The North Koreans have until April 14th to shut down their nuclear reactor, which right now they show no signs of doing, while simultaneously the South Koreans are going to go ahead and send them 400,000 tons of rice anyway.   Even more appalling is that US financial negotiators appear ready to give North Korea back it’s $25 million dollars in a Macao bank that was garnered through counterfeiting and money laundering of US currency.  Unbelievably this is the condition the US negotiators put in place for the return of the money:

  "We stand ready to assist the Macanese authorities in their efforts to release the funds and with all parties to effectuate the North Korean pledge that any money received by them would be used for humanitarian purposes of benefit to the North Korean people," it said.

The US is trusting a "pledge" from the North Koreans that they will use this money for humanitarian purposes?  These negotiators cannot honestly think this money is going to be used for humanitarian purposes?  How is anyone going to verify this?  If they want to use this money for humanitarian purposes how about using the money to buy food and send the food to North Korea instead?  There is no way this money is going to be used for humanitarian purposes and I’m sure the negotiators realize that as well.  This "pledge" is just political cover to give the North Koreans back the money without the appearance of breaking the UN luxury goods ban which giving them $25 million dollars is sure to be used to buy.  What is even worse about this appeasement is that giving back the $25 million was never in the original Agreed Framework 2.0 deal signed earlier this year. 

I’m guessing the negotiators are gambling that the North Koreans will not shut down their nuclear reactor by April 14th and by giving them the $25 million now, this would deprive Pyongyang of an excuse to blame the United States for them not shutting down the reactor.  I think it is 50/50 right now if they shut down the reactor or not, but even if they don’t what is anybody going to do?  They got their money back and South Korea keeps giving them free goodies anyway, along with the inter-Korean Kaeseong and Kumgang cash cows that are still operating.  Plus their criminal enterprises is still bringing in enough money because nobody is intercepting and inspecting North Korean ships either.  Its all carrots and no stick and that is the way it always is with North Korea.  

The Chosun Ilbo today has an editorial about a phone call placed between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President George Bush. Here is what the reportedly discussed:

According to Japanese media reports, Abe said in the 20-minute phone call that he had apologized to women forced into sexual slavery during World War II and his remarks on the issue hadn’t been accurately conveyed.

(more…)

So who can name where and what specifically is pictured below:

Here are this year’s current Korea Finder Leader’s Board:

Mark-7

Peekstr – 1

James -2

Note that who ever totals the most points at the end of the year, I will purchase for them a Korea related book or DVD of their choice using the proceeds I have accumulated by people purchasing books from Amazon.com on my website.

Here is some breaking news courtesy of OFK:

Just caught this story on naver – It seems about 52 defectors have been aprehended by Thai authorities and if convicted of entering the country illegally are expected to be sent back to North Korea.  [Joongang Ilbo, Korean link]

It looks like the new Thai military government is trying to cozy up to the North Korean regime by returning these defectors.  What is the Korean government doing to stop this?  Nothing that I could find.  Ditto for the US government as well.  To echoes OFK’s sentiment what the heck is Amnesty International doing about this?  Just like everyone else, absolutely nothing. 

I went over to the Amnesty International webpage and there was nothing about North Korea, but guess what right on the front page is this story about David Hicks the Australian terrorist who went from a skinny terrorist to a fat terrorist due to his time in Gitmo and received a trial to where he was sentenced to 9 months in jail.  Here is the human rights violations Amnesty International is more concerned about, overweight terrorists receiving a trail and sentence of 9 months while at the same time North Korean refugees are being sent back to North Korea to be enrolled into a gulag or be executed.  If only Bush or Haliburton could be connected to a North Korean gulag than maybe they would care. 

As usual it looks like the grassroots groups will have to be the ones to fight for the lives of the defectors.  In South Korea one Christian North Korea human rights group is already protesting at the Thai embassy. 

One Free Korea has a list of embassy contact information for people to contact these embassies in order to express displeasure with the return of these refugees to North Korea. 

