August 05, 2004
North Korea Housing Shortage Could Be Solved By: Instant, Warm, Strong And Inexpensive Homes Made With Spray-On Foam!
This type of home could be used for disaster releif in Rongchoyron, etc. I have seen a film of the assembly of one foam home 20 years ago. It was done by spraying foam over a big balloon, and letting it harden (just a few minutes) , then removing the balloon, and then cutting holes for the windows. The electrical system was made with a kind of tape.. The whole house only took a total of 3 days to build, One day for the concrete floor, the next day to assemble and the third day to cure the foam.. (vent it out) Wow..
Note, FLAMMABILITY is a concern, but that can be addressed by *coating* the outer surfaces of the foam with a flame retardant or even a layer of aluminum. In any case, its a problem with almost all building materials, even metals burn if subjected to a high enough heat. And polystyrene houses have the benefit of being *very* warm and snug.
Polystyrene homes could clearly be a good solution to housing shortages everywhere...
Polystyrene homes planned for Afghans
By Clark Boyd
Technology correspondent
Many people in Afghanistan have lost everything, including their own houses, during the country's long decades of war.
Rebuilding usually means putting up the same mud-brick structures used for centuries.
But those homes become death-traps during the frequent earthquakes that hit the area.
Now, some American scientists, engineers and architects think they have a better way to rebuild Afghanistan, using polystyrene.
Leading the project is the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists (FAS).
August 04, 2004
New North Korean IRBM capable of reaching US, some say
North Korea to build new missiles using Soviet design
(Russia Journal)
August 04, 2004 Posted: 11:39 Moscow time (07:39 GMT)
North Korea is deploying new land- and sea-based ballistic missiles apparently to be based on a decomissioned Soviet submarine-launched ballistic missile, the R-27. They can carry nuclear warheads and may have sufficient range to hit the United States, Jane's Defence Weekly said Wednesday.
Communist Korea had acquired the know-how during the 1990s from Russian missile specialists and by buying 12 former Soviet submarines which had been sold for scrap metal but retained key elements of their missile launch systems, Jane's Defence Weekly said Wednesday.
North Korean Defector Prevented From Holding News Conference On Growing Dissent In North Korea
N. Korean Defector Prevented From Holding Press Conference
(Chosun Ilbo, Seoul)
Kim Deok-hong, a former North Korean businessman who defected from North Korea along with former North Korean Workers’ Party secretary Hwang Jang-yeop in 1997, tried to hold a press conference at the Foreign Press Club at the Seoul Press Center. However, as the police kept him from appearing in public place due to safety reasons, Kim held a press conference via Internet at his home. He said at the beginning of the conference, “I wanted to go to the venue of the conference, but the police told me that they cannot guarantee my safety if I go outside. So I have to meet you through the Internet.” Kim revealed his stance on recent issues like the court’s ruling in favor of Song Doo-yul.
(image) Kim Deok-hong, a North Korean defector who fled to the South with former [North] Korean Labor Party Secretary Hwang Jang-yeop, holds a videoconference Wednesday after the police stopped him from holding a planned foreign press conference due to safety reasons.
In regards to the ruling of Song Doo-yul, Kim said, “The court’s ruling is wrong. There is obvious evidence against Song. North Korean people know what he did in the North and that he learned Juche ideology in North Korea. And also, he was invited to late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung’s funeral, to which high-ranking North Korean officials could not be easily invited.”
BBC Article Details Limbo Experienced By Fleeing Escapees From North Korea
Escaping North Korea
By Sarah Buckley
BBC News Online
The hundreds of North Korean refugees who have arrived in the South from Vietnam this week will have had a long and frightening journey.
For many, that journey is likely to have started at the Tumen River, which separates North Korea from China.
This narrow waterway can be walked across in winter, when it freezes over, and waded across in summer.
But South Korean activist Kim Sang-hun told BBC News Online that the crossing was very risky.
"It's heavily guarded on both sides," he said. "There are some people who went to the top of a hill nearby and watched the guards for days, and picked the right time."
In South Korea's DMZ Village, Origins of Tension Seem Distant Now
TAESUNG VILLAGE JOURNAL
In a DMZ That Bristles Less, the Villagers Are at Home
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
TAESUNG VILLAGE, South Korea - Here in the only inhabited corner of the demilitarized zone dividing the Korean peninsula, at least one young descendant of the first inhabitants of this most peculiar of villages was blissfully unaware of its twisted origins.
"I've heard about the DMZ, but I don't know what it is," said Kim So Young, 10, a fifth grader at the Taesung Elementary School, which has 14 staff members, 14 students, classrooms equipped with giant television sets and more computers than the pupils can use. "There must be other villages like ours, right?"
August 02, 2004
"Liberal" South Korean Government Facing Difficult Moral Dilemma As Defectors Attract Attention To Situation In North Korea
How much can helping even a few million North Koreans compare with the cost of NOT helping them... Human lives are priceless and human memories long.
Defector Dilemma Upsetting Korean Diplomacy
by Ahn Mi-Young
SEOUL - "False expectations – that's how I put my life in South Korea, now," says North Korean defector Lee Min-Sun (not her real name), who works in a restaurant in the capital.
"It's like a marriage to lover who makes false promises," recalls Lee, who made her way to South Korea in 2001.
"It started with a sweetheart who promised a decent house with a fountain spring. But in reality the lover could only give a hut without even a bathtub," the 35-year-old told IPS.
South Korean Government Again Proves Evasive On Issue Of Nazi-like North's Chemical Warfare "Experiments"
There absolutely cannot be any explanation for this position - the position of South Korea in the face of a mounting pile of evidence.. that satisfies any test of sanity. "Check the authenticity" Are they MAD? Do they need to breathe the poison gas with their own lungs? These stories have been trickling out of North Korea for many years, and they are consistant and terrible in their implications. The government of South Korea appears to have joined the North in its psychosis of denial. Do they realize what they are saying, or are they just so used to this appalling state of affairs that they are absolutely dead blind. I realize that it must be disturbing to be 40 miles from the border and that must require some serious denial to endure, but... UGH...
International Conference to Rescue NK Refugees & Aid Workers Wrapup Now online at LFNKR website
Hi,
Kenkichi Nakadaira here.
I just wanted to report to you briefly on our first
International Conference to Rescue NK Refugees And (Imprisoned) Aid Workers
that was held in Tokyo on 18 and 19 July.
We co-hosted the Conference together with South Korean NGOs
to develop specific action plans to promote international
awareness and lead to improvements in the situations of
North Korean refugees and humanitarian aid workers.
Approximately 100 participants gathered in Tokyo from 9 NGOs
and 6 countries.
For the full report and photos, go to the LFNKR website at
http://www.northkoreanrefugees.com/conf-0704-2.htm
Regards from Japan,
Kenkichi Nakadaira
Life Funds for North Korean Refugees
EMail: nkkikin @ hotmail.com
Security Advisories for Unsophisticated Computer Users
I thought that I should pass this on as these 'phishing' attacks are increasing and they clearly can effect all of us.
OUCH: The Report On Identity Theft and Attacks On Computer Users
August 2, 2004
From http://www.sans.org
Continue reading "Security Advisories for Unsophisticated Computer Users"Debate on "What Is Terrorism" Roils Some In US Government
I thought that this was a timely article today in the Washington Post.
Carr is right. A double standard won't carry much weight internationally if the US won't renounce terrorism in all of its forms. That would mean the banning of all forms of warfare that deliberately target civilians. Like what is euphemistically known as 'strategic bombing'.
Wrong Definition For a War
By Caleb Carr
Wednesday, July 28, 2004; Page A19
Toward the end of its widely praised report, the Sept. 11 commission offers a prescriptive chapter titled "What to Do?" There, it makes an assertion that is genuinely shocking. It says that in our current conflict, "the enemy is not just 'terrorism,' some generic evil. This vagueness blurs the strategy. The catastrophic threat at this moment in history is more specific. It is the threat posed by Islamist terrorism [the report's emphasis] -- especially the al Qaeda network, its affiliates, and its ideology."
At a stroke, in other words, the members of the commission have tried to rewrite the terms of the global war on terrorism and turn it into a global war on Islamist terrorism alone.
August 01, 2004
Korean-Americans Rally In LA In Support of NKHRA!
