Category: Uncategorized

North Korea Beats South In Asian Soccer Match

| November 7, 2005

Maybe the South Koreans need to merge their soccer teams as well in the future because they just got throttled by the Juche under 23 team at the East Asian Games:

North Korea stormed into the East Asian Games football final with a 2-0 win over bitter rivals South Korea.

Captain Kim Yong-jun put North Korea ahead in the first half before Ryang Yong-gi got his fourth of the tournament on 50 minutes.

The under-23 match was played on Saturday just days after the two Koreas took a big step towards fielding a joint team at next year’s Asian Games when they set a date to thrash out the details.

North Korea, who had already put 13 past Macau and upset China 3-1, capitalised on some terrible defending to open the scoring midway through the first half.

South Korea Government To Abstain From Human Rights Vote

| November 7, 2005

The human rights amnesia for the South Korean government continues:

South Korea will likely abstain on a U.N. resolution to condemn North Korea for human rights abuses, a government official said, prompting an opposition politician to accuse Seoul of harbouring double standards.

The European Union is aiming to bring to a vote later this month at the U.N. General Assembly, a measure that will chastise North Korea for suspected rights abuses. No date has been set for the vote.

Human rights group charge North Korea with maintaining networks of prison camps, using public executions to intimidate the masses and punishing criminals’ relatives, who are held to be guilty by association.

South Korea has abstained from similar measures brought before U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

President Roh Moo-hyun is hipocrite number one in Korea in regards to human rights in North Korea:

President Roh Moo-hyun was a human rights lawyer and the prime minister and health minister were jailed fighting for human rights under authoritarian governments a generation ago.

I love this quote here from a GNP politican opposed to President Roh’s stance:

Kim Moon-soo, a member of parliament for the main opposition Grand National Party, has criticised the Roh administration for what he sees as a failure to address North Korean human rights.

“Of course we must continue to send aid. But saying that North Koreans should only have bread and no freedom is an insult to our democracy, which we worked so hard to achieve,” Kim said.

Obviously the South Korean government is not working to achieve democracy in North Korea. They are working to achieve appeasement.

Heroes Welcome for Convicted Spy

| November 7, 2005

Convicted US spy Robert Kim has now returned to South Korea:

A Korean-American who spent about eight years in jail for illegally passing U.S. military secrets to Seoul returned to South Korea on Sunday where he was given a heroes’ welcome.

Robert Kim was greeted by scores of reporters and well-wishers upon his arrival at Inchon airport near Seoul. Supporters cheered his arrival and one held a placard that read “Our country loves you.”

Kim, a computer specialist who had worked at the U.S. naval intelligence office, is scheduled to meet with Nobel Peace Prize winner and former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.

A U.S. court convicted Kim of illegally passing classified information on North Korean arms exports and other military matters to South Korean embassy officials in Washington.

Kim was able to leave the United States after a probation period that was part of his sentence ended in October. He was released from prison in 2004.

“I think my case happened because the Korean peninsula is divided,” he told a news conference at the airport. “I did it in the hope that I might help, even a little bit, this nation reunite.”

Some may wonder why the US is not sharing all their intelligence with South Korea. It is probably because sensitive intelligence regarding North Korea ends up being leaked to the Norks just like the intelligence this scumbag leaked.

So Robert Kim enjoy your 15 minutes of fame because it will be over before you know it.

Korean Movie Screen Quota System To Be Discussed at APEC Summit

| November 5, 2005

A topic of interest to Hollywood film makers is to be addressed at this month’s APEC Summit in Pusan:

Filmmakers are angry at what they see as undue pressure by the United States to open the market to more Hollywood films. The current issue is a law requiring that cinemas show South Korean movies 146 days a year.

The United States has made it clear that it considers the screen quota a trade barrier and one of the biggest obstacles to free trade agreements between the countries. Hollywood considers South Korea to be one of its more lucrative foreign markets. South Koreans typically have a major presence at the American Film Market, a bazaar this month in Santa Monica, where foreign buyers shop for rights.

