Category: Uncategorized

Parade magazine has a Top 10 List of the World’s Worst Dictators. I wonder if the Blue House is going to condemn Kim Jong Il’s ranking as the world’s 2nd worst dictator as being an impediment to the six way talks?:

2) Kim Jong-il, North Korea. Age 63. In power since 1994. Last year’s rank: 2

While the outside world focuses on Kim Jong-il’s nuclear weapons program, domestically he runs the world’s most tightly controlled society. North Korea continues to rank last in the index of press freedom compiled by Reporters Without Borders, and for the 34th straight year it earned the worst possible score on political rights and civil liberties from Freedom House. An estimated 250,000 people are confined in “reeducation camps.” Malnourishment is widespread: According to the United Nations World Food Program, the average 7-year-old boy in North Korea is almost 8 inches shorter than a South Korean boy the same age and more than 20 pounds lighter.

Here is a complete list of the World’s Worst Dictators:

1) Omar al-Bashir, Sudan. Age 62. In power since 1989. Last year’s rank: 1

10) Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea. Age 63. In power since 1979. Last year’s rank: 10

Interesting that Hu Jintao is number six on the list. Just goes to show that economic success doesn’t always lead to political and individual freedom.

Hat Tip: Asiapundit

South Gyeongsang Province farmers are to receive another subsidy from the Korean government, subsidized marriage:

South Gyeongsang Province has resolved to provide W6 million (US$6,000) to any over 35 single male farmer, in the event that they marry a foreign woman.

South Gyeongsang Province has also decided to initiate “adjustment education” to teach Korean, traditional Korean culture and etiquette to over 1,000 foreign women who are married to local men. The adjustment education runs for three months in five major regions by district and covers transportation fees and lunch.

Today the top commander of all US forces in Japan, Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright spoke out against the killing of a Japanese woman by a naval serviceman:

Japanese authorities say William Oliver Reese, 21, fatally beat and robbed a Japanese woman of about $130 near a U.S. Navy base southwest of Tokyo on Jan. 3. He has been turned over to Japanese custody.

Learning from experience, U.S. officials have been quick to express their regrets. Wright even attended the wake for the slain woman.

All of this talk in Japan is very similar to the debate that has happened here in Korea before in regards to GI crimes. In Korea it is assumed by a section of the Korean public that GI’s commit an inordinate amount of crimes in Korea which is flatly not true. USFK crime is actually much less on average when compared to the local Korean civilian crime rate. However, this fact is not publicized enough in the Korean media to do away with the GI criminal stereotype. Especially, when the few incidents that do happen are so well publicized in the media.

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how the Japanese public reacts to this case. I don’t foresee mass candlelight vigils or US flag burnings like we have seen here before in Korea, but the Japanese public cannot be to happy with this brutal murder by this thug for $130.

Korean car companies just like their American counterparts are about to discover an area of the automobile market that the Japanese dominate and customers want:

Japanese car makers are planning to market hybrid cars in South Korea, a wake-up call for domestic competitors who are in the early stage of commercializing their environmentally friendly models.

“As a leading hybrid vehicle producer worldwide, we decided to become the first player here,” the official reportedly said.

I think this is great news, just like I think it is great that the Japanese are flooding the US market with their hybrids. People are buying these cars and the Japanese companies are making huge profits off of them. This in turn is forcing US auto companies to make and sell hybrids as well, which means in the long run we will all be using less oil. Less oil means less money in the hands of idiot dictators such as the rulers in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

I think that this is definitely a part of the automobile market that Korea needs to hurry up and exploit. There are profits just waiting to be made. I think people are willing to pay a little extra for a hybrid because in the long run it will save them gas money, especially if they are getting the same performance from the vehicle as they would with a strictly gasoline powered vehicle.

Japan’s newest missile system that was designed to protect the country from the North Korean ballistic missile threat. However, now key data about the system has been leaked to a North Korean front group the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon). Chongryon is a pro-North Korean group in Japan notorious for providing gambling revenue, drug money, and spying for Pyongyang:

The leaked dossier contains data on a research simulation outlining the defense capability of the SAM-3 mid-range guided missile system deployed since 2003. Compiled by the Mitsubishi Research Institute on April 20, 1995, it contains information on missile system operations, interception altitude and distance and the missile’s performance against fighter-bombers.

The missiles were developed by the research and development headquarters of the Self-Defense Agency between 1994 and 1995 in collaboration with private firms including Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Toshiba. “The data may not apply to the actual missile systems, but it may help North Korea to estimate the performance of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force’s ballistic missiles,” the paper speculated. “The data will help North Korea if it seeks to build matching systems to beat Japanese ballistic missiles.” Japan is developing weapons to use against North Korea’s Rodong and other ballistic missiles.

Korean environmental authorities are trying to force USFK to pay to “cleanup” the camps that were closed out and awaiting turn over to the Korean government:

According to a statement by the environment and defense ministries Monday, the government has now conducted environmental inspections at 29 USFK bases that are to be returned to Korea and found 22 of them contaminated beyond safety standards. They therefore decided to ask the U.S. to handle the cleanup.