It's amazing how blind some people can be to the morality of an issue when they think it involves money. The South Korean regime seems obsessed about the cost of rebuilding the North, and so they are following a policy of mqajor denial on everything having to do with North Korean human rights, even though it is costing the lives of thousands of their bretheren a year. All I can say is URI PARTY - SHAME ON YOU!
History will not smile on your utterly undefendable behavior. And add you to the rolls of appeasement and infamy. And These Walls Will Come Down!
Korean Americans Back Bill
Rally in L.A. assails South Korea's reaction to U.S. legislation addressing human rights in the north.
By K. Connie Kang
LA Times Staff Writer
July 28, 2004
Korean Americans rallied in front of the South Korean Consulate on Wilshire Boulevard on Tuesday in support of a
Carrying bilingual placards that read, "We Fervently Support U.S. Government's North Korea Policy" and "Destroy North Korean Regime," about 100 people criticized South Korean legislators in the ruling Uri Party, who are conducting a petition drive opposing the bill.
The measure is expected to go to the Senate in September.
Some South Korean lawmakers say the legislation is a threat to improving relations between the two Koreas and could hurt prospects for a peaceful end to Pyonyang's nuclear weapons' program.
Bong-Keon Kim, president of a Korean War veterans' group that organized the protest, condemned South Korean legislators.
"We don't know what these so-called lawmakers [in Seoul] are thinking," he said.
I don't either. Thank you - LA demonstrators!
July 31, 2004
Cults: Wonder How Can Kim Jong Il Keep Power In NK? Read This...
http://www.afirstlook.com/archive/cogdiss.cfm?source=archther
Also, this excerpt from a book on the subject is pretty interesting...
It applies to all cultlike thinking...
______cut here_______
Cognitive Dissonance: Progress on a Pivotal Theory in Social Psychology
Edited by Eddie Harmon-Jones and Judson Mills
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Cognitive Dissonance Theory and an Overview of Current Perspectives on the Theory
A little more than 40 years ago, Leon Festinger published A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (1957). Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance has been one of the most influential theories in social psychology (Jones, 1985). It has generated hundreds and hundreds of studies, from which much has been learned about the determinants of attitudes and beliefs, the internalization of values, the consequences of decisions, the effects of disagreement among persons, and other important psychological processes.
As presented by Festinger in 1957, dissonance theory began by postulating that pairs of cognitions (elements of knowledge) can be relevant or irrelevant to one another. If two cognitions are relevant to one another, they are either consonant or dissonant. Two cognitions are consonant if one follows from the other, and they are dissonant if the obverse (opposite) of one cognition follows from the other. The existence of dissonance, being psychologically uncomfortable, motivates the person to reduce the dissonance and leads to avoidance of information likely to increase the dissonance. The greater the magnitude of the dissonance, the greater is the pressure to reduce dissonance.
The magnitude of dissonance between one cognitive element and the remainder of the person's cognitions depends on the number and importance of cognitions that are consonant and dissonant with the one in question. Formally speaking, the magnitude of dissonance equals the number of dissonant cognitions divided by the number of consonant cognitions plus the number of dissonant cognitions. This is referred to as the dissonance ratio. Holding the number and importance of consonant cognitions constant, as the number or importance of dissonant cognitions increases, the magnitude of dissonance increases. Holding the number and importance of dissonant cognitions constant, as the number or importance of consonant cognitions increases, the magnitude of dissonance decreases.
Dissonance can be reduced by removing dissonant cognitions, adding new consonant cognitions, reducing the importance of dissonant cognitions, or increasing the importance of consonant cognitions.1 The likelihood that a particular cognition will change to reduce dissonance is determined by the resistance to change of the cognition. Cognitions that are less resistant to change will change more readily than cognitions that are more resistant to change. Resistance to change is based on the responsiveness of the cognition to reality and on the extent to which the cognition is consonant with many other cognitions. Resistance to change of a behavioral cognitive element depends on the extent of pain or loss that must be endured and the satisfaction obtained from the behavior.
North Korean Media Flies Into Narcissistic Rage Over Escapees Flight
North Korea fails to take care of it's own people and then complains when they leave? What is their problem? It's like a parent who beats their child and then flies into a rage when some kind soul takes pity on them and offers them a kind word. Yes, there is hope for humanity, Kim Jong Il. Get a clue.
North Korea Continues to Criticize for Two Consecutive Days
by Seung-Ryun Kim (srkim@donga.com)
North Korea once again criticized the mass defection of 468 North Koreans to South Korea.
Chosun Human Right Research Center in North Korea produced a statement. The spokesperson warned, “Manipulated by the U.S, the South Korean ruling power is making the North Korean defection a political and international issue by mentioning non-existing North Korean human rights issues,” adding, “The kidnappers will not be able to avoid the punishment [for 468 North Koreans’ escape]. The South Korean government should be fully responsible for the serious result caused by this brutality of luring and kidnapping people.”
The statement pointed out that the Uri Party is preparing a revision for the North Korean settlement system along with the South Korean government’s admission of North Koreans into the country. “Their action is a complete challenge to the June 15 joint declaration, a denial of our system, and a terrible and unforgivable crime against our race, which will eventually lead the relationship between South and North Korea into a situation worse than anything one can expect.”
The statement claimed, “The South Korean government’s cooperation with the U.S and the extreme right wings who are against the republic (North Korea) is also an anti - [Korean] race, anti -humanism sin that is equally as terrible as kidnapping the people and producing many separated families between South and North Korea.”
In China, An Innovative Editor Struggles Against The Madness Of Censorship
The Washington Post has an interesting article on the struggle for press freedom in China.
It's an important issue.
In China, An Editor Triumphs, and Fails: Bold Newspaper Stalled After Arrests
By Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Foreign Service
GUANGZHOU, China -- It was past 9:30 p.m. when the reporters finished writing. The presses were scheduled to begin printing the next day's issue of the Southern Metropolis Daily in a few hours, and space for a large headline had been reserved on the front page.
Increasing Inequalities Bind Young Chinese To The Earth Of Their Peasant Lives, But The World Waits For No One.
I came to an interesting realization the other day. Many of the people of China 'blame' what they see as the US's invention, 'capitalism' - and the blind rush to make money - for the increase in inequality and the lack of important social services in China today.. And many Americans blame cheap labor in China for the increasing inequalities here. Who is right? Are they both right? What is going on?
I'm wondering. How long can this situation last in China without a revolution. Blinded by their huge profits from factories and corporations that use China's cheap labor, will anybody important enough to help, in the West, care?
Continue reading "Increasing Inequalities Bind Young Chinese To The Earth Of Their Peasant Lives, But The World Waits For No One."US Opposing Inspections As Part of Nuclear Disarmamant Treaty, Undermining The Situation With North Korea
U.S. Shifts Stance on Nuclear Treaty
White House Resists Inspection Provision
(Washington Post)
By Dafna Linzer
In a significant shift in U.S. policy, the Bush administration announced this week that it will oppose provisions for inspections and verification as part of an international treaty that would ban production of nuclear weapons materials.
For several years the United States and other nations have pursued the treaty, which would ban new production by any state of highly enriched uranium and plutonium for weapons. At an arms-control meeting this week in Geneva, the Bush administration told other nations it still supported a treaty, but not verification.
Administration officials, who have showed skepticism in the past about the effectiveness of international weapons inspections, said they made the decision after concluding that such a system would cost too much, would require overly intrusive inspections and would not guarantee compliance with the treaty. They declined, however, to explain in detail how they believed U.S. security would be harmed by creating a plan to monitor the treaty.
Arms-control specialists reacted negatively, saying the change in U.S. position will dramatically weaken any treaty and make it harder to prevent nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists. The announcement, they said, also virtually kills a 10-year international effort to lure countries such as Pakistan, India and Israel into accepting some oversight of their nuclear production programs.
The announcement at the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament comes several months after President Bush declared it a top priority of his administration to prevent the production and trafficking in nuclear materials, and as the administration works to blunt criticism by Democrats and others that it has failed to work effectively with the United Nations and other international bodies on such vital global concerns.
"The president has said his priority is to block the spread of nuclear materials to rogue states and terrorists, and a verifiable ban on the production of such materials is an essential part of any such strategy," said Daryl Kimball, director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association. "Which is why it is so surprising and baffling that the administration is not supporting a meaningful treaty."
