Over at SEB, Mike discusses Hwang Jang-yeop’s trip to the United States, and while doing so points to this piece in the Guardian. Now, as you can probably guess, I’m not a huge fan of the Guardian, mostly on account of its openly left-wing, anti-American bias and lack of Page 3 Girls. However, check this out:
The highest-ranking defector from North Korea, a man who once mentored leader Kim Jong Il, shared his views of the reclusive regime with senior State Department officials on Wednesday and planned to go public on Capitol Hill.
The high-profile visit of Hwang Jang Yop could strain already jumpy relations between the Bush administration and North Korea even as the United States, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan hope to stage another round of six-nation talks about North Korea’s nuclear program.
Notice how long it takes for the Guardian to go from “Hwang visits US” to “visit could strain relations between Bush and North Korea.” Of course, if this were the late Kim Yong-sun or some other Kim Jong-il henchmen visiting the States, the boys at the Guardian would be blowing loads all over their computer screens. A high level defector goes to Washington, and it’s “Oh no, what will Kim Jong-il think of this?” Pathetic. And a little later:
In South Korea, Hwang lives under tight security and has written books and given lectures condemning Kim’s regime as totalitarian. Until now, South Korea has kept him from visiting the United States out of concern for his security, according to officials in Seoul.
“Out of concern for his security?” What type of reporting is that? Looks, it’s not like everyone and his brother doesn’t know why Kim Dae-jung and Noh Mu-hyeon were uncomfortable with Hwang going to the States. Security, my ass - Kim and Noh probably wish someone would pop a cap in Hwang’s ass. They, like the Guardian, were afraid that Hwang might present a slightly starker image of the North than the cute, cuddly one their adminstrations has been unsuccessfully trying to sell to Bush. Yes, officials in Seoul claim “security concerns,” but if the Guardian can find the “evil truths” behind the official pronouncements of the Bush Administration, surely they could have made mention of Seoul’s real reasons for keeping Hwang confined to South Korea, reasons that would go a long way in exposing for the Guardian’s readers South Korean attitudes towards the North.
BTW, I really liked how Mike concluded his post at SEB:
Perhaps he met with the evil fascist neocon Rumsfeld because the two are of like mind. It’s helpful to remember that the journalist-despising unilateralist said this a while back:
“While the situation in North Korea sometimes looks bleak, I’m convinced that one day freedom will come to the people of the North and light up that oppressed land with hope and promise.”
Funny how nowadays only the putatively evil guys say the good things, while the putatively good guys just sit around warning us about how evil the putatively evil guys are.
