Comments on: Well, that clarifies things

By: Antti

Antti — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 08:03:06 +0000

If Kim Geun-tae were up there saying that, I would be with you but the DLP is a relative fringe group.

Note also that DLP had to go to Pyongyang via Beijing (whereas for example Park Geun-hye went via Panmunjom in 2002 - NK Chosun interview of Park about his meeting with KJI), and all they get to meet are some government/party functionaries from the Unification Bureau (통일전선부) of the Workers’ Party (short article in Chosun) posing as social democrats.

Even if North Korean operatives would have approached some of the party members, their true attitude towards them was revealed for example before the previous by-elections (is that the word?) when Southern visitors to Kumgangsan were told to vote Uri instead of DLP.

By: tmc1233

tmc1233 — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 02:04:54 +0000

DLP are nothing but common thugs. I have had a run-in with them in 2003. Some of them attempted to jump me while I was querying others who were exploiting the memories of the two middle-school girls who were accidentally killed by the USFK bridge-layer in 2002.

I asked them what the DLP’s attitude was about the other 3000 pedestrians killed in Korea every year by Koreans and they freaked out on me.

By: Andy Jackson

Andy Jackson — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 01:14:38 +0000

Brendon,

If Kim Geun-tae were up there saying that, I would be with you but the DLP is a relative fringe group. Their support level is in the 5-7% range, which is about what a Klan cadidate would get in the South (5% of folks would vote for Attila the Hun if he were on the ballot).

The only reason anyone listens to them is that they have 9 seats in the national assembly. Since they lost Ulsan last year, all those are proportional representation seats. That is the problem with PR; it gives nut jobs a place in government.

By: Iceberg

Iceberg — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 08:22:08 +0000

“We’ve come from Seoul to open even wider the way of peace and intra-Korean reconciliation and cooperation…”

If by “the way of peace” they mean their ass cheeks, then I suppose there is some truth to what they say.

By: michael

michael — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 07:15:56 +0000

“We’ve come from Seoul to open even wider the way of peace and intra-Korean reconciliation and cooperation…” by turning over Seoul’s defense plans.

By: Robert Koehler

Robert Koehler — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 07:04:12 +0000

A better translation (me thinks) of the selections from the actual text:

“We’ve come from Seoul to open even wider the way of peace and intra-Korean reconciliation and cooperation… We had to come a long way through China to meet our family on the other side of this nation divided by foreign forces, but as we arrive in Pyongynag today, our heart races with joy and fluttering.”

“The current situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula is very serious… The schemes of the United States and Japan, which say they would start a war on the Korean Peninsula at any time for the sake of their hegemony, continue, and the tension and confrontation surrounding the nuclear test conducted by the North is frustrating all of us.”

By: Jinwol

Jinwol — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 06:17:50 +0000

Can anyone remember how much cash those subway posters promise for turning in spies? These fools look like promising targets and I have some car maintenance to get done.

By: michael

michael — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 05:31:11 +0000

“if the politics are inimical to the United States, that ought to be considered when allocating our limited resources” Well, does the name Uri Party ring a bell? Anyway, these morons are just showing people how beyond the pale their thinking is and it should help them loose a few seats in the next election.

By: Robert Koehler

Robert Koehler — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 05:20:47 +0000

BTW, the Hanky chose not to translate some of the more provocative lines.

Guess what, Andy. Neither did the Chosun. I nearly spit coffee at my screen when I read the DLP’s speech yesterday.

Tools they are. As the guy who runs my neighborhood shop said, “I hope they don’t let the bastards back in. If they like the North so much, they can stay there!”

By: Brendon Carr

Brendon Carr — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 05:02:58 +0000

Well, it’s the right of a democratic electorate to choose nitwit socialists in a free election. So long as they leave when people are sick of them I have no complaint — although I do believe that if the politics are inimical to the United States, that ought to be considered when allocating our limited resources (yes, even Uncle Sam has limits). I’ll restate: The US defense commitment to the Republic of Korea costs America at least $30 billion a year. Do Americans want to spend that money on these types of people or not?