July 30, 2004
North Korea Confronts Shrinking Population By Exhorting Women To Have More Children
It's estimated that by the year 2030, the world's population will have stopped growing and will begin to shrink. Thie article shows one of te difficult choices available to world leaders. One would hope that in North Korea, theat Kim Jong Il would reconsider his practive of baby-killing in the prison camps, under this situation. But there is no evidence that that has happened, probably due to pervasive, if often unverbalized anti-Chinese racism.
In many, perhaps most, industrialized nations, the population is on he verge of or already shrinking. This brings both clear benefits - like plummeting crime rates, and mixed blessings, like falling real estate prices and changing worker/retiree ratios.
Another one of the implications is that countries with aging populations have to face is far fewer young men who are eligible for military service. And those who are available are often only -and wanted- children and hence, they are perhaps not as willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their countries. They have more of a future.
This change has the potential to change warfare. In fact, in the US, it already has, to some extent.
Perhaps that is why some of our leaders here in the US want to ban contraception on demand and end a womans right to choose to have or not have a baby?
In the US, clearly, the baby dearth is causing consternation at the highest levels.
Ultimately, I suspect, countries like the US will realize that economics plays a significant part of these decisions and they will realize that people need leisure time and improved economic security to make the decision to have children. However, that will cost much more than punitive legislation.
North Korea says women’s duty is to bear 'many' children
The duty of North Korean women is to bear many children and raise them as workers for the communist state, North Korea said on Friday as it celebrated the anniversary of a gender equality law.
The population of the impoverished, isolated state where famine is believed to have killed more than a million people since the mid-1990s has shrunk to about 22.5 million from 22.8 million in 1999, North Korean figures show.
“It is the responsible duty of women to bear many children and raise them as great workers of Songun Josun,” said the Rodong Sinmun, the daily newspaper of the ruling Workers Party of Korea (WPK).
Songun Josun means “military-first Korea” referring to the North’s focus on military matters.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il described the North’s 1946 gender equality law as “unthought of in any other country”, the newspaper said.
North Korean women are “loyalists true to the WPK’s idea of attaching importance to the army” and “a proud unit keeping the traditional trait of assisting the army in full bloom”, it said in a commentary carried by the official KCNA news agency. reuters
July 29, 2004
North Korea Attempts To Spin Defections As "Planned Kidnapping" !
The way North Korea's media is handling this is telling. First and most importantly, it shows that North Koreans are not allowed to even admit to each other that some of them might want to leave. Secondly, it shows that they are afraid of a much larger, more extensive exodus, if the nes gets out. (They should be, the way they treat their people.) A predictable response, since, its the usual practice of the narcissist to blame the victim.
North Korea has called this week's defection of nearly 460 of its citizens to South Korea a "planned kidnapping" and on Thursday lashed out at Seoul and other parties involved in the operation.
The defectors, believed to have fled over the North Korea's northern border with China before heading to a Southeast Asian country, reportedly Vietnam, arrived in Seoul in two planeloads on Tuesday and Wednesday in an operation shrouded in secrecy.
The Vietnamese government has refused to acknowledge any role in the airlift - a move that is intended to avoid straining relations with Pyongyang and Seoul, according to analysts and diplomats.
Fears of a further influx of refugees, and concern over the inevitable international fallout had the asylum seekers been deported, has also prompted Hanoi to remain firmly in the shadows, they said.
North Korea's statement on Thursday, delivered by a spokesman from the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, was Pyongyang's first public response to the defector airlift.
According to North Korea's official press agency, KCNA, the spokesman said:
"This is an organized and planned kidnapping, as well as a terror crime that took place in broad daylight. The South Korean government will be fully responsible for the outcome of this situation, and other forces that cooperated in this affair will also pay a big price."
Despite the harsh words, which contained no specific threat, the latest incident is unlikely to damage relations between Pyongyang and Seoul, according to a South Korean analyst.
"North Korea is using harsh words, as they usually do, but if they are in need of something from the South, such as economic aid or food aid, they will come out to talks with the South," said the analysts, Park Joon Young, a North Korea expert based in Seoul. "The North Koreans act in accordance with their interests, so I don't think it will effect inter-Korean relations."
More than 5,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the Korean War, which ended in 1953 with a truce.
Last year, the number of defectors arriving in the South reached 1,285, up from 1,140 in 2002 and 583 in 2001.
South Korea's unification minister, Chung Dong Young, said that the number of defectors was expected to reach 10,000 within a few years and that the government needed to upgrade its policies on handling them.
In South Korea, the Uri Party, which heads the government and supports reconciliation with the North after decades of enmity, is expected to push for a big budget increase for projects run by the Unification Ministry, officials said. The financing would be put toward refugee resettlement, among other things.
The ministry asked for a 42 percent increase over this year's budget of $228.2 million for next year. But the governing party is expected to propose greater increases in September, officials said. Since North Korea and South Korea were divided in 1945, their border has remained sealed and heavily guarded on both sides by nearly two million troops.(AP, Reuters)
July 28, 2004
More Reports Surface On North Korean Government's Use Of Chemical Weapons In Lethal Human Experimentation
(BBC News)
North Korean Prisoners 'Killed in Chemical Trials'
By Jamie Lyons, Political Correspondent, PA News
Britain renewed its demand tonight for monitors to be allowed into North Korea to investigate fresh claims of appalling human rights abuses.
A North Korean scientist has told how he used experimental chemical weapons on political prisoners and took notes while they died in agony.
The scientist, identified only as “Dr Kim”, told BBC2’s Newsnight the experiments were to determine how long it would take for them to die.
“We wanted to determine how much gas was necessary to annihilate the whole city of Seoul,” he said.
Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell said the allegations were “very, very serious”.
“We have persistently said to the North Korean government that they need to respond on this and that we have very serious concerns,” he told the programme.
“At the moment they deny these abuses are taking place. That is why we have said they should allow independent international monitors to go in and verify exactly what is happening.”
Continue reading "More Reports Surface On North Korean Government's Use Of Chemical Weapons In Lethal Human Experimentation"July 26, 2004
First Of Two "Freedom Planes" Carrying More Than 200 North Korean Defectors Arrives In Seoul!
This is incredibly great news! Lets hope that these two planes are just the first in a FLOOD of planes and boats carrying North Korean refugees to freedom! Let Freedom Ring!
Plane Bringing N.Korean Refugees Arrives in South
Mon Jul 26, 2004 09:33 PM ET
By Jack Kim
SUNGNAM (Reuters) - A special chartered plane carrying more than 200 North Korean refugees arrived in South Korea on Tuesday, bringing them from temporary asylum in an unidentified Southeast Asian country.
The first of two planes reported to be carrying the refugees touched down at a heavily guarded military airport in Sungnam, south of Seoul and groups of people got off the plane and into about six buses, said a Reuters photographer at the scene.
Continue reading "First Of Two "Freedom Planes" Carrying More Than 200 North Korean Defectors Arrives In Seoul!"Former US Official Warns SK Politicians That US Goal Of Resolving NK Nuclear Weapons Issue Would Not Lessen Under A Kerry Administration
I think that the options available to a US president would remain basically the same. However, I am optimistic that a Kerry administration might be more creative when it came to exploiting the weaknesses of the North to bring about a break in the gridlock. One way in which the Kerry campaign might differentiate its policy on North Korea from Bush's is by expressing support now for policies that included as a strategy peacefully, but aggressively, breaking North Korea's information blockade.
Former Clinton Advisor Warns That Even Kerry Would Need Time to Solve Nuclear Issue
U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate John Kerry places his hand on Army National Guard Spc. Will Pumyea of Woburn, Mass after tossing the first pitch at the Red Sox/Yankees game in Boston, Sunday.
Kenneth Quinones, the director of the Korean Peninsula Program of International Action, said Monday that negotiations on the North Korean nuclear issue might not be settled early even if the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate John Kerry wins the presidential election in November. Quinones was a high-ranking State Department official on North Korea for former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Quinones attended a seminar entitled “The U.S.’ Presidential Election and Prospect for the Settlement of the North Korean Nuclear Issue,” organized by Uri Party lawmaker Im Jong-seok. Quinones said that the U.S.’ goal is to completely dismantle the nuclear program of North Korea, regardless of who the U.S. president is.
