In the News – N.Korea’s Nuclear Obsession Is Self-Defeating

In the News – N.Korea’s Nuclear Obsession Is Self-Defeating

North Korea revised its constitution to state that the accomplishments of former leader Kim Jong-il turned it into a “nuclear power and invincible military superpower.” There is no other country in the world that identifies itself as a nuclear-armed state in its constitution.

A closer look shows that the North Korean constitution is a joke. A country’s constitution sets out the rules for government and guarantees the basic rights of its people. But the North Korean constitution stipulates in its preface that it is a means of legitimizing the ideology of nation founder Kim Il-sung. It therefore represents neither the country nor its people but is merely a tool to support the power of its dictator. The revision merely changes some references to include his son Kim Jong-il.

It hails Kim Il-sung as the great state founder, progenitor of socialism in the country and eternal creator of the regime’s “juche” ideology of self-reliance. It now also exaggerates the accomplishments of Kim Jong-il.

Nothing will change simply because North Korea claims in its constitution to have nuclear weapons. The North has been making that claim since its first nuclear test in 2006. By doing this, it simply admits that it violated an inter-Korean agreement reached in 1990 to  denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, as well as the joint statement signed on Sept. 19, 2005 where it agreed to scrap its nuclear weapons program.

North Korea has habitually scrapped any concession it made and raised new demands while pretending to seek progress in nuclear disarmament talks, sending the whole process back to square one. This has resulted in a complete loss of trust and in isolation from the international community. But Pyongyang is flaunting its nuclear program as it was some sort of major accomplishment when it is the overriding cause of all its problems. New leader Kim Jong-un may believe this is necessary to consolidate his grip on power, but the people of the North will soon find out how absurd that strategy is.

Original article can be found here.

A German Story, Part 3 of 3

We open in medias res of Horst’s story. If you haven’t read Parts 1 and 2, you should go back and read them before continuing: [hyperlink to Part 1 post].

When we last left our hero, Horst had left East Berlin for the first time in his life and was eating pizza in West Berlin.

“Also, we are in West Berlin. And on this day Helmut Kohl [the Chancellor of West Germany] is visiting. He was traveling in Poland, and came back to West Berlin for this day and on the street we are on we see a big crowd of people and cars coming this way, and helicopters flying overhead. And this is Helmut Kohl. So I am standing there and next to me is a beige Opel sitting right there. And a large man walks up to me, very big and as tall as I am and very stern, just like this.” He demonstrates again, and it is intimidating. As I said, he is a believable actor and is also at least two meters tall. “And he throws the car door open”— fearing that I missed the verb, he adds, “Not opens it, but rather really throws it open—right into me, so.” Horst is acting his own part again and bends over in agony, clutching his crotch. “And out of the car steps Helmut Kohl! This was his car! Not some black state vehicle, but this beige Opel. So he is walking past me and I am bending over in pain. Hahaha. And so that is my first impression of Western government,” he adds, grinning, clutching his crotch again in memory.

“All right, now is when you should take notes again. A couple of years after, a friend told me that he remembered walking by the gate on Wednesday. The 8^th. And a GI—the very lowest, a GI—told him, hey, do you know the Wall is going to be opened tomorrow? And he believed nothing of it, because it was just some GI and he hadn’t heard anything about it. So he forgot.

In the News – Lee calls for int’l attention on N. Korean gulags

In the News – Lee calls for int’l attention on N. Korean gulags

SEOUL, April 6 (Yonhap) — President Lee Myung-bak called for greater international attention on political prison camps in North Korea, saying Friday that they are the worst gulags in the world and global human rights groups should be allowed to visit there.

Lee made the remark during a meeting with a group of visiting U.S. lawmakers.

The five Republican congressmen, including Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Richard Burr of North Carolina, arrived in Seoul earlier in the day for a three-day visit that also includes talks with South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and a visit to the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas.

“There is no place like political prison camps in North Korea around the globe,” Lee was quoted as saying during the meeting by presidential spokeswoman Lee Mi-yon, referring to massive human rights violations believed to be happening at those facilities. “International human rights groups should visit there.”

Burr said he shares South Korea’s concern about North Korea issues and pledged to back whatever decision is made under Lee’s leadership. The lawmaker also said he will have a first-hand look at the division of the Korean Peninsula during a trip to DMZ, according to the spokeswoman.

You Have Been the Veterans of Creative Suffering

I usher now at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Last Thursday our concert was a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.; one of the pieces had Atlanta’s mayor narrating segments of MLK speeches against a backdrop of cinematic music by the orchestra (the piece is called “New Morning for the World”). The words of the piece were powerful, and the next day I listened to King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in full, delivered at the close of the March on Washington.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking at the March on Washington

As I was listening, Korean unification came to mind.

In the News – U.N. chief expresses hopes for easing tensions on Korean Peninsula

In the News – U.N. chief expresses hopes for easing tensions on Korean Peninsula

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 30 (Yonhap) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday he hopes to see tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia ease next year, saying 2012 will be a very important one for Koreans.

In a New Year’s message to the people of his native South Korea, Ban also said he will provide unsparing support as U.N. chief to help reduce tensions on the divided peninsula and in the region.

Ban said that the year 2012 will be “very important” for the Korean Peninsula, apparently referring to the leadership change in North Korea after the Dec. 17 death of Kim Jong-il. South Korea is also set to elect a new parliament and a new president next year.

Ban also praised South Korea’s economic development and democracy as an exemplary success case of realizing the ideals and goals the United Nations pursues.

He also called for South Koreans to make greater contributions to the international community.

(END)

Original article can be found here.