Korea Thread: Liberal Moon Jae In Elected

[jimmy olsen]

Despicable, but not surprising.

Myers wrote an enlightening book on the subject.

http://www.amazon.com/Cleanest-Race-Koreans-Themselves-Matters/dp/1935554344/ref=la_B001K8Y2G4_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399563153&sr=1-1

[derspiess]

Myers was mentioned in the article.

[jimmy olsen]

Yeah, but I don't think they mentioned his book, so I wanted to recommend it.

[alfred russel]

I wonder what Dennis Rodman thinks about all this?

[derspiess]

I'm sure he feels betrayed. 

Or maybe the article was some sort of payback for him expressing vague regret over going to North Korea?

[jimmy olsen]

Totally agree with this guy

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/12/opinion/stanton-lee-north-korea-hate-crimes/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

Editor's note: Joshua Stanton, an attorney in Washington, has advised the House Foreign Affairs Committee on North Korea-related legislation and blogs at OneFreeKorea. Sung-Yoon Lee is Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies and assistant professor at the Fletcher School, Tufts University. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writers.

(CNN) -- In the past weeks, North Korean state media have called the female President of South Korea a "dirty political harlot" and an "old prostitute"; the gay chairman of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on North Korea "a disgusting old lecher with 40-odd-year-long career of homosexuality"; and, in a loathsome screed, referred to U.S. President Barack Obama as a "monkeyish human monstrosity."

Still, North Korea's exceptionally vile words pale in comparison to its criminal actions.

In North Korea, racism isn't just talk. That U.N. Commission of Inquiry's report summarizes testimony from North Korean refugee women and former border guards who say that the regime forcibly aborts or murders the babies of refugee women sent back to North Korea by China, on the presumption that the babies' fathers were Chinese, to maintain the myth of state-mandated "racial purity." It described a system of hereditary discrimination, based on perceived political loyalty, that denies lower-caste North Koreans opportunities for education, employment, and even food.


The report asserts that Pyongyang fines women for wearing pants or riding bicycles, and forces thousands of them into sexual slavery by denying them an adequate supply of food. As for gay North Koreans, Pyongyang denies that they even exist, and said the report was spurred by lies and "hostile forces."

North Korea's repellent language and actions teach us some uncomfortable lessons:

First, North Korea's remaining defenders on the far left do not deserve to be described as liberal or progressive. Although increasingly fewer in numbers, these ideologically committed apologists echo Pyongyang's justifications for its nuclear weapons programs, deny its responsibility for crimes against humanity, and -- despite Pyongyang's repeated violations of the 1953 Armistice -- insist that only a peace treaty can prevent war. To defend Kim Jong Un's rule, they must also defend its racism, its sexism, its homophobia, its class discrimination, and its extreme repression.

Second, we should stop infantilizing North Korea and dismissing it as ridiculous. The temptation is understandable. The North Korean regime's very weirdness causes much of the world to dismiss its invective as the rant of a regime that is merely isolated, eccentric, and misunderstood.

But North Korea is not just a bizarre abstraction --- an impoverished kingdom ruled by a young, overly well-nourished hereditary leader with an affinity for the National Basketball Association. It is a murderous regime that is approaching nuclear breakout, and whose human rights violations, according to the Commission of Inquiry, "have no parallel anywhere in the world." North Korea's words reflect the character of its political system. They manifest the malice of a regime that practices hate and inflicts it on its own people and its neighbors alike. It's time to treat Kim Jong Un like the threat to civilization that he is.


Third, North Korea is not a problem the Obama administration can keep ignoring. North Korea has been caught assisting Syria's nuclear weapons and chemical weapons program; has sold ballistic missiles to Iran and Syria; and has sold arms to Hamas and Hezbollah. Yet, it has not been penalized for most of these actions. Indeed, North Korea may be the most influential regional actor in history in relation to its economic, political and cultural power, and the size of its territory and population. Over the past two decades, this poor, aid-dependent, isolationist state has outplayed the biggest and wealthiest nations in the world, including the United States, China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea, on high international politics -- nuclear diplomacy.

