Monthly Archive for October, 2007

Korean War peace treaty questions

Published
by
Jack
on October 13, 2007
in Diplomacy, Kim Jong Il, Korean War, North Korea, Politics, Speculation and The region
. 0 Comments

UnificationThere has been a buzz about a possible end to the Korean War, and reading about it, there are some unanswered questions from my end anyway, and perhaps some readers can help me understand some of the background or a better understanding on this.

This article got me thinking:

With the leaders’ agreement short of naming the participants in the talks, controversy remains over which country among the four pertinent countries — South and North Korea, the United States and China — should be excluded if the talks involve three nations. As signatories of the armistice, the U.S. and North Korea must be part of the talks. China, the other part of the three-way armistice, claims it will also be part of the talks, but the South Korean government has said Seoul will be part of the dialogue on any occasion, partly because the summit agreement was reached between the two Koreas.

What I am not getting from this article is why only three nations would be allowed to participate in a possible peace treaty. Since the United States, South Korea, China and North Korea were all part of the Korean War, why would only three nations be involved in the process when all four want (or appears to want) to be part of it? Kim Yong Nam was not talking:

Continue reading ‘Korean War peace treaty questions’

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Kim Jong Il’s bellyaches will not change (updated)

Published
by
Jack
on October 12, 2007
in Diplomacy, Economy, Humanitarian Topic, Kim Jong Il, Korean War, North Korea, Nukes, ROK and United States
. 0 Comments

Sorry for the lack of updates. First it was integrating forums, now it was the lack of funds to pay for the Internet connection. The fun never stops. I apologize for that, so I have to catch up with some of the developments. Looks like there is some despite the slow news days for North Korea because it is hot or cold. No in between.

Kim Jong Il is hurt. He is not happy Bush called his rule a “brutal regime”. The truth hurts, but sometimes, it has to be said. That was one of the things Roh refused to do at the summit, which is to tell it like it is. No, I am not a huge fan of Bush, but left wing or right wing, there should be unanimous agreement Kim Jong Il is a brutal dictator. Kim just needs to be told this more often.

North Korea charged U.S. George W. Bush with tarnishing its dignity and hurting talks aimed at ending it nuclear arms programme by describing the communist state as a brutal regime, its official media said on Friday.

Six party talks or not, nuclear disablement or not, peace treaty or not, Kim Jong Il as long as he remains at the helm will still be a brutal dictator. I do not see him releasing any prisoners from his gulags, giving back POW’s, kidnapped people, letting people worship the way they want, go from one place to another freely, listen to broadcasts, or have a say in how the government is run. Until those and many other things change, it is the truth.

According to a text posted on the White House Web site, Bush told the U.N. General Assembly in September: “In Belarus, North Korea, Syria, and Iran, brutal regimes deny their people the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration”.

North Korea typically unleashes rhetorical attacks against those who criticise its human rights record, widely considered to be among the worst in the world.

Not a lot has changed in the last 60 or so years. The rhetoric keeps coming, so I do not know what news that is. I am sure he knows others have a basic idea of what is going on inside his walled la-la land. Jumping up and down screaming foul is not going to change the wide perception on his regime. I doubt this is going to keep the process from going forward at least for now, because there is gold at the end of this rainbow. As long as he appears to be a good boy, he can get his aid, energy assistance, economic cooperation and maybe even a delisting from the terror list. That should make his mouth water.

In the meantime, as long as the reactor making everybody nervous stops, he can continue his human rights abuses. That to me, is a tragedy.

Also, read this related article.

Update: I missed this KCNA link. Check it out.

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Joseph Dresnok syndrome?

Published
by
Jack
on October 10, 2007
in Defectors, Diplomacy, Humanitarian Topic, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, Korean War, North Korea, Policy Elites, ROK and Speculation
. 0 Comments

Joseph DresnokThere is the lingering and little talked about issue regarding kidnapped South Koreans according to the DailyNK. Apparently, these poor souls got tired of living in South Korea and wanted to defect to the socialist paradise that is the DPRK according to Kim Jong Il:

At the Inter-Korea Summit which was held in Pyongyang on the 3rd, Kim Jong Il insisted regarding the abducted South Korean, “They came to the North voluntarily and we received them through welcoming ceremonies.”

