Tag: Tara O

Via a reader tip comes the below video of a conference held recently by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) think tank.  The conference featured a number of ROK Drop favorites such as Dr. Tara O, Joshua Stanton from One Free Korea, David Maxwell, and Dr. Nicholas Eberstadt.  

A lot of great points were made by the speakers during the conference.  For example Dr. O points out the jailing of conservative media figures and how the ROK media is suppressing coverage of anti-Moon administration protests.  For example below is a picture of a protest that was not covered by the media.  She even discussed an example of how Kim Jong-un could become the President of South Korea if a confederation is created. 

Joshua Stanton also provided a lot of great examples of how Korean politicians have suppressed the media though it is in overdrive now.

I recommend watching the whole thing at the link. 

ROK Drop favorite Dr. Tara O has another great guest posting up over at One Free Korea that I recommend everyone read.  This time she discusses how the Moon administration has pre-emptively jailed journalist Byun Hee-jae for libel.  Byun has been writing about the infamous tablet PC that ultimately led to the impeachment of former President Park.  In the article Dr. O provides further information about how dubious the tablet PC was:

Park was impeached, and Moon was elected. Unlike what has been written in English, Park was not impeached for corruption or bribery, but for charges that she gave away the “monopoly of state affairs,” and the tablet PC was seen as the “silver bullet.”

The tablet PC turned out to contain no evidence per the special prosecutors’ own forensic report and was not even Choi’s. The tablet PC also did not contain Korean document editing-capable software. The report, however, was not released to the public until a year later, long after the impeachment had concluded and the public fervor had died down.

Sohn stated afterwards that “even if there was no such thing as the [insignificant] tablet PC . . . , [it wouldn’t have mattered]” implying that Park would have been impeached anyway, although it was his TV program that incited people. JTBC, popular among the youth, has made other erroneous claims and sensationalized reporting on the Sewol Ferry sinking, Theater High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD), and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).  [One Free Korea]

I recommend reading the whole article at the link, but a commenter left a link to another article that shows how Byun’s independent journalism site, Media Watch was likely targeted by the Moon administration for libel because of its dogged pursuit of the tablet PC story:

According to Mediawatch.kr, NFS’s forensic report does NOT even mention the name of Choi Soon-sil, much less pinpoint Choi as the user of the tablet PC that JTBC reported was owned and used by Choi.

Na’s testimony should have prompted an avalanche of reports covering this bombshell of a testimony—at least as torrential as those that gushed out of JTBC when it reported that NFS’s forensic report proved JTBC’s claim that Choi was the user of the tablet PC.

Instead, what happened was (1) a deafening silence on the part of JTBC and other MSM outlets, none of which reported this stunning revelation, and (2) the jailing of Byun Hee-jae, the founder of Mediawatch.kr, the only news outlet that has provided an extensive coverage of the testimony.

Mediawatch has doggedly pursued the JTBC’s disingenuous and illegal activities involving the tablet PC. Na’s crucial testimony was covered only by Mediawatch.kr and Jayoo.co.kr, a small internet news outlet which briefly mentioned Na’s testimony in its coverage of the arrest warrant for Byun Hee-jae, and a Youtube channel run by an investigative reporter U Jongchang formerly of Chosun ilbo, who also attended the court proceedings along with Yi Huiu of Mediawatch and Kim Piljun of JTBC.  [Tepyung.com]

Once again I recommend reading the whole thing at the link.

Remember that the actions being taken to silence journalists reporting about the dubious tablet PC is being done in concert with the arrest of Druking, the blogger who helped the Moon administration to manipulate online opinion before the election.  So he has been effectively silenced as well about disclosing any other actions that may have occurred prior to the election to help President Moon get elected.

Once again I wonder if we will ever see the major US media report on any of this?  Probably not they are too busy reporting on more important topics like Roseanne and Samantha Bee.

There is a great guest posting over at One Free Korea that I recommend everyone read.  It is from Tara O an ex-US Air Force intelligence officer who now works for the CSIS.  In her posting she shares many of the same views I have about the current peace negotiations that are ongoing on the Korean peninsula.  Here is an excerpt from the posting:

First, who is actually saying these phrases? President Moon Jae-in, not Kim Jong-un. Kim Jong-un certainly can speak for himself and as the monopolizer of communications and information in North Korea, he would have no problem expressing his positions. Even during the Moon-Kim meeting, Kim never uttered the word “denuclearization” and it was only Moon who said “denuclearization” but not of “North Korea,” but of the “Korean Peninsula.”

Second, the actual term used is “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” not “denuclearization of North Korea.” When we hear the word “denuclearization,” we mean North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons. However, “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” is what North Korea has long said, and the two ideas are very different. North Korea wants “denuclearization” of South Korea (South Korea is the part of the “Korean Peninsula” that it wants to focus on). South Korea does not have nuclear weapons, but it does have civilian nuclear energy, and more importantly, it has the U.S. nuclear umbrella through extended deterrence. What North Korea wants is the removal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella and the U.S. military capability away from not only South Korea but the region. That is hardly denuclearization of North Korea. It does imply removing the U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula and ending the alliance.

The “complete” could also mean the extension of denuclearization to the United States, in which case, what Kim really wants is a nuclear arms control negotiation with the U.S., which in turn means he wants to be recognized as a nuclear power. This is in line with what he has told people in North Korea—that North Korea will be recognized as a nuclear power. North Koreans believe that Kim’s meeting with Trump is about North Korea being recognized as a nuclear power.  [One Free Korea]

I highly recommend reading the whole thing at the link.

CSIS expert Tara O states something that I have said before that if Kim Jong-un is serious about peace on the peninsula why doesn’t he start pulling back his artillery and troops from the DMZ?:

President Moon Jae-in should seek ways to reduce the military threat posed by North Korea before signing a peace treaty, said Tara O, an adjunct fellow at the Pacific Forum CSIS, Tuesday.

She urged Moon to raise this issue at his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to be held at the border village of Panmunjeom, Friday.

“Unless there are concrete measures to reduce the threat, the signing of a peace treaty is premature and only makes South Korea more vulnerable,” O said in an interview.

“Besides, North Korea does not even want to sign a peace treaty with South Korea; it wants to sign it with the U.S.”

O’s advice came after President Moon said last week he was optimistic about signing a peace treaty with North Korea to formally end the Korean War.

She suggested Moon make detailed requests to Kim, such as moving the North’s artillery away from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), destroying its chemical and biological weapons, reducing its military forces and changing its official goal of unifying the entire Korean Peninsula under its rule.

She called any peace treaty without a reduction of military threats “a trap.”

“It’s not about peace. It’s about doing away with the justification for the U.S. troop presence in South Korea, because their mission is to deter, and if that doesn’t work, then defend the South and defeat the North,” she said.

O, an expert on North Korea, is a retired U.S. Air Force officer who worked on numerous assignments in Asia, Europe, and the U.S., including the Pentagon and U.S.-South Korea Combined Forces Command (CFC).  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.