I am now convinced that Joshua at One Free Korea has a file of pithy quotes saved on his computer ready to whip out for any occasion.
Today’s evidence, along with some background:
President Lee, it should be remembered, has made an issue of restoring the public order that Roh had allowed to erode. If he lets [...]
Author Archives: Andy Jackson
Funniest Chinese Riot Line Today, Part 2
North Korea Freedom Week in DC
We are in the middle of North Korea Freedom Week, a series of events in DC sponsored by (among others) the North Korea Freedom Coalition. If you are in the area, please drop in on some of the events and post a report in the comment section.
Here is a brief report on NKFW in the [...]
Chicom Gov blames “separatist forces” for Chinese riot in Seoul
The fallout from the Chinese student riot continues.
The Chinese ambassador to Seoul offered as close to an apology as one would expect in this situation (AP):
China’s ambassador to Seoul, Ning Fukui, said he regretted the “extreme behavior” of the Chinese protesters and offered sympathy to wounded South Koreans, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said.
If Beijing [...]
Yi So-yeon is back in Korea
OK, I will continue carry the banner of the Yi So-yeon around here (and don’t you naysayers try to shake it loose). Cheers to her as she came back to Korea yesterday and will soon start her new gig(Chosun).
Having earned a doctorate from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in February, Yi will now work [...]
Olympic spirit lives in Pyongyang
It is nice to see that North Korea did not let politics interfere with the the spirit of the Olympics (CNN):
The relay began at the Juche Idea Tower where Kim Yong Nam, the head of North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament, handed the lit torch to 72-year-old Park Tu Ik, a hero of his country’s 1966 World [...]
Spies among us
The Defense Security Command says that it is going to get tough on Nork spies who have been getting a free pass over the past ten years.
However, other intelligence officials say the thing lacking over the last ten years was not arrests of spies but announcements of the arrest of spies (Yonhap link above):
The officials at [...]
Open Thread #48: Talk about Clinton-Obama here if you must
In order to keep the ongoing (and boy is it ever ongoing) Democratic primary race from clogging the other threads, here is a special zone just for that subject. HRC beat BHO by 10% in Pennsylvania today (which is yesterday today in Korea….)
To warm things up, here is my vote for quote of the day:
Is [...]
Yi So-yeon has returned to Earth
She landed safely about half-an-hour ago. Congratulations, Miss Yi.
(I stuck this post under “IT Korea” since I couldn’t think of a better place to stick it.)
Plenty of shame to go around
One Free Korea reports that there is a bill in Congress to address to force the deadenders at State to do their legally required jobsstreamline the resettlement process for North Korean refugees to the USA. It is not a moment too soon. I hope it will prevent reoccurence of this.
The bill notes that only 43 [...]
Break time
As a break from all the heaviness the Hole has been experiencing lately, I present the lovely (but apparently not so talented) Moon Ji-eun.
Secret NK nuke deal in the works?
Yonhap quotes Radio Free Asia as saying that the US and North Korea have reached a deal in the two six party talks. I don’t have years of diplomatic training, which might be the reason why the purported deal strikes me as just plain stupid:
Under the secret agreement, reached at a meeting of the top [...]
Ban Ki-moon may skip the Olympics opening ceremony
Via the Agenzia Giornalistica Italia
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon will not be present at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008 “due to other scheduled appointments”.
Spokesman Marie Okabe said this, specifying that this is the present situation and that the final decision will be taken later. In any case Okabe underlined that it [...]
Andy’s semi-live blogging of the National Assembly Elections
5:50 Time for the fun. I have YTN on the TV and two web pages open, so I should be able to figure out something pretty quick once the polls close. I won’t be able to post much tonight. I have to write on a KT piece this evening.
Of course, other writers on the blog [...]
Programs! Get ya (election) programs here!
If your eyes can take the pain, my latest KT piece is a quick review of the major (and some not so major) parties in Wednesday’s National Assembly elections. While I barely mentioned a couple of parties, I felt the need to write a few paragraphs on the “Pro-Park Geun-hye Alliance” (친박연대):
One problem the GNP has to deal [...]
Sometimes context is important
The Donga has an interesting piece on a survey of local government officials. Among the findings, they noted that most local officials were not happy with the results of the previous administration’s ‘balanced regional developement’ policies:
More than half of local government heads flunked former President Roh Moo-hyun’s drive for so-called “balanced national development” policy. 53.7 [...]
Setting the bar a little low, aren’t we?
I know. I know. All of the readers at the Marmot’s Hole have the same question on their minds: How does a party qualify for the 56 proportional representation (PR) seats in the upcoming National Assembly Election?
Well, stop wondering. Our friends at the National Election Commission have the answer:
Seats of the proportional representative National Assembly [...]
Defectors in Japan show that not all NKs lack business savvy
(This is a little old, but I didn’t find it in the Hole. If this has been posted here before, will our Dear Leader please delete it.)
This story from The Japan Times starts out innocently enough:
Yoon, a feisty 32-year-old Korean woman with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, is happy to be living and working in her newly adopted [...]
Help promote human rights for North Koreans this summer
UPDATE: The deadline for applications has been pushed back to April 7.
ORIGINAL POST: Liberty in North Korea (one of my favorite organizations) has a couple of upcoming projects which might be of interest to some readers. Please note that the deadline for submissions is March 31 (today) but they may take a few late ones [...]
And now for something (not so) completely different
If you ever needed proof that great minds think alike, Joshua at One Free Korea and I both used Monty Python references in pieces published yesterday about the ongoing (and ongoing and….) talks on NK nukes.
Joshua invokes the Dead Parrot Sketch when pointing out part of the problem with the six party talks and the Geneva sideshow in [...]