Fourth, North Korea can't be appeased or patronized away. Since the mid-1990s, Pyongyang has reaped billions of dollars from the U.S. and its allies in return for empty pledges of de-nuclearization while forging ahead with its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Since 2008, North Korea has refused to show up at six-party de-nuclearization talks, in spite of U.S. and South Korean offers of aid. Despite years of aid and engagement, North Korea shows no interest in reform, has become more dangerous to South Korea as well as to its own people, and has become more hostile to the U.S. and the world. Today, North Korea is on the verge of a fourth nuclear test.

North Korea must be held to the standards of the civilized world. For decades, diplomats and nongovernmental organizations alike have excused Pyongyang's transgressions, lies and crimes out of a desire to maintain relationships with it at all costs.

The consequences of such appeasement are telling: Aid doesn't get to the hungry, disarmament deals collapse, U.N. sanctions leak, and a regime sustained by hate and contemptuous of human life and dignity acquires the bomb. Pyongyang uses its access to the civilized world to supply its increasingly wealthy elite with cash, while, according to the United Nations, 84% of North Korean households have poor or borderline food consumption. The world cannot sanction and subsidize the same regime at the same time. It must first pressure Pyongyang into understanding that change is its only choice, by taking the enforcement of U.N. Security Council sanctions seriously.

For once, actions must have consequences. For Pyongyang to enjoy the benefits of civilization, it must live by the standards of civilization. Accepting Pyongyang's hate at face value is a first step toward credibly presenting Pyongyang with that dose of reality.

[jimmy olsen]

Pretty good interview with a North Korean defector.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/why-north-koreas-kim-jong-un-isnt-powerful-kim-jong-n103926

In the late 1990s, Jang Jin-sung was North Korea's state poet laureate and a spy.

He reached the pinnacle of his charmed life in 1999 when he met the "Dear Leader," Kim Jong Il, at the age of just 28.

Becoming one of Kim's "Admitted" inner circle meant Jang was granted immunity from even the highest-ranking authorities and other privileges: a steady stream of food provisions ("spoils of war" as the North Koreans termed food aid packages from international aid agencies), special access to strictly censored publications, a travel pass within the country, even his own transport – a bicycle.

It all came to an end in 2004 when Jang was forced to flee his homeland.

"Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee — A Look Inside North Korea" is Jang's story of transformation and his escape; it's being published this month by Simon & Schuster. While almost everything Jang recounts about how the North Korean government works is unverifiable, it's a remarkable account.

Below is the translation of an interview he gave NBC News' Director of International News Adrienne Mong during a recent visit to London.

Q: What was your job?

In North Korea, I was a writer. But in North Korea there's no such thing as a writer the way the outside world understands it. It's not as an individual that you are a writer. It is as a bureaucrat, as a civil servant, as a revolutionary.

I was a part of the so-called United Front Department [the key division in the ruling Workers' Party that was also responsible for inter-Korean espionage, policymaking and diplomacy]. My job title was counterintelligence officer with special oversight of psychological warfare against South Korea.

Q: So your position gave you a unique perspective on how the North Korean government functions?

When I was growing up, I didn't even think to question what we read and were taught. It was only when I became part of the system, writing over and over the story that I'd been taught as a child, that I realized it wasn't the truth. I realized it was policy that was forcing our history, our culture, and our identity to be written a certain way -- not because it actually happened this way.

Q: How does the North Korean government work?

The world today still thinks of North Korea as a military country, that the military is the most important entity. But that is completely incorrect. The only entity that actually matters when it comes to decision-making or policy-making is the Organization and Guidance Department (OGD), the executive branch of the Workers' Party.

All roads in North Korea lead to the OGD. If you go anywhere in North Korea, even at the lowest level -- a village, town, district, or residential neighborhood -- there is a party committee. This committee reports to the OGD. The OGD answered to one person, Kim Jong Il. The OGD has five functions. First, it is responsible for running the country and there are no competing channels. Second, it has the right to vet and appoint personnel who have any power to command. Third, it has the right to purge, execute, or monitor anyone; the secret police is directly run by the OGD. Fourth, any policy anyone wants to propose has to go through the OGD; there is no legislative body and Kim Jong Il signed off on every policy. Finally, the OGD is responsible for safeguarding the Kim family.