Washington is unable to consider the use of its military option against North Korea since it is involved in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. If the Middle East problems are cleared, the situation may takes a sudden turn, and a settlement through diplomatic negotiations would become difficult if Bush is re-elected, Quinones said.
North Korean Defector In South Says Anti-Government Groups Starting To Be Active In NK!
I just read this in the Chosun Ilbo. If its true, it's a very positive development! Any form of organized resistance to the Kim Jong Il regime has historically been suppressed ruthlessly in the past, and these people clearly are showing a lot of courage to do anything like this. I'm almost speechless at this news.
Anti-Government Groups Active in N. Korea: Defector
Japan's Sankei Shimbun reported Monday that several anti-establishment organizations opposed to the Kim Jong-il regime are active in North Korea. The paper quoted Kim Deok-hong, who defected together with former Korean Workers Party secretary Hwang Jang-yop. In his interview with the Sankei, Kim said he was in contact with an organization engaged in anti-government activities in the North.
Kim said, "The organization concluded that the Ryongchon Station Explosion in April was the work of the Kim Jeong-il regime itself... There are about 210 counties in North Korea, and the group has gotten word that leaflets revealing in detail how the Ryongchon explosion took place were distributed from most of these counties.
Kim said, "The event was staged so Kim could claim there were forces out to kill him and launch a purge.' He claimed, "There were defective missiles on board those trains that were to be exported to Syria, and the explosion gave Kim the chance to get rid of them, too."
(Jeong Gwon-hyeon, khjung@chosun.com )
Large Group of North Korean Escapees Said To Be Making Way To Seoul From Vietnam
I'm always a bit reluctant to post these stories until the groups concerned have actually crossed the South Korean border, but I suppose that since this has already seen worldwide media attention, it won't matter much.
North Korean refugees said to be gathering in Vietnam
SINGAPORE - Some 300 refugees from isolated North Korea have taken refuge in communist Vietnam, apparently after fleeing through China, and could leave for the South as early as Monday, sources familiar with the issue said.
Officials declined to comment on the reports. Both South Korea and Vietnam appeared to be aiming for utmost secrecy to ensure nothing goes awry with the operation through a country that has friendly ties with the isolated Stalinist North.
The group would be the largest single batch of arrivals from the North, which has been condemned by the United Nations for human rights violations and where at least a million people are believed to have died of starvation in the late 1990s.
A Death In Queens And A Nation's Future Under Attack By Greed
Is this kind of future YOUR vision for the future?
VOTE IN NOVEMBER
Immigrant's Tale of Navigating Tangled Health Care Maze Is Instructive
By MARC SANTORA
(New York Times)
Moon Chul Sun's head was throbbing, so painful it was a struggle to stand.
For three days, after being taken to the emergency room at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens because of a soccer injury, Mr. Moon, a Korean here on a tourist visa, barely moved from his hospital bed, largely unable to communicate with the doctors and staff because he spoke no English.
He just waited.
Mr. Moon's wife pleaded in Korean with people at two different hospitals who often did not fully understand what she was saying, begging for someone to ease her husband's pain or at least explain to her the mystery of his illness. After 72 hours of fractured conversations and a series of medical tests, a translator arrived to tell Mr. Moon's wife that her husband was being discharged.
"They said, 'Just take some Tylenol,' " Mr. Moon's wife said.
One month and several confounding hospital visits later, Mr. Moon was dead, and his wife says she was told that the cause was an injury to his head.
In the arc of his 34-day journey through the medical world, Mr. Moon struggled to understand his options even as what ailed him remained a mystery to his family because of communication problems.
There were confusing conversations about insurance and a staggering bill that left his family reeling. There was the option to apply for Medicaid, which was declined by the hard-working family, a decision fueled in part by pride, fear and a lack of information. There would be friends and neighbors drawn into the story, brought along to try and help the family understand exactly what the medical professionals were saying or concluding.
In the end, there would be death and anger.
July 25, 2004
US Gives WFP 50,000 Tons of Food for North Korean People
Does anyone have any further information on whether there really have been any changes in access to North Koreans or in monitoring situation? I can't help but be very skeptical that the situation of lack of access has changed.
U.S. Offers 50,000 Tons to North Korea
As part of efforts to ease the chronic food shortage in North Korea, the United States has announced plans to contribute 50,000 metric tons of food to the famine-stricken country. According to U.S. State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher, the food will be distributed by the United Nation's World Food Program.
Officials at the WFP earlier revealed that the North was allowing a greater number of monitoring visits to the distribution sites. Washington's decisions on food donations are reportedly made after considering several factors including the WFP's ability to make deliveries to vulnerable groups and monitor the process. The international food aid organization has issued a global appeal for 484,000 metric tons of food for North Korea this year.
Regarding questions on whether the latest gesture has any relevance to the Bush administration's efforts to negotiate the surrender of North Korea's nuclear intentions, Mr. Boucher insisted that the decision had little to do with six-party discussions on reducing nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula.
July 24, 2004
Content Spamming - What do you think?
I'm sorry, but I have said at least four or five times that if a person posts repeated posts here under multiple names from the same IP address that they will be banned. In the space of a few hours, we have had at least ten posts from IP address 69.167.146.100, (69-167-146-100.vnnyca.adelphia.net) Since I've said many times that I do not want people doing this, I'd probably be justified in deleting the posts and banning the IP. It's the same person who has gone on about similar subjects in the past. What I may do is consolidate the posts into one.. IF he can be a man and make an apology to us here and just explain why he feels compelled to try to mislead us that he represnts the voice of many here..
By the way, he gets my positions quite wrong on quite a few issues in his posts. (in case you haven't guessed) Freedom of speech is important though.. Even if somebody is ranting, God knows I do my share of it from time to time..
Why all the anger about Fahrenheit 9-11? Because its a powerful film, even if you don't agree with it.
I know that whan I saw it, I was in tears by the end.. I might remind Mr. (or Ms.) 69.167.146.100 that if I didn't care about America, the country that all of us who live here in the US care about, hopefully, I wouldn't be disturbed by a film like that..
Has he seen it?
Who knows.. Most of the people who criticise it clearly, haven't.
My thoughts on the content of his or her postings is that this person is trying to create an association between the US right wing and the fight against human rights violations in North Korea, and between the US left wing and the North Korean regime.
Such labels are really inaccurate because the right wing in the US is not at all monolithic, and neither is the left. And I doubt if *ANY* Americans who knew much about the Kim Jong IL regime would support it. (The BIG problem here in the US is one of IGNORANCE of the situation in North Korea)
(I could say a few words here about past mistakes in US foreign policy, but they are probably best left unsaid.)
And the South Korean left has NO connection to the left here in the US.
And by the way, whoever you are, most left-leaning folks I know here in the US have no love of Communism, including myself. I can't speak for others by MY big fear is that greed, left unchecked, leads to extremist regimes. When you see a polarization of wealth like we are increasingly seeing here in the US a nation becomes FERTILE GROUND for all kinds of violence, hatred and oppression.
I wouldn't be surprised if the followers of Osama Bin Laden and Josef Stalin out there were encoraging people to vote Bush...
Because a vote for Bush is a vote for an extreme, 'greed-centered' agenda that is rapidly threatening the existence of the middle class that drives American prosperity and weakening the unity that this country depends on for its strength....
Because for many people, a few more years down the road we are on means their economic livelihood being tossed off a cliff to the lions.
Do the math.
look, most of the world's people live in countries where there is little or no middle class. It's called "The Third World".
One doesnt have to look far to see what the impact of that is. It ruins families, it creates bitterness, it decimates populations.
Bush's policies are not supporting American values. That is a false front.
The real goals of the Republican leadership, which I would charcterize as self-enrichment - at the expense of the common people - the classic kleptocracy - will, if left unchecked, result in the destruction of them.