The quota issue is expected to come up again when President George W Bush attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference, in Pusan from November 18-19. In a rehearsal for protests to come, filmmakers railed against the US at the Pusan International Film Festival, the largest industry event in Asia.

A South Korean lobbying group, calling itself the Coalition for Cultural Diversity in Moving Images, released a feature-length documentary (called Fatal Attraction in reference to the infamous snake incident) that in conspiratorial tones worthy of Michael Moore covered subjects including Henry Kissinger and McDonald’s in an attack on American cultural imperialism.

Filmmakers from France and Iran joined forces with the South Koreans.

I think the Korean screen quota system is probably not needed now due to the current high quality and success of the domestic movie market. I often find myself watching Korean movies because what is coming out of Hollywood now a days is so bad. The Fantastic Four was the summer blockbuster and it was absolutely horrible.

Korea’s screen quota system did not deny Hollywood access to the Korean market because all the latest Hollywood movies can be seen in Korea, they are just not in theatres as long as movies in America due to the screen quota system. This system did have impact in helping to develop the current high quality movie productions currently in Korea. So the 146 day system is probably about right for developing film industries.

However for movie goers in Iran, watching the Fantastic Four for the eighth time would probably be better then watching Mullah-tron all day on TV. The citizens of Iran are eager for contact with the outside world. That is why the Mullahs need to legitimize totally blocking Hollywood movies in Iran for cultural reasons to prevent their people from seeing them.

Then France, which prides itself in being such a culturally enlightened society; I find it interesting that they cannot produce a domestic movie better than the Fantastic Four even though they have a fully developed film industry. I look at it this way; if your country needs to completely embargo the Fantastic Four I think this says a lot more about your country than it does mine.

Covert Commando Releases Book

| November 5, 2005

Here is a book I’m looking forward to if it comes out in English print. It is about a South Korean commando that conducted unbelievable covert missions in North Korea during the Korean War:

As the commander of a South Korean counter-intelligence military unit, called HID, Kim claims in the book that he led some 260 covert infiltration and espionage missions into North Korea during the three-year war which ended in 1953.

In a recent interview at his home in southern Seoul, Kim said his missions in North Korea ranged from assassinating and kidnapping communist leaders to collecting intelligence.

“In terms of spy activities, I’m sure I was the best,” Kim said as a matter-of-fact. “I infiltrated the enemy lines about 260 times by either parachuting from planes or sailing by boat.”

His book, titled “This man, Kim Dong-sok,” revealed some untold Korean War episodes such as the kidnapping of a top North Korean military officer and an assassination attempt on the then North Korean leader, Kim Il-sung, father of current leader Kim Jong-il.

The book derives its title from a statement reportedly made by U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who led the 16-nation U.N. forces in the 1950-53 Korean War, to express his appreciation about Kim’s successive outstanding intelligence reports: “This man again?”

Mr. Kim has actually been honored by 2ID by establishing Kim Dong-sok Day on December 16th in honor of this great veteran.

Also I think it may be a good possibly that this book will come out with an English edition because fellow Korean War hero Paik Sun-yup released his book, From Pusan to Panmunjom in English and it sells very well at the PX and is the best selling book from my Amazon.com selection on my website.

I wonder if the leftists and the Korean Teachers Union types will come after Kim Dong-suk and try to tarnish his accomplishments during the war as militarist war mongering? Never the less the guy is a hero that should be respected for his contribution to bringing freedom to South Korea.


North Korean Technological Progress

| November 4, 2005

The modernization of North Korea continues:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is urging workers to produce more bicycles to cope with the lack of transport, improve people’s health and prevent pollution just days after the country’s first bike factory opened.

Visitors to North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, say traffic pollution is not a major environmental concern simply because there is hardly any traffic. Fuel is short and so are vehicles — whether with four or two wheels.

North Korea’s official KCNA news agency reported Monday that Kim visited the Pyongyang Joint Venture Bicycle Factory — the country’s first.

It did not say when he visited the plant, which followed a trip to an electric wire factory and one that makes cranes.

But China’s Xinhua news agency reported on October 7 the North had started producing bicycles at the factory and could produce 300,000 “Peony Peak” bikes a year.

