LAT on North Korean defectors running for office in the South

Though I personally ascribe no negative meaning to any of them, I've been chastised for using the words and phrases defector, resettled/resettler, and former refugee to refer to those who have escaped the Pyongyang regime and found a new life in South Korea, so I'll just go with what the Los Angeles Times uses in their article on former DPRK citizens who have dropped the DP and are running for office in the ROK:

Years after fleeing North Korea, most of the 20,000 defectors living here remain fearful of publicly revealing their identities as they continue their adjustment to a democratic political system.

Choi Hae-yeon, 45, is seeking to change that. Choi, a mother of two who fled in 2004, is one of three North Koreans running for political office in upcoming South Korean elections. They are the first three defectors ever backed by a significant party to run for office here.

As tensions intensify between the two nations after the March sinking of a South Korean navy ship, the candidacies in the June 2 vote are a sign, many here say, that Northern newcomers are attempting to put their troubled pasts behind to better blend into Southern society.

"I am happy that I can get my words out," Choi said. "It is another basic right equivalent to working and studying freely … which we cannot have in North Korea."

Much is said in the K-blogs and in South Korean society in general about the negative experiences former North Koreans routinely encounter in the South, from deep suspicion to non-acceptance to a lack of connections or understanding of how the South's English-drenched balli-balli culture works. So for me, that's why it's a welcome sight to see this next stage in the evolution of their community's integration into the larger ROK society.

Baby Heigl okay following heart surgery

Over at The Marmot's Hole, Wangkon is asleep at the switch, so I'll do the honors and post on Katherine Heigl's daughter, which is of course a Korea-related story (and a Marmot's Hole favorite). Naleigh is doing just fine after open heart surgery, which she underwent before she left Korea to be adopted by Ms Heigl and her husband Josh Kelley last September. This is now being revealed in a Harper's Bazaar interview.

From People (reporting on Harper's):

When Katherine Heigl and husband Josh Kelley welcomed Naleigh last September, the couple explained that they were able to adopt their daughter faster because of her special needs.

Revealed to be a congenital heart defect, it was repaired with open heart surgery before the baby girl left Korea.

Now, I'll just come out and admit that I gave some thought to including this as the final story in today's Daily Kor. Something along the lines of "Katherine Heigl disappointed to learn only Korean cars come with ten-year warranty." But I have learned that making even the slightest of jokes about babies getting surgery can elicit depictions-of-the-Prophet reactions amongst the blog-reading populace (Exhibit A), so don't expect to read anything like that here.

Oh, but Ms Heigl can crack jokes:

"Her heart is 100 percent fine now. She has a scar, so she won't be wearing bikinis, which is fine by us," Katherine explains, unembarrassed by her overprotectiveness.

Sure, everybody gets upset that a marginal K-blogger makes a funny by connecting quality assurances on Korean products with adoptees from said country, but Mommy makes a potentially traumatizing comment that her daughter may be too disfigured to dress attractively and no one bats an eye. Really, between my comment and Ms Heigl's, which one will a twenty-something Naleigh be talking about with her therapist while on the couch in the year 2030-something?

Anyway, in all seriousness, I do say kudos to Ms Heigl and her husband Josh Kelley for their choice of adopting and taking the tougher route of adopting a special-needs child. And my best to Naleigh and all the children like her, who are always in my prayers.

[above: Baby Babe photos]

Daily Kor for May 23, 2010: What now?

Okay, so the Daily Kor was on hiatus when the official announcement came down that North Korea was indeed responsible for the torpedo attack on the Chonan, but that ending was about as predictable as a Harry Potter movie. But I promise to be back online for the coming destruction of the North Korean submarine base from which the attack was launched, surgical strike on Dear Leader Family Compound #3, tough response that is sure to come.

1. UN probes Chonan sinking as possible armistice violation (Reuters, Christian Science Monitor)
• President Lee calls sinking breach of armistice (Yonhap)
• Both military and non-military options said to be on table (Joongang Daily)
2. North Korea demands its own probe into Chonan sinking (AFP, Bloomberg, Yonhap)
• North Korea warns of war if punished over sinking (AP via USA Today, Yonhap)
3. US Secretary of State Clinton pushes for sanctions against North Korea over sinking of Chonan (LAT, NYT, WaPo, Bloomberg, AP via USA Today, Yonhap)
• News media urge action (BBC)
• ROK opposition leader urges Pyongyang to stop exacerbating inter-Korean tension (Yonhap)
4. South Korean Coast Guard seizes two Chinese fishing boats in Yellow Sea EEZ (Yonhap)
5. South Koreans commemorate first anniversary of President Roh Moohyun's death (Yonhap, Joongang Daily)
6. In the latest sign of North Korea's economic desperation, Kim Jong-il instructs the masses how to make lemonade out of imaginary lemons (AFP)

Hey, hey! We're the monkeys!

