say let the dominoes fall where they may.

Is the US planning on leaving?

There has been a lot of talk about the transfer or wartime control. First, the Uri party and this administration were rabid about it; wanting it to happen asap. They espoused it as a "matter of sovereignty", and that it was Korea's right to manage it's own affairs.

Tough to argue with that. Unfortunately a Nuclear Test last month put the shivers into everyone. Now you hear talk in the halls of the National Assembly of a "backing off" of the demand. Unfortunately for them, the US has already seen it's "out" . U.S. Commander General B.B. Bell is quoted as saying:

"Within the next three to six years, we will stand down this time-honored command and make the transition to independent and complementary ROK [Republic of Korea] and U.S. national commands," and that the transfer was "not a cause for concern, but a cause for celebration."

You should know, that anytime a soldier is being that nice about withdrawing troops, it means that they are done. Basically, the fight has gone out of them. Maybe it's the reduced training time and area, maybe the anti-American protests, or maybe it's just the lack of four distinct seasons. Whatever it is, it seems that the US is itching for an exit rout from the current situation.

I can't blame them. The truth is, they are unappreciated here. However, for my own safety, and for the future of Gimchi everywhere, I ask the US to stick around for at least awhile longer. There will be a change of administrations here soon, and I can already smell the cleaner air.

New unification minister

Yonhap wrote up a quick bio on the new Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung:

Born in 1944 in the city of Jincheon, about 100 kilometers south of Seoul, Lee studied German literature at Seoul's Korea University until 1969, but became the chief priest of an Anglican church in Seoul in 1977 after completing his graduate degree in theology at the Seoul National University in 1974.

He received his master's degree from Canada's University of Manitoba and his doctorate from the University of Trinity College in Toronto in 1988.Lee taught at the Sung Kong Hoe University in Seoul and served as the university president from 1994 to 2000 when he joined the then-ruling Millennium Democratic Party to become a member of the 16th National Assembly.

He helped found the governing Uri Party, but was briefly detained early 2004 on suspicions of receiving illegal campaign funds in the lead up to the 2002 presidential election, in which the Millennium Democratic Party candidate Roh Moo-hyun was elected president.

He was convicted and sentenced to a one-year jail term, but was released on three-years of probation.Lee returned to preaching shortly after his release in 2004, serving at the House of Shalom, a shelter run by his church for migrant workers here.

He was named the senior vice president of the presidential National Unification Advisory Council later that year and has served in that post since. He is also working as an advisor for the ruling Uri Party. He is married with one daughter.

Wow, now there is a winner. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse.

Traitors!

For as long as I have been in Korea I've heard about how the country is over-run by North Korean spies. I took this with a grain of salt and figured, that while possible, for the most part it was probably just a result of too many conspiracy movies.

Well, it seems that there are at least a few and they are all working with the Democratic Labor Party. This comes as no major surprise to most people, the DLP is known to be radically pro-labor, but the headlines are catching the tail of the Nuclear tensions and driving public opinion even further right.

As it stands, Democratic Labor Party leader Lee Jung-hoon and two others are being held on accusations of spying. Apparently they (after being protesters in the 80s) were approached by a Korean-American businessman and introduced to the wonderful world of espionage. They had a safe house in Beijing and from they they received their instructions - among them they were to keep track on a parliamentary resolution to sack then-Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung;
Intervene on Pyongyang's behalf in the May 31 regional elections, including having the DLP throw its votes behind Uri Party candidate Kang Kum-sil in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to defeat Grand National Party candidate Oh Se-hoon in the Seoul mayoral race; Use environmental issues to bring civic groups into the anti-American struggle. Keep dossiers on South Koreans in various fields (politicians, civic group figures, etc.) in order to keep track of trends in South Korean society following North Koreas recent nuclear test. These dossiers were supposedly given to Mr. Chang.

I am not convinced oftheir guilt. In this day and age of open-arms (no pun) policy to the North, I suspect that they could almost get away with claiming they did it for unification. However, if the current trend continues (and I hope it does), I think that there is the distinct possibility that this may lead to a wider net being cast and a pruning of the leftist shrub.