Jenkins Hoping For "Information For Freedom" Swap
US ‘deserter’ in Japan wants to discuss plea bargain
TOKYO: An alleged US army deserter in Japan for medical treatment wants to meet a US military adviser to see if he can swap information on North Korea and an admission of guilt for a light sentence, a report said on Saturday. Charles Robert Jenkins, 64, who is accused of deserting to North Korea in 1965, has conveyed to Japanese authorities that he wants an explanation of plea-bargaining procedures, the Yomiuri Shimbun said. Neither a foreign ministry spokesman nor a US Embassy spokeswoman could confirm the report. Jenkins has been in a Tokyo hospital since coming to Japan last week with Japanese wife Hitomi Soga, a 45-year-old who was kidnapped by Pyongyang spies, and daughters Mika, 21, and Belinda, 18, after a reunion in Indonesia earlier. He faces court martial by the US military for desertion to North Korea following his disappearance on South Korea’s border with the North nearly 30 years ago, but Japan is unwilling to see him handed over to US authorities. afp
July 23, 2004
Documentary Shows Continued High Costs Of Japan's World War II Era CBW 'Legacy' In China
It is estimated that Japan killed 20 million people in Asia during World War II, setting a stage built of death and misery for the later Korean War and numerous other regional conflicts. That was almost 70 years ago. However, these weapons are still killing now. What I don't understand is how they can shrug off responsibility for things like this. Chemical weapons are against international law. Japan has the resources to clean them up. They should have done this 50 years ago. These people did not need to die, and their families do need to be compensated. Shame on Japan. Shame.
Film shows war's China legacy
Documentary portrays suffering from arms Japan left
By TOMOKO OTAKE
Staff writer
The listless face of a 27-year-old woman tending cafeteria tables all day long, seven days a week. The incessant, violent coughs of a retired doctor who has not had a good night's sleep in 17 years.
Tomoko Kana
A documentary film on Chinese who have died or incurred postwar health problems after being exposed to artillery and poison gas shells left behind in China by the 'Imperial Japanese Army' illustrates the suffering -- and dark past that haunts the two nations -- 59 years after the war.
"The abandoned weapons issue has extremely high public interest in China, but is little known in Japan," said freelance director Tomoko Kana, who recently completed the 90-minute film "Nigai Namida no Daichi kara" ("From the Land of Bitter Tears").
"The way Chinese people feel about this issue is very similar to how Japanese feel about North Korea's abductions of Japanese," she said.
Kana, 33, chronicled the agony of people whose fates were changed by chemical and other weapons left behind by retreating Japanese troops at the end of the war.
Japan estimates 700,000 poison gas shells were discarded in China; Beijing puts the number at 2 million.
Kana said she decided to make the film after meeting 27-year-old Liu Min while touring China with friends last summer.
Liu, whose 40-year-old father was killed in 1995 when an abandoned artillery shell accidentally exploded in the city of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, is one of 13 plaintiffs seeking compensation from Japan. Liu's father's limbs were blown off. He suffered massive burns and died 17 days after the blast.
Then a 19-year-old with hopes of becoming a schoolteacher, Liu has since been working at her relative's cafeteria without rest. And her family has little prospect of paying off her father's medical bills.
"I was shocked by the fact that a woman her age was suffering from the aftereffects of the war," Kana said. "While I initially had no intention to make a film on this issue, once I learned of her suffering, I had no choice."
Kana captured the emotional roller coaster Liu and three other victims from separate incidents has been on, including the scene of Liu giving a tearful hug to her mother while the mother burst into tears, confessing that it was she who pulled the plug on her husband.
The mother could not pay the medical bills and thus took him out of the hospital. He died the following day.
Continue reading "Documentary Shows Continued High Costs Of Japan's World War II Era CBW 'Legacy' In China"North Korea Creates Three Tier Border Patrol System Of Military And Informers To Foil Escapees And Block Out Unwanted Outside Information
Increased Border Patrol
to Prevent North Koreans from Escaping
(Democracy Network Against The North Korean Gulag)
Previously, the border between North Korea and China consisted of a three-layered security force consisting of border frontier guards as the first layer, national security guards as the second, and the people's security guards as the third. The first two lines of security remain the unchanged but the third has been substituted for by the Agricultural & Industrial Laborers Reserve Forces while the final guard posts are under the control of National Defense forces and are called No. 10 guard posts. However, regardless of tightened security, North Korean refugees continue to send leaflets and visual films to North Korea through China. The additional security measures were implemented upon Kim Jong Il's order to control this situation.
According to reports, this additional line of security has made it significantly harder for North Koreans to cross the border because this new line of security, the Agricultural & Industrial Laborers Reserve forces, is made up of former civilian troops, typically from the lower ranks of society.
Whereas it has always been easy to bribe docile national security guards and frontier guards positioned in the first and second layers, the third, new layer has been proven a formidable obstacle for North Koreans trying to escape their suffering bringing to light an old Korean adage, claiming that when a serf becomes a landowner, he becomes even harsher and stricter than his master. The Agricultural & Industrial Laborers Reserve Forces enforce even stricter standards and control with an even tighter grip than formal national security guards in hopes that they might raise their status and reap benefits for their loyalty. They take advantage of this newfound authority, arresting as many refugees as they can, to seize their chances of being promoted. It now costs twice as much to cross the border as before but has not thwarted attempts as numbers trying to escape continue to increase regardless of heightened security.
Currently, due to the 10th memorial of Kim Il Sung's death, border crossing activity has slowed but when the heavy rains stop and the river begins to cede, a resurgence of escapees is expected.
Charles Jenkins Health 'OK" Doctors Say - Will Force Decisions
It appears that Charles Jenkins' health has been improving since he has left North Korea, (not surprising...most peoples health does) so he is probably going to have to deal with the US government's demands for his legal prosecution. I hope that they can come to some kind of agreement that does not involve Jenkins imprisonment or removal from his family.
Like being given a post in the Texas National Guard and then being allowed to take long breaks.
Health of Accused Army Deserter OK
TOKYO (AP) -- Doctors treating an accused U.S. Army deserter in Japan said Friday his condition is not serious and he does not need urgent medical care, but more tests will be carried out.
Charles Jenkins, wanted by the United States for allegedly abandoning his Army platoon in 1965 and defecting to North Korea, has been hospitalized in Tokyo since arriving in Japan on Sunday. Japanese officials say Jenkins, who has lived in the North for nearly four decades, was suffering the aftereffects of an operation performed in the communist state.
South Korean lawmakers debate the NKHRA, and finally, some important questions are being asked. BUT WILL THEY LISTEN?
YES - this debate is really long overdue. The people of South Korea need to face the unpleasant reality that the situation in North Korea is KILLING MILLIONS OF THEIR KINSFOLK. No amount of AID to the MURDERERS is going to help. It's like a totally dysfunctional family.
Kim Jong Il KILLS.
DO YOU GET IT?
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on ME.
It's a sad and sorry day when people like us here in the US need to be the ones that point that out. We don't want to be the ones doing this, they should be... BUT THEY AREN'T.
I'm going to comment on some of what they say as well below, my comments will be the text in italics.
Continue reading "South Korean lawmakers debate the NKHRA, and finally, some important questions are being asked. BUT WILL THEY LISTEN?"July 22, 2004
Chosun Ilbo Summary Article On Passage of NKHRB
U.S. House Unanimously Passes North Korea Human Rights Act
The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed on Wednesday (local time) the North Korea Human Rights Act of 2004, which calls for the U.S. government to be actively involved in the North Korean human rights issue and protect North Korean defectors.
The bill specifically enumerates for the U.S. to take certain steps like
▲ including the North Korean human rights issue as a major topic of discussion with Northeast Asian states;
▲ providing generous financial support for North Korean human rights groups;
▲ expansion of radio service to North Korea;
▲ strengthening inspections of the distribution of humanitarian assistance;
▲ recognizing defectors as refugees and establishing international refugee camps; and
▲ permitting defectors to apply for asylum in the United States.
The bill calls for yearly totals of US$24 million -- including US$2 million for activities improving human rights in North Korea, US$2 million to promoting freedom of information in North Korea and US$20 million to refugee assistance -- to be given in aid from the 2005 fiscal year.
NKHRA (HR 4011) Unanimously Passes in House
North Korean Human Rights Act Unanimously Passed By US House of Representatives!
Thank you from all of us to everyone who helped with this in any way. Now, we all need to focus our efforts on the Senate version of this bill..
July 21, 2004
Kim Il Sung's Image Maker
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/07/22/003.html
Kim Il Sung's Soviet Image-Maker
By Anatoly Medetsky
Moscow Times Staff Writer
Vladimir Filonov / MT
(photo) Mekler holding a Korean newspaper with a photograph of himself as a young Soviet officer with Kim Il Sung in 1945.