I guess human rights activists were wrong about Roh and he asked about some human rights issues. So it seems to me they should all calm down, “take a chill pill” and understand Roh is doing all he can to make North Korea play nice. In my opinion, if you believe that, I have some ocean front property in Kansas to sell.

Continue reading ‘Joseph Dresnok syndrome?’

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LiNK’s human rights crisis video

Published
by
Jack
on October 9, 2007
in North Korea and Video
. 0 Comments

North Korean watchers may know about this video, but for those that do not know about LiNK, this group does not have a lot of resources, but work very hard for the cause of North Koreans who want freedom and the fight for human rights. This should not be forgotten in the midst of all the talks, fluff and deals. While it sounds nice and has a feel good factor to it, people in North Korea are still in crisis. The need for freedom, food, and the end of the Kim regime should be a goal.

With all the smiles, clinking glasses, and showcase pictures, the reality is, there are still gulags. There are still repressive policies. Kim Jong Il is still in power. As long as Kim is still in power, the crisis will continue. Watch the video if you have not seen it, and if you have friends, please pass the video along.

Liberty in North Korea

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I added BBPress for further disussions, and registrations are open

Published
by
Jack
on October 9, 2007
in Other Topics
. 0 Comments

Update: Looks like the comments already made cannot be exported to vBulletin unless I write something to do it. That also means the stats are going to be odd when exporting. There are a lot of potential problems with this setup, so looks like the idea is going to be scrapped, and things will remain the same.

I’ll place the forums back on partisanrhetoric.com and leaving it there. Sorry for the problems, because I thought this would be a nice idea to discuss things a little further. The forums integration should be disabled completely by tomorrow afternoon if not sooner.

Update 2: Forums are deactivated. Things are back to where they were.

Update 3: I added BBPress, and it seems to work a LOT better. I opened registration for readers, but registration is not required for comments on the blog. This is only of you wish to comment on the forums, make threads, or be part of this site. I look forward to any and all to register so we can learn more and discuss the issues a little further. Thanks!

Old post: The process is pretty tedious and murky, and do not know what is compatible or not in the way of plugins and such. The question remains, should readers wanting to comment have to register? So far it does not seem necessary unless I want to use vBulletin for the comments. That is of course, I allow that particular forum to use anonymous posting which is another possibility. I still have to ask questions of the author of this plugin to get a better understanding on how this works, and in the meantime, things will appear normal and posts/comments will not redirect you to vBulletin just yet.

Also, I would like to get readers’ feedback if this is a good idea or not, or if readers that do comment here would want to register to comment.

Thank you for your patience, and this is one of the reasons why regular, in depth postings have been sparse the last few days.

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A must see at ROK Drop

Published
by
Jack
on October 8, 2007
in DPRK Forum Blurbs
. 0 Comments

A must see post at ROK Drop. The Korean War in Color. This a very good documentary, and encourage you all to see it. Now.

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.kp domain: I never thought I would see the day

Published
by
Jack
on October 7, 2007
in North Korea, Video and wtf
. 1 Comment

(Thanks to hapo for the info on this)

The .kp TLD is up and running. There seems to be only one publicly accessible site, and is thinking of accepting registrations soon. What the conditions of registring is unclear, but is interesting all the same. If there are other sites, I do not know.

Will all the pro-DPRK sites go to the new domain? After all, North Korea is not too fond of Japan. If you have not seen it yet, here are some links for you:

Whois information

ICANN statement

Meeting from the board of directors

ANA Report on Delegation of the .KP Top-Level Domain

Korean Computer Center

Naenara

Alright, that should be more than enough. At any rate, I thought this would never happen, and anything is possible after this news. Yes, this may be a little old in the news department, but it is pretty significant as far as the DPRK is concerned.