It's about time someone chopped down that weed a little.

Dropping like flies

Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok (L), Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon (C) and Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung have all submitted their resignation this week. Although each had different reason, it seems to me that the rats are jumping from the ship. Nohs government is in shambles and everyone is trying to distance themselves from it.

As well, Kim Seung Gyu (The head of South Korea's National Intelligence Service) offered his resignation to President Roh Moo Hyun at his office at the Blue House. Man, can it get any worse?

Yup! With this bone-headed move, I gurantee that The Minister of Construction/Development is not far behind. You have to wonder, did he do this intentionally?



So, with everyone leaving, who does Noh have at his side? Apparently, not North Korea. The DPRK issued a statement saying:if South Korea joins U.S.-led sanctions against the Stalinist country, it will regard it as “a declaration of confrontation.”

Wow, where have all of Nohs friends gone? Maybe they're getting ready for next year's elections.

KORUS FTA TKO

Apparently several protesters were injured while protesting outside the KORUS FTA talks in Jeju yesterday. Prior to the negotiations, it was reported that over 10,000 police were being readied to combat any violence. Apparently though they handed out a little of their own.

Honestly, I'm fine with it. For the most part these protesters are not workers scared of loosing their jobs, nor farmers worried about falling prices, but rather professionals that are always spoiling for a fight. They all too often mix in their own agendas and bring other issues into the foray (Anti-US sentiment, foreign policy, the price of rice in China).

Personally, I worry about the young men who have to serve in the police service and who routinely get their butts handed to them by organized thugs. For too long protested have gotten away with too much, I wonder when the public will fully sway against them.

US Presidential Contender : Obama Speaks!

Apparently US Sen. Barack Obama has said that the US will eventually have to talk to North Korea. He is quoted as saying "But I think that, in time, it would make sense for us to initiate some bilateral conversations in parallel with the six-party talks... partly because it would strengthen, I think, the commitment of China and South Korea to really put some pressure on North Korea."

I have also heard that one the same program he did not rule out running for the Presidential office. He seemed to say something about his supporters wanting him to do it, and him thinking it over, but not giving it as much thought as he should.

Honestly, he sounds like a great speaker. And he seems to know how to capture the imagination of many Americans, but I highly doubt the US is ready for a black president (did I just say that?). I could however see him being more successful on a Edwards/Obama ticket - man, those two would just love campaign time.

We agree to disagree

It appears that the US - ROK Defense relationship is similar to that of me and my wife. In principle they should be getting along soundly, but when it comes to issuing a public statement, sometimes signals get crossed.

A senior U.S. defense official squarely denied an announcement by a senior Korean military officer that a strategic order was given to specify that Washington will provide a nuclear umbrella for South Korea in response to North Korea's atomic weapons.

It took another seven-and-a-half hours after the meeting ended for the joint communique to come out, with officials working overtime after their superiors had left to hammer out the wording. Some say this was the worst-ever SCM due to a series of diplomatically rare events.

This tug ofwar is nothing new to Korea watchers. Since Noh Moo-hyun took office, the current administration has done its best to set itself on a different course than the US. The problem is though, in recent weeks the ROK has found out that it might be exposed to some Nuclear Rain and that an Umbrella might just come in handy.

So which is it?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says that North Korea is getting ready for another round of tests. That North Korea is escalating the situation and that "Tang (Chinese diplomat just returning from The DPRK) did not tell me (Rice) that Kim Jong-il either apologised for the test or said that he would not ever test again." While Korean sources are still clinging to the hope that the situation will just roll over and die.

The truth is, no matter what was said to Tang, North Korea will do what is in its best interest. It will decide, on its own, when and where it'll take its Nuclear Program. That seems to be what this is all about no? The fact that the DPRK doesn't want an outside source telling it what to do. It makes me wonder why it'd listen to China instead of the US in this regard (yeah, I know you're shouting "but what about China's aid!?" - Honestly, I think the North is bull-headed enough to go without... for how long I do not know though).