Q: Is this power structure sustainable?

The OGD is designed to support the authority of one man alone at the top. There is no No. 2 or No. 3 person. There are no factions. That's why the OGD reinforces the authority of the Kim dynasty, the Kim sanctity, the Kim legitimacy. The statues, the propaganda, all that is maintained by the OGD. It doesn't matter whether it's sustainable; they don't know how to maintain power any other way.

Q: What if Kim Jong Un is a weak leader? How does the OGD work then?

It's a structure that keeps it going no matter whether he has the power or not. That's precisely why the OGD is so much more powerful now than before. When Kim Jong Il built up the OGD [to take power from his father Kim Il Sung], it was all Kim Jong Il's friends, a network of his old friends. Kim Jong Un doesn't have that old boys' network. If he does, it's in Switzerland. In North Korea, he's alone. He has no alliances or factions or any clout, because he has no operational experience within the North Korean system the way his father had by the time he came to power.

Q: If so, wouldn't someone in the OGD just take over if they already wield the real power?

That's an interesting question. North Korean people live in a society that has been engineered especially for a Kim to be in power. Only the Kim family is considered the legitimate heirs. If another family came to power, that would cause fissures within the OGD system. These people know this better than anyone else; it's in their interest to keep the system going as it is, to keep Kim Jong Un in the spotlight but to wield the real power behind the scenes.

Q: What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding of North Korea today?

North Korea needs to be seen in its own specific context. People tend to view how it works within the Soviet system or as some relic of Stalin or the Cold War. It's not. It's more of a cult-totalitarian state, i.e., a totalitarian system with a cult-building foundation. We need to stop applying Cold War or Soviet logic to a country that has a totally different historical background.

Q: We tend to think that China is North Korea's closest ally and has influence over North Korea. But when I was working in Beijing, that didn't seem to be the view within the Chinese capital. How would you describe the relationship?

The Chinese have been so annoyed by North Korea and by Kim Jong Il personally ... China wants reform and opening. It has expectations for Kim Jong Un. But it's going to be more pragmatic in its approach in how to deal with Pyongyang. Because to the Chinese, it's, "we don't want to go through what happened with Kim Jong Il, he was a pain." As for the North Korean leadership, it despises China. They believe, "The Chinese think they're so great. They think they can determine Korea's fate. We are not Chinese. We are Korean." So these guys don't want to be holding hands with Beijing. They are more interested in developing their nuclear weapons to keep their status quo going. The last thing they would want is Chinese-style reform.

Q: What is the North Korean view of America then?

The so-called hatred towards America comes out of a pragmatic need. North Korea needs to find blame for its own domestic power failures so the U.S. has been designated as a state enemy for that purpose. But it's not really anti-U.S. Think about it this way, every leader's house is supposed to hang a portrait of Kim Il Sung, but in the end every leader's household wants cash. And the U.S. dollar is what keeps the North Korean economy going. In order to justify a power system that does not reflect reality, you need an unrealistic enemy. And that's the role the U.S. plays, the bogeyman.

Q: What has been the biggest adjustment living in the outside world, in South Korea?

The most difficult thing was to realize that while I had left that world of North Korea, I could not settle in the new world of South Korea, because I had left all my family and friends north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). How could I live in a world empty of everyone I loved? The DMZ is a fence not just across land but also across the heart of every North Korean exile. We're neither of this world or that world. If your heart is still in one place and you are in another, it's hard to make a new life in a new place. So that was the most difficult decision I had to make: to accept that I am here, in South Korea, and begin anew.

Q: Describe to us your day-to-day now in South Korea. How do you go about life amidst possible threats from North Korea to stop you from talking?

My life is no different from that of normal people. I get up in the morning, go to work [at New Focus International, a website reporting on North Korea], come home for dinner with my family, etc. Of course, I have bodyguards and am always aware of the threat from North Korea .... I'm just so grateful to even be alive and to live another day. So I can't waste it, because why did I escape, why did all of this happen so that I could have a happy life, if I don't keep speaking the truth about North Korea?