[above, from left: Mickey Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Michael Nesmith]

These golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana), residents of the zoo at Everland (formerly FarmLand, and before that, actual farmland), look so eerily like something from a Hayao Miyazaki film. Seriously, I'm having flashbacks to Spirited Away. [HT to KoreaBeat]

Reuters on North Korea's man of mystery (the soccer coach, not the Dear Leader)

That would be Kim Jong-hun instead of Kim Jong-il.

From Reuters:

Like the rest of North Korea's international men of mystery, very little is known about coach Kim Jong-hun.

A former defender for the national team, Kim's star was on the rise when he took charge of the men's soccer team of the elite April 25 Sports Group, the athletic wing of the North Korean People's Army.

Picked to lead the national squad in 2007, Kim has relied on defensive discipline and team spirit to steer the workmanlike North Koreans to their first World Cup finals since 1966.

High-profile coaches Philippe Troussier and Sven-Goran Eriksson were rumored to be in the frame to replace him for the finals in South Africa, but Kim has clung to the job and will lead the North's campaign in Group G alongside Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast.

Owing to the mysteriousness of the subject, it's a short read.

PBS Newshour on the Chonan sinking: "humiliation and revenge"

KCNA's free site doesn't yet have North Korea's official reaction to South Korea's official acknowledgement that the DPRK sunk the Chonan, but there are a couple of interesting pieces from PBS's Newshour, including a roundup of the story and an interview with Dr Victor Cha and Joel Wit. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this program is probably the single best source for a dispassionately objective view of major national and global news stories you'll find in the United States.

Anyway, Dr Cha was being his usual conservative self, while Mr Wit was being his usual let's-engage-and-see-what-happens self. Both agreed that North Korea was behind the sinking of the Chonan, while Mr Wit offered this up as a reason:

Well, the educated guess is there are two reasons. One is to humiliate the conservative South Korean regime, which basically has pulled back from the engagement policy of its two predecessors.

And the second reason is, the North Koreans were kind of looking for revenge for previous naval clashes in that -- in that area where North Korean sailors were killed.

Dr Cha offered suggestions for how to proceed (echos of this post) without triggering a full-scale conflict:

Clearly, the main near-term task is to fashion a response that shows the North Koreans there are real costs to doing what they did. And I think that means the South will do some things on their own, largely diplomatic, cutting off trade ties, which hurt the North Korean economy and the leadership quite a bit, as well as reinforcing the alliance with the United States, whether that is in terms of submarine detection capabilities, anti-submarine warfare capabilities, and naval exercises. I think these are important things to do.

When the question of China's role was broached, Dr Cha was willing to call a spade a spade:

But, as Joel said, the real problem is China. China's behavior thus far in terms of this incident has been subpar, to -- to be kind. They have been very clumsy, backward, and really out of step with the international community in terms of addressing this issue.

Unsurprisingly, Mr Wit was more diplomatic about China's ham-handed two-facedness, to the point of China apologism for Beijing's role vis-à-vis North Korea:

I think I disagree with Victor a little bit here, because I don't think the -- the Chinese reaction has been surprising, subpar, or clumsy.

I think China has very different interests here than the United States and South Korea. China's interests here are rapidly shifting towards emphasizing stability in the region. And that means doing nothing to force North Korea into a corner, where it might lash out at other countries, or to trigger the collapse of North Korea.

And the second objective here for China, quite frankly, is to increase its influence in North Korea. And, to serve that objective, we have seen China increase its assistance to North Korea over the six months, after North Korea conducted a nuclear test and missile test. So, I think we're in a very tight spot here. And I'm not quite sure how to get out of it. But I know that China is not going to solve this problem for us.

Are we watching the same program, Mr Wit? The Chinese reaction has indeed been subpar and clumsy. But you're right, not surprising.

Why would China "solve this problem for us" when people such as Mr Wit undermine South Korea's or the US's stance by providing excuses for China's unwavering support for regimes like Kim Jong-il's? Sheesh. Any support I've had for engagement via some sort of "Sunshine Policy" does not include asking for seconds in response to murder of one's citizens. It was necessary to try engagement, it worked up to a point, but right now it's necessary to regroup in the face of outrageous misbehavior. China needs to be told to get on board, no excuses. This act is simply too heinous to do any less. They need to be woken up to the fact that North Korea's nuclear and conventional brinkmanship is indeed a destabilizing force.

Anyway, looking for year-old links to provide support for this or that post on Laura Ling, Euna Lee, and Mitch Koss has been a fun stroll down memory lane. I hate to sound disgustingly smug, but I'm just going to give myself a pat on the back for being so spot-on from day one about all this, in the face of lots of people telling me how wrong my speculations were.