The North wants to talk... about something.

I heard tell from some friends in the Chinese/North Korean circles that Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan was sent to visit The Dear General Kim to convey a message of displeasure regarding the recent test. Apparently, there has been a fair bit of discord in China (yes, even the people are divided- but it's not like the Chinese Gov. will listen) and China is trying to assert it's power to avoid a Nightmare Scenario.

Basically, the Chinese are not keen with anything that destabilizes the region, and Nukes on the Peninsula do exactly that. The problem is, if they push too hard (with for example, restrictions on fuel exports to the DPRK) they run the risk of having the North collapse and being inundated with refugees. Although, there are a few bright projections coming out of Hawkish circles regarding a DPRK collapse (a Unified Korea, Democracy touching the PRC, cheap labor) few truly factor in the Social ramifications of a sudden collapse. If they think that the "fall of the Soviet Empire" did wonders for WMD proliferation, wait till the get a load of this.

In my opinion, the best senario is an insider Coup that leads North Korea in the direction of the South in the 60s.


So, now it seems that the North just might have something to say. With the Chinese envoys on their way back, I'm guessing they have a message from the North- "We'll come back to the talks now that we have Nuclear capabilities". I guess I'll find out soon enough if I'm right. Either way though, it spells bad news for an immediate solution. I know that any rounds of talks will lead to... more rounds of talks. Hmmm, maybe that's just what the parties want?

*FYI, just watched the live press conf with the Chinese FM and he said China will "Break the stalemate". With headlines ofChina pressuring the North, maybe something is in the wind?

The Chinese/DPRK Border

For years now the border region between China and North Korea has been a hive of activity. With both legal and illegal trade flowing between the two nations (ok, mainly just into the North), cities like Dandong (China) have become trading hubs - so to speak.

For the most part, China send fuel, building supplies and food stuffs into the North, while the DPRK sends out a trickle of workers to fill low paying jobs in NE China (and "low" in China translates into "very low" or "pleasepayme2centsanhour low"). The legal North Korean workers find themselves in either the service industry (restaurants for women) or labor (mining and such for me).

No one really profits from this trade. Sure, there is the occasional businessman that pockets a few dollars smuggling people across, but for the most part the trade might as well be with a black hole. Anything you put into it will simply be sucked into another dimension.

If you have plans to visit the North on a trip to Dandong, prepare to be dissapointed. Apparently the North cancelled tour groups of of China in August. Said a Chinese tour guide:

she found it a restrictive and depressing experience to take Chinese tour groups to Pyongyang.
"They watch your every move and every word," Liu says. "Every tour group gets two Korean guides. One explains about North Korea. The other is a national security agent."

So, if you're really determined to see amazing sights like this one>

Make sure you bring your "I love Kim" badge and a lot of booze to bribe the officials. Who knows, if you're lucky, you just might get to see the profile of a Nuclear blast (unlike my head-on view).

North Korea goes Nuclear

Threats have flown from the DPRK for years now. How they are going to turn the South into a ball of fire, how they can fight off any American attack, how Kim Jong-il can shoot 20 under par. So when they said that a Nuclear test was imminent, I (along with the international community) had doubts. Sure the US said that they had evidence of a suspected build up... But we all know where that brought the world last time *cough* Iraq *cough*

I held off writing because simply, even after official word from the DPRK, I didn't believe they had actually pulled off a test. For some reason, I thought they just might have dropped a 100 tons of explosives down a shaft and called it a day. It seems I am wrong. Apparently, those little noses attached to US surveillance aircraft have noticed the distinct smell of Nuclear fission.

Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte said the findings came after analysis of radioactive debris detected at the site of the test. This the first official US confirmation that a nuclear detonation took place.

Rice is now on here way to Seoul after a stop over in Japan to meet with Prime Minister Abe. She had some strong words of support for Japan and it's protection under the US Nuclear Umbrella. with her heading to Seoul tomorrow, I wonder if she'll get as warm of a reception.