The doctor who was stabbed in 2000 was killed by a severely mentally ill homeless man. Though extremely tragic, it was not part of the anti-American orgy in 2002.

My point is that we should focus on what has really happened, not exaggerate it or misreport it.I?€™m not going to knock myself out proving that the U.S. government?€™s reaction on the whole has been that compassionate when thus, far, it?€™s an unfulfilled promise.It’s an empty promise. Few if any North Koreans can make it to US soil or diplomatic missions, so it’s an empty promise. The US is not in the situation that South Korea is facing, where tens or hundreds of thousands of people may have to be absorbed. Hence, being economic buddies with the North Koreans’ second-worst tormentors, while at the same time criticizing South Korea’s resolve in taking in a flood of people, is specious.I refer, of course, to the North Korean Human Rights Act, the hundreds of people (just the ones I know) who supported it, and a substantial number of Japanese activists I?€™ve also met. The implementation record of the NKHRA thus far is nothing to boast about yet, but an unfulfilled promise is a great deal better than financial support for the regime, especially if someone gets around to fulfilling it. Congress recently got sufficiently concerned that it held hearings, with the State Department being on the receiving end of some strong hints and tough questions. Whether this is sincere or for public consumption remains to be seen, but Reps. Leach, Lantos, and Hyde are sincere.I agree that Leach, Lantos, and Hyde are probably very sincere, but (especially in Hyde’s case) it does not give the right justification to bash South Korea’s government for its serious apprehension about the repercussions of taking in a flood refugees.

If the US is serious, then it would be working out a deal with China to STOP RETURNING REFUGEES and to TAKE IN AT LEAST AS MANY NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES AS SOUTH KOREA DOES. If it fails to do this, then those words are merely words. The good news?€“and I hope it ultimately proves me wrong?€“is that I see initial signs of a South Korean ?€œNew Right?€? finding its voice. I hope to publish more on that in the near future. Some of its leaders are disillusioned former leftist radicals; at least one of them was a political prisoner in the 1980s. I hope you’re right. I support some aspects of the Sunshine Policy but I think that Roh is a clueless goofball who shoots off his mouth and doesn’t have a coherent strategy, thus he’s kowtowing to China and to the North and he’s putting his fears ahead of the interests of the North Koreans suffering in China, our wonderful economic partner.

The DailyNK is at dailynk.com.

The creative folks at Chosun have evidently registered dailynk.co.kr as an address for their own site on the North, nk.chosun.com.

Rather than giving you names, I’ll refer you to their version of Commentary–DailyNK–which is supposed to start publishing my stuff in the near future. Their readership is apparently quite high these days (at least that’s what they tell me). You may recall DailyNK posted the video of the North Korean dissenters.

None of this is to suggest that I agree with all of their views. For one thing, I’m not sure the closeness of their association with Hwang Jang Yop is doing them much good. On the other hand, they seem to have a healthy respect for debate, and they do have some actual North Koreans in their organization besides Hwang.

I’m guessing it would be somewhat analogous to the early neoconservative movement in the States, some of whose members were at one time “fellow travellers” (i.e., ardent leftiesshock! horror!). (The prime example of this is the journal Commentary, which as far as I know started back in the 50s or so as a left-wing publication, and gradually drifted increasingly to the right as the years went by.)