“He was satisfied to see various types of bicycles successfully manufactured for different purposes including those for urban, rural and mountainous uses and for children and the carriage of goods,” KCNA said of Kim’s visit.

“He underscored the need to significantly increase the production of bicycles, noting that the use of bicycles is very good for satisfactorily solving the problem of transport, promoting the convenience of people in their living and their health and preventing the pollution in cities,” it said.

Who says the Juche Philosophy and the Sunshine Policy isn’t working. North Korea has advanced from the nuclear age to the bicycle age in record time. Actually is there another country that has ever produced nuclear weapons before being able to produce bicycles? I guess the South Koreans can finally scratch bicycles from their North Korean extortion list.

UNESCO Site Now Nuclear Waste Dump?

| November 4, 2005

Why in the world has the Korean government chosen one of Korea’s most cherished cultural sites, Gyeongju which is listed by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site, as the country’s nuclear waste dump?:

The government has named Gyeongju in North Gyeongsang Province as the site of a low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste repository after 19 years of decision-making and nine failed attempts to select a nuclear dump site amid strong local opposition.
The Gyeongju nuclear waste repository is a significant success story as it stands as the first state project determined in a plebiscite. The city recorded a high turnout of 70.8 percent and a support rating of no less than 89.5 percent after the government incentivized its offer and local campaigning won over reluctant locals.

Though defeated by Gyeongju, both Gunsan and Yeongdeok posted turnouts in the 70 percent to 80 percent range and support rates of around 80 percent. This occurred despite fierce opposition from residents of candidate sites in previous years.

Conflict arising from the controversial plan to introduce a radioactive waste dump into their backyard even spilled over into violence in Buan, North Jeolla Province, two years ago.

This just blows my mind that the government chose Gyeongju, a precious national cultural asset as their choice for this nuclear waste dump over a better geographical choice such as Gunsan.

I can just see the tours in Gyeongju now, “Here is Bulguksa Temple which is listed by UNESCO as one of the World’s Cultural Heritage sites and next on the tour we will see the progress Gyeongju has made in the last 2,000 years by touring the city’s very own nuclear waste dump! I hope everyone is excited!”

Unbelievable, one of my favorite locations in Korea is being turned into a nuclear waste dump.

Then & Now: Changgyeong Palace

| November 2, 2005

Then:

Changgyeong Palace in 1950 located in Seoul during the Korean War.

Now:

Changgyeong Palace today.

Belarus Critical of South Korean Human Rights Vote

| November 1, 2005

After voting for a UN resolution condemning the human rights situation in the former Soviet republic of Belarus, South Korea is now receiving criticism from the country over it’s double standards for human rights in regards to it’s blind eye the government turns towards North Korea’s human rights situation:

A journalist of Belarus working in Moscow complained on October 31 about the South Korean government’s attitude by saying, “North Korea does not even have opposition parties or critical press to be suppressed.” His point was that the South Korean government should apply the same standards to all human rights resolutions.

It is true that those countries of former Soviet Union, on which human rights resolutions are passed in the U.N., have much better human rights conditions compared to North Korea, which is notorious for chronic food shortages and concentration camps for political prisoners.

The journalist from Belarus brings up a good point that South Korea has little creditability in regards to these human rights resolutions if they continue to not condemn the horrid human rights situation located just 30 miles north of Seoul. Korea if it continues to hold it’s position about human rights in Korea will only bring less creditability to the countries in North America and Europe who do care about human rights if they continue to vote for these resolutions.

South Korea maintains that the relationship with North Korea is a special circumstance. Using this logic any country that violates human rights can say they have to take these actions due to special circumstances within the country. This is why it would be better if South Korea just abstains from these human rights resolutions instead of voting for them. It makes the South Korean position more consistent and brings more creditability to the nations pushing these resolutions.

The Dear Leader Goes Grunge

| November 1, 2005

Check out this picture of Kim Jong Il meeting with Chinese leader Hu Jintao:

Is it just me or does the Dear Leader look like one of the homeless people you see hanging out near the old Seoul Station building in downtown Seoul? I’m sure President Hu was quite impressed.