Being as jaded as I am, I thought no act of appeasement by Seoul would surprise me.
Then I read the story of the good ship Chuxing in Mike Breen’s latest column in the Korea Times.
That’s just wack. And the guy who raised the allegations yesterday was none other than Democratic Party lawmaker (and former party head) Chough Soon-hyung.
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Yeah, you’d really have to be jaded (dynamic well-being of jaded jaded) to not take notice of this.
I’d like the US to say somthing that, since Korean customs measures are so lax, all Korean ships will undergo greater scrutiny at American ports–scrutiny that might make it take a day or two longer for the ship to off-load cargo.
But, really, the people who should be most pissed off are all the parents in Korea.
It’s the Americans’ fault.
#3: Did you read the column? If you didn’t, and are being sarcastic about it being “the American’s fault” — you should take a look.
Mr Breen manages to work in a reference to the US invasion of Iraq! In a column that starts out discussing drug-running between North and South Korea.
“…Right now, the international community is debating whether South Korea should continue its turn-the-other-cheek engagement policy with North Korea, or whether it should side with the U.S. in its squeeze-¡®em-till-the-pips-squeak sanctions approach. Both policies have moral right on their side and both could produce results.
What makes them worthy of equal consideration in the public debate is that they are policies considered and undertaken by democracies, proposed in an honorable fashion, guided by law, and mindful of individual rights and all that. But suddenly those qualifications seem absent. Such things happen. The most glaring example in recent years is the American-led invasion of Iraq, the pre-emptive nature of which in retrospect seems to have been entirely unjustified. The suggestion that the case for war was argued with deception puts it, in the minds of tens of millions of people, up there with rogue acts conducted by dictatorships…”
So yes indeed — if South Korea decides to do nothing — it’s America’s fault; American is morally equivalent with North Korea.
Right now, all over the earth’s surface, any government caught in “illegal” activity is speaking up to those who would castigate it, to say earnestly: “It’s the American’s fault — if they hadn’t gone into Iraq this wouldn’t have happened.”
in order to get more attention from the south korean people, maybe fake evidence needs to be planted on board. that evidence would be…engrish teachers from america. “what??? they take our women, and now they bring drugs from 북한?”
I think seoulmilk has the big picture right, but the details wrong.
I think it goes like: if we don’t allow drugs to be smuggled into the country, English teachers won’t be able to take them, and then we won’t be able to manufacture a scandal for the media.
Sure, the Sunshine Policy gives the customs folks a pretext to give their drug-running Nork buddies a break. But does anyone really think that no S.K big shots are taking a handsome cut here? Come on.
Did Michael Breen take Korean citizenship all of a sudden? I find it interesting to note that he says “we” and “our” in his columns.
Yes, I think more South Koreans need to know about this since it speaks much about their leadership and their sense
lackof ethics and perhaps put someone in jail.After 20+ years as a resident alien he has earned the right to say “we” — this is Mike’s home.
So is he Korean citizen or not? Just wondering.
Interesting articles. Especially the Korean language article. It appears that, at least according to the article, that the claim is that there is no proof that the counterfeit products were from North Korea. Furthermore, the politicians demanded to know whether or not it is true that this ship was found 12 times in the past over the same violations—the answer isn’t written, so I assume the police shyed away from telling the truth.
Also, what’s interesting about the article is that the Hanara and DP politicians are quoted for stating the possibility the money from selling counterfeit cigarettes is being used by DPRK to make WMD. There is no uproar about selling drugs in SK, at least in the article. I’m not sure if the journalist is trying to make this a PSI issue, or the politician themselves are pitching this as a PSI issue. If this is the latter, it seems really dumb way to do it. I’m afraid, that even with the falling Uri, it’s really really really possible that Hannara will shoot their collective feet yet again. I wouldn’t be surprised about that.
Of course, it’s also just possible that SK gangsters decided to piggyback on the loose ends created by sunshine. Who knows? What I really want to know is that what that is SUPPOSED to be doing.
cm, Mike is not a Korean citizen, just a long-time expat resident, as Brendon said. I also find myself using “we” on certain selected issues these days…
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[...] (Via. The Marmot) I guess it’s one thing to be silent about human rights, but another to allow drug running between the Koreas to go unabated Five years ago, a Chinese ship called the Chuxing visiting the port of Pusan was found to be carrying 91 kilograms of methamphetamine. Customs officials and prosecutors let it go. [...]
[...] If a foreigner gets caught smoking a joint, you’ll know about it pretty quick. But if, let’s say, the North Koreans get caught trying to smuggle massive amounts of drugs into South Korea via cargo ship; not once, not twice but multiple times, you’d be hard pressed to catch that little nugget in the news. The Sunshine Policy in action, folks. (Hat tip to The Marmot’s Hole) [...]
[...] Recently, Robert Koehler blogged about the North Korean drug ship that was repeatedly caught in Busan, only to be left to go and make the same haul again. It’s only the latest example of the South Korean government putting the interests of Bureau 39 ahead of the interests of ordinary Korean citizens in either the North or the South. Now, however, media exposure has embarrassed Roh’s government into the most limp-wristed action they could get away with — actually inspecting the ship: Customs authorities said Saturday they have strengthened the inspection of a Chinese cargo ship plying the route between Busan and Najin on North Korea’s northeast coast following the North’s nuclear test last month. [...]