Today’s Washington Posts asks if the new LMB administration will really put its food aid where its mouth is and choose principle over hunger in the North.
Does President Lee withhold food aid that may prop up the government of the North or will he help avert a possible humanitarian crisis? Choices.. choices…
Whereas some may [...]
Robert wanted to see it on Youtube, well how about Veoh? The video shown to Congress has been made public. Check out the chummy picture in 5:40.
Update
The Washington Post has published an interesting article theorizing why the administration has made public, seven months after Israeli jets destroyed the site, the findings. It also introduces an [...]
As you may all know, Lee Kun-hee has publicly resigned as Samsung Group’s Chairman. Or has he? According to today’s Washington Post, Lee’s power and influence may stay long after his announced resignation. The tentacle-like arms of the Lee family are long and far reaching and the press conference yesterday may merely be a rehearsal [...]
I’m sorry, but it’s really, really bad form for an ex-president to tour the United States while the sitting president is in town for a summit meeting in a bid to undercut his foreign policy initiatives.
Not that I expect much from DJ, of course.
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Speaking to newly promoted lieutenant generals this morning, President Lee defended comments by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Kim Tae-young, saying that Kim’s talk of preemptive strikes on North Korean nuclear facilities was in response to a lawmaker’s question, and hence natural. He said Kim’s comments carried no other meaning (other [...]
We might not have Roh Moo-hyun to kick around anymore, but one of the fringe benefits of the end of left-wing rule in South Korea is we get to listen to entertaining North Korean rants again:
North Korea slammed Tuesday South Korean President Lee Myung-bak for the first time since he took office in February, warning [...]
You know, I think the North Koreans are trying to say they are displeased with the direction the new South Korean administration has taken in regards to intra-Korean affairs.
Yawn…
(HT to reader)
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March 27, 2008 – 12:30 pm
Pyongyang is apparently miffed that South Korea no longer has a leader who will bend over and take it:
In a sign of tense inter-Korean relations, North Korea Thursday expelled most of Korean officials from the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
The turnaround of the North’s stance came in an apparent protest over the current Lee Myung-bak administration’s tough [...]
March 27, 2008 – 12:24 pm
It’s not particularly surprising that the plans exist, but it’s certainly new to hear them mentioned in public:
The South Korean military is prepared to launch a pre-emptive attack on North Korea’s nuclear installations if they become a military threat, Gen. Kim Tae-young, the newly designated chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a [...]
Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests:
President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday called for a pragmatic diplomacy to maximize the national interest, adding, “I don’t agree with such concepts as pro-American or pro-Chinese policy.”
Lee made the remarks to Foreign Ministry officials at a ministry policy briefing. “If their national interests are [...]
February 28, 2008 – 1:28 pm
Nam Joo-hong will NOT be the Unification Minister, it appears:
Nam, a former political science professor at Kyonggi University, has been at the center of a snowballing controversy over his hawkish North Korean stance.
Nam once called the 6.15 Joint Declaration, signed during the 2000 inter-Korean summit, “a document for North Korea’s maneuvering against South Korea.” He [...]
February 19, 2008 – 11:20 pm
“The June 15 Joint Declaration by the two Koreas is only North Korea’s operational document against the South.” “The sunshine policy of engaging North Korea must be reexamined from the ground up.” These are but a few of the remarks made by Lee’s nominee for the unification portfolio. Nam Joo-hong, a politics professor, has steadfastly [...]
February 17, 2008 – 4:39 pm
Yesterday, the Chosun Ilbo reported that 22 North Koreans who had come across the West Sea border near Yeonpyeong-do in two small boats during the Lunar New Year holiday had been returned to North Korea.
According to the ROK Navy and National Intelligence Service, the 22 had been clam fishing along the coast of Hwanghae-do [...]
February 17, 2008 – 3:50 pm
According to a Reuters report, the dogs have gone to North Korea. For reasons best unexplained, after years of planning, dog sled races have come to the Kumgang-san resort.
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February 15, 2008 – 10:12 am
The Chosun Ilbo reports that South Korea has known for years that its food aid to North Korea was being diverted to front-line North Korean military units manning the DMZ, but said nothing about it:
South Korean military authorities have known since 2003, when the Roh Moo-hyun administration was inaugurated, that North Korea has transported rice [...]
February 12, 2008 – 3:33 pm
An article in Defense News examines the possibility that the North Koreans may have diverted oil aid for military purposes.
South Korean and U.S. Intelligence authorities are analyzing the background of the “sharp increase” in North Korea’s military maneuvers involving armored vehicles and fighter jets in recent months, a report said Feb. 10.
The increased military maneuvers by the North [...]
January 4, 2008 – 9:16 am
Might LMB finally stick a fork in the Unification Ministry? From Reuters:
South Korea’s new president could ditch the ministry that has long handled relations with North Korea, heralding what may be a major shift in the way Seoul deals with its prickly neighbour, aides were quoted as saying.
The Unification Ministry has been at the centre [...]
January 3, 2008 – 12:38 pm
So far, it seems North Korea has been doing its best not to antagonize South Korean President-elect Lee Myung-bak. Lee’s North Korea advisor, meanwhile, said Lee would prioritize the implementation of intra-Korean economic aid cooperation projects agreed upon during last year’s Roh-KJI summit based on feasibility. It’ll be interesting to see how Pyongyang reacts to [...]
December 29, 2007 – 12:44 pm
Some links for your reading enjoyment:
In the WaPo, Nick Eberstadt wonders whether the Bush foreign policy team will be adept enough to seize the opportunity presented by the defeat of the 북한퍼주기당 in South Korea’s presidential elections. I, on the other hand, wonder if there’s any real opportunity at all. Unlike Dr. Eberstadt, I’m not [...]
December 22, 2007 – 12:36 pm
According to the Washington Post(sorry I’m not a subscriber, so I’m linking a Korean news article), U.S. scientists have found traces of enriched uranium in North Korean aluminum tubing.