When World War II ended, and the Korean peninsula was divided into Soviet and U.S. occupation zones, South Korean radio began reporting that the leader of communist North Korea, Kim Il Sung, was not an ethnic Korean. At a time when Koreans ached for a leader of their own after decades of Japanese subjugation, Kim's grassroots popularity appeared to be in jeopardy.
The job of masterminding a response to the South Korean claims fell to Lieutenant Colonel Grigory Mekler, the top Soviet propaganda officer in Korea.
What Would You Do If Faced With Genocide?
We face little 'genocides' every day. It's a moral choice. Do we stand up for what we beleive in, or take the 'path of least resistance'? (Often just because of foolish greed or pride.)
Its important.
Saying No to Killers
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
PORTLAND, Oregon
So what would you do if, like Carl Wilkens, you were caught in the middle of a genocide?
Mr. Wilkens, a Seventh-day Adventist missionary, was living with his wife and three small children in Kigali, Rwanda, in 1994. Then a Hutu militia began to slaughter the Tutsi, beginning with prominent figures like his banker neighbors, who threw their two youngest children to safety over a back fence before they were executed. Mr. Wilkens and his wife, Teresa, tried to distract their children from the carnage by playing a variation of musical chairs in which you could move only when there was no gunfire nearby.
U.S. officials and church leaders ordered Mr. Wilkens to join an emergency evacuation of foreigners from Rwanda, and relatives and friends implored him to go.
He refused.
Please email or fax your legislators in support of the North Korea Human Rights Act
It is coming up for a vote today. Your input is needed NOW.
.........
“YES” on H.R. 4011, The North Korean Human Rights Act
Dear Colleague:
The human rights abuses of the North Korean regime are without parallel in the world today, and demand our attention and action. For your information, I am attaching a letter from the North Korea Freedom Coalition, a bipartisan coalition of more than 38 organizations representing millions of Americans. They strongly urge our support for the North Korean Human Rights Act, which we will consider on Wednesday. Please join me in voting “Yes” on this important, bipartisan legislation.
Sincerely,
/S CHRIS SMITH
Member of Congress
(scroll down for a letter from the NKFC)
July 17, 2004
Jenkins Could Face Desertion During Wartime, As Well As Terrorism Charges For Aiding Enemies, Experts Say
It appears that Charles Jenkins could face a very long prison term, or perhaps even the death penalty (if we are still engaged in the war on terrorism), if he is extradited from Japan or placed in US custody while in Japan.
The US was engaged in the Vietnam War in 1965, and so that makes Jenkins subject to a much more punitive kind of military discipline, I would suspect.
Soldiers cannot be allowed to desert in time of war.
They must be punished severely to serve as a lesson to others who might be tempted to betray their country while under enemy fire.
It's a rule as old as war itself.
Its sad, because one would think that Jenkins might have some interesting stories to tell about North Korea. Will he be allowed to tell them, though? Since the US has laws against criminals profiting from their crimes by writing books, (the proceeds have to go to the victims) I am not expecting to see his story for a long time.
*If* the US government is *not* intending to pursue these cases against Mr. Jenkins, they should say so, rather than leave him to wonder. It is known that stress has serious physiological effects, and Mr. Jenkins is facing some severe stressors here.. really all of the big ones.. loss of a loved one, loss of his job, loss of home, fear for ones own safety, sickness.
Charges Charles R. Jenkins Could Face
By The Associated Press
In addition to desertion, alleged Army defector Charles R. Jenkins could face three other charges:
-Two counts of solicitation, or encouraging other soldiers to desert. The Army alleges that on Feb. 17 and March 10, 1965, Jenkins announced over a North Korean loudspeaker that he ``was enjoying himself in North Korea and that American soldiers should come over to North Korea,'' where they would be ``warmly welcomed as he was,'' or words to that effect.
-One count of aiding the enemy. The Army alleges that he did ``knowingly communicate with the enemy and hold intercourse with the enemy while actively cooperating in the production and transmission of propaganda designed to promote dissatisfaction, disloyalty and disaffection among members of the U.S. Army.''
-Four counts of bringing discredit upon the U.S. armed forces. Jenkins is accused of having broadcast over a North Korean loudspeaker on Jan. 29, 1965, a statement that ``the only reason U.S. troops were in South Korea was to advance American imperialism and that American people should rise up and overthrow the imperialistic government, or words to that effect.'' The Army says he made similarly disloyal statements on two occasions in February and once in March 1965.
Continue reading "Jenkins Could Face Desertion During Wartime, As Well As Terrorism Charges For Aiding Enemies, Experts Say"New Alliance? US Right Wing and Chinese Communist Party?
I've seen signs of it for a long time, beginning with Nixon's trip to China, in which he committed the US to a long policy of 'agreeing that there is only One China' - which to Americans means saying "Yes, there is just one country named China" (and one named Taiwan) and to Chinese means that "The US should 'give us Taiwan'" *sigh*. This was good for the oppressors in China, as it effectively removed the US from the list of countries that were actively acknowledging Taiwanese independence.
But, in the long run, this alliance was also seen to be 'good for American business', - as the shift to manufacturing and later, doing research in China makes huge profits. To many businesses, creating jobs in China seems to make more sense than creating long-term jobs in the US.
A dollar is a dollar, anyway, right? Righto! Of course this has been disasterous for the US economy, but it is in some ways 'good for the US consumer.' (Assuming that that US consumer has an income that does not depend on having a job!)
But, it may be a losing battle. In the global economy, it is said that businesses have no choice but to increase efficiency by automating or moving jobs offshore. It is the responsibility of corporations to cut their costs, even if it means cutting their workforce drastically. The ideal business is one that has very few employees. Or so the almost universally accepted logic goes. On the other hand, in China, businesses that would not be profitable here are viable in China because of the highly skilled and very inexpensive Chinese workforce.
Businesses can manufacture goods without the use of extensive automation or just-as-expensive people. By keeping labor costs low, China attracts money that would otherwise be 'wasted' paying expensive American employees. With unions nonexistant and environmental laws nonexistant or unenforced, China is a 'business friendly' environment.
This migration of jobs and money, increases economic polarization here in the US, a necessary precursor to civic unrest, and perhaps, a command economy. Comman economies are created by bitter, angry people, and what better way to create bitter, angry people than to pull the economic rug out from under them. What is the verdict? Is China using our elite's greed to create an extreme situation here in the US - arguably the only scenario wherby the US might ultimately become an extremist - Communist - nation?
There is some Machiavellian logic to that argument.
It's the way all Communist countries became so.
But, I think that their goal is much more mundane. Right now, most of the world's wealth is in the US. China is simply realizing that at some point the global wealth balance may become less mobile, and so they are trying to get as much of it now, while they can. They are following a strategy that makes sense for the long term. Its the same strategy that the US followed with England in the 18th and 19th centuries..and that England followed with Spain and Holland before it. But the situation is different now. It's the second inductrial revolution.. this time, the shift is towards computers. And ultimately, business automation.
China is following a strategy that is not dependent on domestic consumption. It depends on exports. And it gets an increasing share of the last wage-based income that is made before automation makes factories in China not much more cost effective than elsewhere. Realizing that master plan of theirs was an epiphany for me, a scary one...
:(
Similar things are happening here, as US working environment returns to the predatory one of the first half of the 20th century, following a modern version of the 'scientific management' teachings of Taylor and Leffingswell. In the service industries, again, productivity has skyrocketed, but the workers have not been sharing in the profits.
Commoditization and devaluation of skills is the name of the game. The reengineerers rule the new corporate panopticon.. Yes, it is efficient. The magic of the marketplace.. as Reagan used to say. Supply and demand..
The worker is not in a position to ask for a larger slice of the pie. His or her job has been commoditized. He is left doing less and less important tasks, often simply functioning as a human face, for decisions that are actually made by machines. (But how long can that last?)
For those who are flexible enough to make big changes, things are not as bad. Alarmed by falling wages and disappearing jobs, US college students are deserting the sciences in droves. (for example, computer science majors were down 23% in just one year, 2002) - convinced that they cannot make enough money in scientific fields to support themselves. Clearly, this threatens the future of the working population of the US, even as it enriches those who live on investment income.
You get my drift..