However, citing a U.S. Defense Department standard limiting any cleanup to “known, imminent and substantial endangerment,” the USFK says it is under no obligation to clean up a single base. However, under pressure from Korea, Washington is understood to have agreed to clean up eight bases. The confrontation is likely to be protracted since the cost of the cleanup is estimated at W500 billion (around US$500 million).

The environmental officials make it sound like that soldiers were just dumping oil and fuel into the soil of the camps which is totally untrue. If the soil is not safe on these installations as they claim, how come all the soldiers that lived on these bases all these years did not become sick? Plus in all the US motor pools there are fuel water separators plus the motor pools are made of concrete so if there is an oil spill it can be quickly cleaned with dry sweep and put into barrels that are picked up and disposed of by Korean contractors. Also fuel trucks have plastic spillage containers beneath them to prevent fuel spills. These are just a few examples of the US military’s hazardous material prevention techniques.

Having dealt with environmental inspectors before, IMHO they have to justify their existence thus it is in their interest to find something wrong with these camps thus creating a need for an expensive cleanup which I’m sure Korean contractors are all for. I am willing to bet that these camps have less “pollution” then nearby ROK Army bases or even communities across the street from the camps. Go to Uijongbu or Dongducheon and look at the rivers that flow through those cities and see what is floating in them and how bad they smell. How come no one is charging these areas $500 million for a cleanup as well?

I just got done reading the book I picked up during my recent trip to Japan. The book titled, The Japan Journals is written by Donald Richie who first entered Japan during the post-World War II period starting in 1947. His life remained intertwined with Japan for over the next 55 years as a journalist and writer.

The book features many interesting moments when the writer met numerous famous Japanese people such as Akira Kurosawa due to his job reporting for the Stars and Stripes newspaper. However, the stories I liked the best from the book were his numerous trips into the Japanese country side where he provides interesting accounts of life for the average Japanese person after the war. Comparing these accounts with life today in Japan is really enlightening to see how far the country has come.

Overall, the book is good reading for those with a deep interest about the people of Japan and it’s post-World War II history. I recommend the book for all those familiar with life in Japan from an ex-pat’s perspective. There are a number of stories in the book I could relate to today that even happened to him 50 years ago.

A team from the US Treasury Department is scheduled to arrive in Seoul this week:

In a related development, a four-member delegation from the U.S. Treasury Department, which arrived in Seoul on Saturday, will meet Seoul officials on Monday to show evidence of Pyongyang’s suspicious financial activities at a bank in Macau.

Daniel Glaser, Treasury Department’s deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, and three other American officials visited Hong Kong and Macau before arriving in Seoul. They are scheduled to leave South Korea on Tuesday.

I will make the assumption that the Treasury Department is coming to Seoul to display the gathered evidence and information provided by the Chinese after Kim Jong Il’s visit to China, of the North Korean counterfeiting activities. This is of course information that the Blue House doesn’t want to believe. The six way talks are of more importance to Seoul:

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-moon returned to Seoul on Sunday after a six-day visit to the United States, where he said Seoul had delivered its concerns to Pyongyang over the Communist state’s alleged counterfeiting of U.S. dollars.

“We have conveyed our concerns to North Korean authorities,” he said in an interview with CNN’s Late Edition, which was aired on Sunday. “At the same time, we hope that this kind of counterfeiting or illicit activities by North Korea will not stand in the way of six-party talks.”

I for one hope the US government keeps the pressure on the North Korean regime. In IMHO, hitting the North Koreans in the pocket book will get more results from the six way talks then what we have seen so far.

First there was Oprah’s Book Club and now there is, The Osama Book Club:

Israelly Cool points out struggling authors should stop focusing so exclusively on the Oprah Winfrey Show and start concentrating on cracking Osama Bin Laden’s reading list. According to Reuters, the mere mention of William Blum’s Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower on Bin Laden’s latest auditotape rocketed Blum’s book from 209,000 on Amazon’s sales list to No. 3O. It went as high as 19, from our research. No word on where the book stands today, but you can check it here. Also, no word so far on whether Osama has read Glenn Reynolds’ latest. He hasn’t commented on it anyway.

With Osama Bin Laden having his own reading list; I have to wonder why Kim Jong Il doesn’t have his own book club as well? When Kim does get a book club going I’m sure this book will be on the top of his reading list:

Anyone else have any other Dear Leader reading suggestions?

Departing USFK Commanding General Leon LaPorte is now a citizen of Nomads favorite city:

U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Leon J. LaPorte was given honorary citizenship to South Korea’s capital city Thursday in a ceremony to honor the four-star general before he leaves as America’s longest-serving military leader here since the Korean War.

LaPorte and his wife, Judy, have lived on Yongsan Garrison in Seoul for almost four years. LaPorte is leaving South Korea on Feb. 3 and plans to retire from the military after almost 38 years with the Army. He and his wife plan to move to Texas.