[jimmy olsen]

Reorganize sure, but dismantle? That seems a bit too far.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/18/world/asia/south-korea-coast-guard/

(CNN) -- South Korea's President apologized Monday for a ferry disaster that killed close to 300 people and said she would dismantle the country's coast guard.

"As the President who should be responsible for people's life and security, I am sincerely apologizing to the people for having to suffer pain," said President Park Geun-hye. "The final responsibility for not being able to respond properly lies on me."

The Sewol ferry sank en route to Jeju Island on April 16, killing 286 people and leaving 18 others still missing. Most of the passengers were students on a school field trip.
She slammed the coast guard, saying it "failed in its duty to carry out the rescue operation."

"After serious consideration, I've decided to dismantle the coast guard. The investigation and information roles will be transferred to the police while the rescue and salvage operation and ocean security roles will be transferred to the department for national safety which will be newly established," the President said.

Between tears, she proposed building a monument to the victims and setting aside April 16 as a day to focus on safety.

"I, again, pray for those who passed away during the incident and express my deep condolence to the families," Park said.

The Sewol disaster caused widespread outrage in South Korea over lax safety standards and the failure to rescue more people as the ship foundered.

A chief prosecutor announced last week that the captain and three other crew members have been charged with murder. The remaining 11 crew members have been indicted on charges of abandonment and violating a ship safety act.

Investigators are looking at the overloading, the failure to secure cargo properly, the imbalance of weight on the ferry and a sudden turn on the ferry as possible reasons for the Sewol's sinking.

[garbon]

And now that subway explosion killing 11?

[jimmy olsen]

Looks like it wasn't nearly that bad, but this isn't gonna help. Local elections are coming up in a couple of weeks and the government is gonna get hammered.

http://time.com/104539/subway-explosion-lightly-injures-11-in-south-korea/

Subway Explosion Lightly Injures 11 In South Korea

    AP / Jung-Yoon Choi

9:05 AM ET

(SEOUL, South Korea) — An electrical problem caused an explosion at a South Korean subway station Monday evening, lightly injuring 11 people, an emergency official said.

A part of the train's electrical insulation device was damaged and triggered the explosion at a station in Gunpo city just south of Seoul, local emergency official Yoo Hyung-gi said. He said operations later resumed at the station.

The incident came as South Korean media ramped up their focus on allegations of widespread safety negligence in the country following a ferry disaster that left more than 300 people dead or missing last month. There is suspicion that the ferry set off with far more cargo than it could safely carry and that crew members abandoned passengers in need.

Earlier this month, a subway train plowed into the back of another train at a station in Seoul, inflicting mostly minor injuries to more than 240 people.

The series of incidents threw a spotlight on the infrastructure and safety as South Korea rose rapidly from the destruction of the 1950-53 Korean War to Asia's fourth biggest economy.

[jimmy olsen]

Sports Day, the annual school athletics festival is fast upon us and a couple of days ago that custom made jersey's that many of the classes arrived. Upon said arrival the rumor mill exploded. One of the girls had her shirt embroidered with "Tim's Wife" in Korean on the back.

[11B4V]

And now that subway explosion killing 11?

She's probably going to dismantle the transportation police too.

[sbr]

Sports Day, the annual school athletics festival is fast upon us and a couple of days ago that custom made jersey's that many of the classes arrived. Upon said arrival the rumor mill exploded. One of the girls had her shirt embroidered with "Tim's Wife" in Korean on the back.

I have heard of some cruel school pranks, but that takes the cake.  Poor girl.

[Josquius]

Sports Day, the annual school athletics festival is fast upon us and a couple of days ago that custom made jersey's that many of the classes arrived. Upon said arrival the rumor mill exploded. One of the girls had her shirt embroidered with "Tim's Wife" in Korean on the back.

1: is she hot?
2: you're obviously doing something right

[alfred russel]

I thought you didn't speak Korean. Are you sure that is what the shirt said? Maybe the joke is on you and people are just telling you that.