So, I found it interesting that the other day the influential Cato Insititute published a "white paper" stating that Hong Kong tops the world in "economic freedom".
WHAT?
Freedom to shirk responsibility? Yes.
Freedom to enslave? Yes.
Freedom to lie? Yes.
"One Dollar, One Vote"
Let me explain..
We all know that Hong Kong has been host to another bigger debate recently, one that strikes at the very core of the global debate on democracy. Its also a debate that goes back to the very founding of the US. Actually, back to Plato's 'Republic' (you know, the 'Republic'an Party...)
Basically, it goes like this..
Should votes be portioned out by people, OR PROPERTY?
July 16, 2004
China Sees Taiwan's Independence As Threat, Contemplates A Forceful Ultimatum - A 'Timetable' For 'Unification' Like It Or Not!
I would hate to see China and Taiwan getting into a fight over this issue. As in Korea, however, without democracy in China, the chances for a peaceful Chinese reunification seem slim to nonexistent, however, few of us in the US seem to realize that like North Korea, China may try to force the issue. If there was democracy in China, I see this as a non issue, reunification would simply happen, however if they attempt to reunify the countries by force, China could become an interntional pariah like North Korea did after the Korean War. This would be absolutely terrible for everyone. If I were Taiwan's leaders, I'd be trying to head this issue off at the pass by a stealth program of building institutions that make democracy work like nowhere else. Then, China would eventually be forced to realize that Taiwan is unassilable and conquest of the island nation would be hopeless.
Continue reading "China Sees Taiwan's Independence As Threat, Contemplates A Forceful Ultimatum - A 'Timetable' For 'Unification' Like It Or Not!"New York Times Article Shows How, In China, With Aging Leader, Narcissism's Grandiosity Still Rears Its Ugly Head
Former Leader Is Still a Power in China's Life
By JOSEPH KAHN
BEIJING, July 14 - With bold front-page headlines and top billing on the main television news show, China's state media announced this week that Jiang Zemin, the country's military chief, had visited the northern city of Shenyang and called on troops there "to master revolutionary theory."
At first glance, the item seemed like just another dutiful recounting of the prosaic meetings and utterances of senior leaders, standard fare for the Communist Party-controlled media. But this report was notable for one fact: Mr. Jiang's visit took place in January 1991.
The reports shed no light on why the authorities had trumpeted a seemingly unexceptional event 13 years after it happened. But editors and experts say Mr. Jiang, 77, may consider himself as having entered the pantheon of Communist giants, along with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, entitling him to re-release what he views as his great political moments.
July 15, 2004
Four Defectors Arrive In South After Desperate Bid For Freedom
I don't see how anyone could fault the defectors for literally fighting for their lives.
China is in violation of international law by not allowing for their situation.
N.K. defectors arrive today
Germany has decided to send four North Koreans to South Korea, dropping an earlier plan to turn them in to Chinese police for brandishing a knife while barging into a German school in Beijing to seek asylum, officials said yesterday.
The defectors, one man and three women, will be flown to Seoul today, Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil said in a statement.
Sources in Beijing said South Korean officials will take custody of the North Koreans in a third country and accompany them to Seoul.
The North Koreans entered the German school in Beijing on June 30 to seek asylum, but their threatening of diplomats` family members at the school with a knife angered the German government. (even though they were literally fighting for their lives, since being captured by China - followed by inevitable repatriation to North Korea, is a death sentence)
Calling the defectors` use of a knife intolerable, German officials had said they would refer the asylum seekers to police, but later decided not to do so on humanitarian grounds, sources said.
Continue reading "Four Defectors Arrive In South After Desperate Bid For Freedom"US Appears To Be Preparing Desertion Case Against Charles Jenkins
It appears that the US government is dead-set on at least prosecuting Jenkins, even if he remains in Japan. Would it be wise to expend a lot of energy in making an example of Charles Jenkins? - Even of it puts the US - Japan relationship in a sticky place? I guess that given the popularity of the war in Iraq, etc. the administration feels that they need to draw a line in the sand.
Continue reading "US Appears To Be Preparing Desertion Case Against Charles Jenkins"July 14, 2004
Thosands Of Chinese Citizens Gather In Tianjin To Protest Lack Of Voice In One-Party Unelected Government
Millions of people in China are being pushed against a wall while the rest of the world ignores them.
Will 2004 be a watershed year? Or merely another bloodbath?
THOUSANDS GATHER IN TIANJIN AMID STRONG POLICE PRESENCE
2004-07-14
Radio Free Asia
HONG KONG—Thousands of rural residents and others seeking redress for grievances against government officials gathered outside county offices in China's northern port city of Tianjin amid a strong police presence, RFA's Mandarin service reports.
On the same day (July 12) that thousands protested in Beijing amid a mass suicide bid by 23 petitioners from China's northeast, local petitioners began arriving outside the Ji County government offices in the early hours of Monday morning, local residents told RFA.
Mondays are the officially designated "clinic" days for government officials to hear the concerns of local people at county level. "I went at about 8 a.m. They were so many people," a local resident identified by her surname Sun said. "I reckon there must have been several thousand."
"There were police vans too. There were twelve of them parked there. There are always a lot of people but this was the most I've ever seen there," Sun said.
South Korea Protests At Chinese Deletion Of Koguryo Kingdom From Foreign Ministry Web Site
Why is China doing this?
SEOUL PROTESTS BEIJING’S DISTORTION OF KOGURYO
Korea Times reported that the ROK government called in the PRC’s top diplomat in Seoul to protest against Beijing’s recent deletion of Koguryo, one of the three kingdoms of ancient Korea, from an introduction to Korean history on the Web site of its Foreign Ministry. Vice Foreign Minister Choi Young-jin met with PRC Ambassador to Seoul Li Bin at the ministry headquarters to deliver the government’s firm stance on the dispute and dissatisfaction at the PRC’s move, according to the Foreign Ministry. In another complaint against the neighboring nation, Seoul has also lodged a formal protest with the Chinese authorities through diplomatic channels, a ministry official said. “We conveyed our discontent toward the Chinese government via Ambassador Kim Ha-joong in Beijing,” the official said asking not to be named. “We cannot disclose details for the present since diplomatic procedures are underway.” Seoul’s move drew attention as it is the first official response to the PRC’s alleged move to distort historical facts about the ancient kingdom of Koguryo, officials said.
In Mass Suicide Attempt 23 Chinese Workers Protest Important Issues, Governmental Stonewalling
I am surprised that nobody has done this before. Because in a country where everything is controlled and the people have no voice, suicide is one thing that these people DO have control over.
I am surprised that people are not more aware of these problems as they are growing all over the world, not just in China. Our society is aging, and increasingly sophisticated machines are replacing expensive human labor in a growing number of jobs. This process has been going on for a long time, but it still has a long way to go before it ends. Very, very few jobs, percentage-wise, cannot be done by machines. Just give technology a few more years to figure out how. The end result will be either a paradise or a hell, it's our choice. I suggest that we in the US prepare for that day by training as many people as possible to do the kind of advanced creative work that *requires* humans to do. But that also means an advanced degree, really a PhD.
You don't get to that level by graduating high school or even just four years of college.
Ulimately, its a huge challenge. But under our system, employers have to be competitive. They have no responsibility to create jobs when none are needed, ultimately society will have to deal with these changes.
Right now, everyone is trying to play pass-the-buck. But that is what governments are for, to structure society.
If we want to avoid a fate like that of China and North Korea, we need to get on top of this! Communist regimes always arise out of the ashes of overly-greedy capitalist ones. That is NOT what we want here.
So, I think that this is very important. The very future of free enterprise and democracy is at stake.
July 13, 2004
Not North Korea Related: Michael Moore Publishes "Fahrenheit 9-11" Fact-Checking Notes On His Web Site
For all of you who saw Fahrenheit 9-11.. (and those who didn't)
Here's a chance to trace back the sources he used for the film..
The URL is
http://www.michaelmoore.com/warroom/f911notes/
It's pretty interesting!
Also (this is newer news)
The Union of Concerned Scientists has just released a report that anyone who supports the Bush administration on science policy should read.
Its at
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/rsi/page.cfm?pageID=1449
'Why Can't We All Get Along'?
Just a little moment to express a thought.