Songun blog has this video, but before I show you the video, here is the blurb regarding it:

It is a common misconception in the outside world, fed with constant mindless US imperialist anti-DPRK propaganda drivel, that North Koreans do not have computers or even knowledge of the existence of the Internet.
This, of course, is complete nonsense and is disproved by the Dutch documentary “North Korea, A Day In The Life”.
Please do not believe in US imperialist anti-DPRK propaganda but look at the facts.

As an anti-DPRK person, I am sure North Koreans have knowledge of the Internet, and some even accessed it. Phones have been smuggled in along with other media. While the North has been trying to keep it under control according to reports and defectors, once the genie is out of the bottle, it is difficult to put it back in.

Also, the documentary A Day in the Life is an attempt to show what North Korea is like from the government’s perspective like the tours. It seems the family shown is part of the policy elites. That is evident from grandpa with all the medals. But hey, you knew that already.

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Open Question: Should the U.S. stay or go?

Published
by
Jack
on October 6, 2007
in North Korea, ROK, Speculation and United States
. 3 Comments

I guess this can be an open thread of sorts, because I have seen so many takes on the U.S. presence in South Korea. Should they stay or should they go? Lately, I have noticed a very strong anti-American sentiment, and it is not just from the North. Since I am not too familiar with the South as others in the blogosphere (man, I hate that word). This article gave some insight although it is from the opinion page (I keep forgetting to say emphasis is mine on these entries):

The question of American forces in Korea is begged, inescapably, by Thursday’s joint North-South Declaration, which proclaims that the two Koreas “need to end the current armistice regime and build a permanent peace regime” — and which further affirms the goal of “unification on their own initiative and according to the spirit of ‘by-the-Korean-people-themselves.’”

Does that imply “Yankee go home?“, why yes, it sure looks like it:

Continue reading ‘Open Question: Should the U.S. stay or go?’

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So I got an offer for some money…

Published
by
Jack
on October 5, 2007
in wtf
. 0 Comments

Somebody sent me an interesting email (I will not name names) regarding they were interested investing in North Korea and left me a phone number. Now if this is a scam or not I do not know, but all I know is, they obviously sent the message to the wrong address. I do not live in North Korea let alone know Kim Jong Il’s e-mail address. I heard Madeline Albright has it. Maybe they should check with her.

Speaking of the Internet, there was an interesting article of the same hyperlink above and it may be worth the read.

The reclusive leader made the remark after South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun asked that South Korean companies operating at an industrial park in the North Korean city of Kaesong be allowed to use the Internet, Yonhap news agency reported, without citing any source.

“I’m an Internet expert too. It’s all right to wire the industrial zone only, but there are many problems if other regions of the North are wired,” Kim told Roh, according to Yonhap.

“If that problem is addressed, there is no reason not to open” the Internet, Kim said.

Huh? What problem? It could mean anything, but that was one of the odder statements I have read in a while. Yes, we all know at least Kim Jong Il uses the Internet, but to the extent of who uses it within the policy elites or the cabinet is unknown. But also, it is only common sense if normal North Koreans have free access to the Internet it could mean serious problems alright. Factions and protests could form, and that is a direct threat to Kim’s survival. That is just a guess though.

As for the e-mail, that is one of the odder things that happened today, and I am sure this is not the last of the goofballs that send me mail.

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North Korean oddities: Kijong-dong

Published
by
Jack
on October 4, 2007
in History, North Korea, ROK, Speculation, propaganda and wtf
. 4 Comments

Propaganda VillageGetting away from the summit and six party talks for a while, and today, we will look at some more oddities.

Known in the DPRK as the Peace Village and in the south as Propaganda Village. For those that visited the DMZ has seen this from the south, but I do not know if North Korea includes it in the official tour or not (for those that been on the North’s tour, perhaps you can shed some light on this). I started looking at this oddity on Wikipedia, but a lot of information was not readily available otherwise.

Continue reading ‘North Korean oddities: Kijong-dong’

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