Just another reason why I will not visit Thailand. 

This story about North Korean diplomats not sending their children back to North Korea as virtual hostages is turning out to be quite interesting.  OFK and DPRK Studies have great postings on the possible reasons and ramifications for this. 

From Yonhap:

A group of transgendered people will file a suit in April to seek the legal right to change their genders in their family registries, a civic group said Thursday.

The group said it will hold a briefing Saturday for transgendered people living in South Korea, estimated at 30,000, to help them join the collective action.

If they succeed will it be called the Harisu Law? 

Anyway, the only transgendered Koreans I have personally ever seen in Korea were in Dongducheon.  They would flock to the clubs up there to hit on drunk GIs.  I was at the infamous Rendezvous Club one time and saw this soldier hanging all over what was obviously a transexual but he was too drunk to tell the difference.  I sat by him and then pulled him a side to explain to him his folly.  He got pissed and wanted to throw down because he thought I was trying to steal his chick.  Since he was so enamored with his new girlfriend, I left him to his folly.  I never saw that soldier show his face ever again in that club. 

From Yonhap:

The South Korean government said Tuesday it will soon begin excavating the remains of civilians killed by their own security forces for alleged espionage or collaboration with communist North Koreans during the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission said it plans to ask a team of experts to partner with an excavation company to dig at the four different locations where mass killings are believed to have taken place.

The government-affiliated commission said it wants to continue the excavation until May to find the remains of about 5,000 civilians allegedly killed by the South Korean police and military during the war.

So when is anyone going to start excavating remains from North Korean and Chinese atrocities during the Korean War? 

From the Chosun:

According to PopNews, a study on body mass index (BMI) released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2005 shows that only 3.2 percent of Koreans and Japanese have a BMI higher than 30.

A person with a BMI figure higher than 25 is considered overweight, while a reading above 30 means obesity.

The U.S. is the fattest of the OECD member nations with 30.6 percent of its population having a BMI higher than 30. It is followed by Mexico, Britain and Slovakia.

Towards the bottom of the list are Italy where 8.5 percent of the population is obese, Norway with 8.3 percent and Switzerland with 7.7 percent.

It will be interesting to see if Korea will be able to maintain this status because the younger generation of kids in Korea are definitely getting heavier, however they have a long ways to go to catch us Americans. 

So what do you do when you are a deserter of two different militaries and on the run? Go to the sauna of course:

South Korean officials captured a man Sunday who they say deserted both the U.S. and South Korean militaries.

The 26-year-old, identified as Pvt. Kim, was nabbed in a public sauna in the Hongdae neighborhood of Seoul, a Ministry of National Defense spokesman confirmed Monday. The spokesman said they received a tip about Kim’s location.

I wonder if they can get him as well for violating an off limits order as well?

This just goes to show once again, it isn’t just 2ID who has taxi cab related incidents:

Park, interviewed by phone on Monday, said he picked up the boys near the main gate of Camp Carroll at about 2 a.m. and took them to downtown Waegwan — about a $2.50 fare.

When they arrived, the teens bolted without paying, Park said. He gave chase and managed to catch them with the help of a bystander.

They began to scuffle and Park said he saw that one teen was wielding something in his hand before striking the driver in the stomach.

“At first I didn’t realize what happened,” said Park. He grabbed his midsection and his hands came away bloody.

“The blood was coming out of my jacket, it was dripping on the street,” he said. “It was then that I realized I had been stabbed with a knife.”

This is actually one of the most vicious attacks on a cab driver yet in Korea.  Truly despicable to stab some in the gut for a $2.50 taxi fare.  It will be interesting to see how Korean law is applied to these two dependents of US servicemembers, but hopefully the new taxi cab law applies to them as well and they see some jail time. 

Additionally, why were they out at 2AM to begin with?  Their parents will probably have a lot of explaining to do this week.

You can read more over at Lost Nomad and the Marmot’s Hole.