This world is getting so polarized and out of whack, and everybody is at each others throats. There are a few truly evil people running around, but there also are a LOT of misconceptions. Especially about motivations. But basically, everyone wants the same thing, to be able to live and love and learn.. hopefully. Most people are NOT bad people, even if they don't think things out the way they should. You only are evil when you do, and still do something you KNOW is wrong.
Now, I have had a singularly unique experience in a lot of ways in my family life, which I won't go into, so I think that I can see both sides of the fence. That doesnt mean that I agree with both sides, but I think I do see it.
Rationalization is a very dangerous thing. It blinds us to some essential truths that are obvious to others.
Why can't we all just give each other what we NEED and give up some little things that we may just WANT.
I think that greed is completely out of control, and that seed is at the root of all this world's evil...
To get something back from our global community, you always need to give a little. For your whole life.
If there is to be any hope of healing the world's wounds, some people really DO need to give a LOT.
Please don't condemn your neighbor until you have truly 'walked a mile in his shoes'.
We could all do a lot worse than to do some reading and praying.
But... talk is cheap, as they say, and Actions speak MUCH louder than words...
July 12, 2004
Latest News on Jenkins/Soga Family Reunion - Jenkins Speaks With Family In US - North Korean Officials Request For Visit With Jenkins Rejected
Jenkins says he feels affinity with Japan, speaks with kin in U.S.
Tuesday, July 13, 2004 at 07:14 JST
TOKYO — Charles Jenkins, the American husband of repatriated Japanese abductee Hitomi Soga, has said he feels an affinity with Japan, but has yet to express his intention to travel there, government officials said Monday.
Jenkins, 64, was surprised to receive a phone call from family members in the United States on Sunday when he, his wife and daughters visited the official residence of Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia Yutaka Iimura for dinner, the officials said.
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Bush Administration Thinking Of Postponing November Election in the event of terrorism. What do you think?
What do people think of this proposal? I'd like to hear your comments.
http://tinyurl.com/2lej7
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid;=578&ncid;=578&e;=4&u;=/nm/20040711/ts_nm/politics_election_terror_dc
My feeling is that terrorism is something that we have to deal with. It's not unique to right now, unfortunately.
So, to establish a precedent in which a terrorist attack ends up postponing an election, creates a situation where any extremist group that wants to influence an election's outcome by delaying it will mount a terrorist attack
Having the election on a fixed day, nomatter what happens before, is the way we do things here. We have been in crisis after crisis - in wars and in depressions and we have never, ever postponed an election.
The administration is pointing to the bomb blast influencing the Spanish elections, but the only thing that it is clear to me that happened in Spain is that voter turnout was higher than before.
(They point to the poll results before the elections, but I would suspect that polls that depend on people answering telephone calls are increasingly inaccurate because they are basically polls of the people who sit around at home waiting for phone calls and answering them. Many people can't afford to do this.)
Comments?
School For Young North Korean Defectors English Website Now Online
Few people outside of the ROK realize this, but North Korean defectors are often ostracized in the South Korean school system.
This is a very difficult situation for them, and a very high percentage of them end up dropping out of school.
Therefore a tiny school has been running, sustained by private donations, that gives some of these young people a place to study where they are welcomed and the unique and often harrowing situations and heritage they share is understood..
Pretty important stuff...
Everybody deserves to have a life....
Check it out!
New Defectors Battle Discrimination From South Koreans
Young N. Korean Defectors Experience Ostracism, Depression in the South
A teenager who escaped North Korea gazes at Seoul's hazy downtown from the observation deck of Namsan Seoul Tower.
For the last month, all 19-year-old North Korean defector O Dong-cheol has been doing is going back and forth between his apartment in Nowon-gu, Seoul and a nearby PC café. He can't feel when he goes to bed or gets up -- all he does is sleep and play video games. He doesn't wear a watch. Even though he lives with another 23-year-old defector and hence only has to pay half of the bills, most of his government stipend is spent on playing computer games.
Continue reading "New Defectors Battle Discrimination From South Koreans"Interesting Sites: Newly Found Web Resources On Nuclear Weapons
We need to understand the basic facts about nuclear war, radiation, and nuclear weapons, since there is a renewed interest in considering using these awesome weapons of death and destruction.
A chilling thought: Our store of existing Nuclear weapons, if used, have the power to make the entire earth completely uninhabitable!
The Effects of Radiation and Nuclear Weapons on the Human Body
Basics of Radiation
Radiation Effects Research Foundation
'Downwinders' website If you grew up in the US during the 50's, 60's or 70's, there is a good chance that you are, to one degree or another, a 'Downwinder'. Was nuclear testing an 'acceptable risk'?
You decide.
This book has a chilling theme, it documents now declassified secret radiation experiments on humans - not in North Korea - in the United States! I have yet to read this book. But I want to.
Chinese Regime Prefers To Blame Taiwan Security Response By US On The US, Not It's Own Actions On Taiwan, Hong Kong, Etc.
China getting rattled by US' naval deployments
China is getting edgy over a new US military strategy aimed at projecting force around the globe and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice's visit last week was an attempt to calm Beijing down, analysts said.
Rice's trip on Thursday and Friday came as the US military was rolling out an unprecedented deployment of naval power to the Pacific Ocean in what is officially being termed a military exercise, they said.
"It is an unprecedented show of force and a return to gunboat diplomacy," said Andrew Tam, a security expert at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore.
"The US is sending the message that any threat to peace and stability in Northeast Asia will not be tolerated.
"It is a signal to North Korea, but particularly to the Chinese. The carrier groups are sent as an affirmation of the US support of the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and the current status of Taiwan," Tam said.
The US Navy announced last month that three aircraft carrier battle groups were already in the Pacific and four others were being deployed for the war games called "Summer Pulse 2004."
According to US naval Web sites, the deployment is a part of the Fleet Response Plan, which is aimed at increasing force preparedness and establishing the ability to immediately provide significant combat power in a crisis anywhere in the world.
Continue reading "Chinese Regime Prefers To Blame Taiwan Security Response By US On The US, Not It's Own Actions On Taiwan, Hong Kong, Etc."Pyongyang Seems To Accept That Jenkins Is Gone For Good
Pyongyang Says Jenkins Need Not Return to North Korea
Jenkins will meet his Japanese wife, Soga Hitomi, for the first time in 21 months.
The reunion between the U.S. soldier who allegedly deserted the army in the 1960s and a Japanese women who was abducted to North Korea has created a media frenzy not only in Japan but elsewhere around the world.
Charles Jenkins and Hitomi Soga are reunited at last but how long can their reunion last? As images of their tearful embraces spawn hopes for a rapid progress in normalizing relations between North Korea and Japan, there are now reports of conciliatory gestures coming from Pyongyang.
Citing reliable sources, the Japanese media reported Tokyo has been informed by the North that Charles Jenkins and his two daughters do not need to return to Pyongyang after their reunion in Jakarta.
According to the media reports, the North's move is apparently in response to Japan's request and Soga's wish that the respective authorities let the family live together in Japan.
It's also a decision though unconfirmed that is seen as Pyongyang's efforts to pave the way for the resumption of official normalization talks with Tokyo. For now, it is not yet known if North Korea's intention has been relayed to Jenkins.
According to the Japan Times, Charles Jenkins will not necessarily be imprisoned if he comes to Japan even though he will probably face a U.S. court-martial for desertion. After allegedly defecting to North Korea while serving in South Korea nearly 40 years ago, Charles Jenkins embarked on his first overseas trip on Friday with his two daughters Mika and Belinda to be reunited with his Japanese wife in Jakarta.
Hitomi Soga was among those repatriated to their homeland in 2002 after the communist state admitted to a series of kidnappings as part of its espionage program. Soga was taken with her mother (whose wherabouts are now unknown) in 1978 when she was 19 years old.
Arirang TV
Travelogue: A Year In Pyongyang (As a translator)
With all the talk about Charles Jenkins floating around the net, I just stumbled across this interesting travelogue from another translator that I think is interesting. You might want to check it out.
July 11, 2004
Many Blogs Blocked in ... SOUTH Korea...
I just read an interesting article from Rebecca Mc Kinnon on NKZone.
It appears that South Korea is reverting to the ways of their repressive past and blocking a number of blogs that mention North Korea, including NKZone.
How can they get away with it? Are people protesting this? What do you think?
Does anyone know if Free North Korea is being blocked?