Of course, once Joshua started to see the light, he came up with some pretty good stuff, too. On his One Free Korea he came up with a great list of do's and don'ts for the not-so-accidental tourists, including this:

6. No Larry King. Not tomorrow, not next week, not ever. Larry King is a tool and a blight upon our society, and your support for him poisons a world in which my children will have to live.

It seems they've already violated the Larry King rule.

Revisiting the options for dealing with North Korea's sinking of the Chonan

On the surface of things, it might seem as if Seoul were some enervated entity, unable or even unwilling to stand up to a murderous neighbor that has committed a brazen act of war. At One Free Korea, one commenter suggests that "if someone made an unprovoked attack on an american target like pearl harbor or the WTC they have a 100% chance of catching a severe ass whooping."

Ass whoopings are nice, but they have their time and place. The differences between Pearl Harbor in 1941 or the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in 2001 versus the Chonan in 2010 are important, and I submit they are more related to military and geography concerns than culture.

Unlike Seoul, Washington is not within the range of entrenched enemy artillery, nor is it home to as many millions of people nor the share of the nation's population that Seoul is. These facts alone hamstring any attempt to use a military response (though they don't take it off the table were Pyongyang to repeatedly use military strikes). Were this not the case, a now more powerful South Korea might have taken down North Korea years ago.

And moreover, let's not forget that the US did in fact take its time to react militarily to the events of 9/11. Washington first tried to negotiate with the Taliban for custody of Osama bin Laden and the ouster of al Qaeda, and it was only after they refused that the US went to war to oust the Taliban from power. That took nearly a month, putting us into October.

In other words, even by the standards set by the American response to 9/11, it is still too early to say South Korea has done nothing, that North Korea has gotten away with murder, or that the ROK Navy is merely target practice.

Two months ago, I asked what should be done if we got to the point where we are today, but I liked GI Korea's response best:

• Take any reopening of the Kŭmgang Resort off the table.
• Officially close the Kaesŏng Complex and withdraw all South Korean workers.
• Lobby to have North Korea re-added to the US State Sponsors of Terrorism List.
• Stop all aid of any kind to North Korea until an apology is issued from Kim Jong-il.
• Provide increased government support through non-government organizations (NGOs) to support the human rights balloon launches into North Korea as well as supporting NGO activities to spread subversive media into North Korea.
• If apology is not issued South Korea should lobby to have the UN issue a resolution condemning North Korea.
• If the North Koreans still refuse to apologize and accept responsibility for sinking the ship than South Korea should seriously consider enforcing the PSI.

We are starting to see some of these come together, and China itself is starting to get a headache from the global focus on its client state's bad acts.

As I wrote back then, I quite like the measured and stern response GI Korea proposes, particularly if it includes the final point regarding Proliferation Security Initiative. This would involve forcing DPRK vessels to stop and be searched, ostensibly for the legitimate purpose of preventing the spread of North Korea's nuclear weapons and technology.

North Korea has condemned South Korea's joining of the PSI as piracy and an act of war in itself (but almost everything to them is an act of war). And make no mistake, it increases the risk of further escalation, simply because each time a North Korean vessel is boarded it brings the possibility of a shooting match or other attack. But that risk shouldn't be something that deters the ROK government, only something that prepares it for the possibility that the military must stand at constant readiness.

If I understand GI Korea's suggestion correctly, it would hurt DPRK trade activities (legal and illegal) and deter future acts because of the humiliation associated with North Korea's weakness outside its safe zone being highlighted on a regular basis.

South Korea probably already foiled the plans of whomever launched this attack simply by not playing into their hands with a quick response before it was clear who had done the attack (when there would still be deniability and such a ROK reaction could be seen as rash), and this kind of stern and measured response would further muck things up for whatever person or faction that was.

Any other thoughts on what to do next?

NUMMI factory to be reborn as Tesla plant

The New United Motor Manufacturing Inc (NUMMI) plant in Fremont, a community in the Bay Area, was a joint venture between Toyota and General Motors that many had hoped would lead to great synergistic leaps but instead became, last month, a casualty of GM's woes. It was the last automobile manufacturing plant in California, and it became a symbol of the Golden State's rusty manufacturing base.

And then, out of the blue, Tesla came to rescue with a plan to make electric sports sedans:

Tesla Motors Inc., bolstered by a $50-million investment from Toyota Motor Corp., will start making electric cars next year at a recently closed plant in Northern California. ...

The investment from Toyota was a major coup for Tesla, which has built only 1,000 high-performance Roadster electric sports cars largely assembled in England. Tesla plans to start manufacturing a sports sedan in 2012.

"We look forward to learning and benefiting from Toyota's legendary engineering, manufacturing and production expertise," said Elon Musk, the company's co-founder and chief executive.

The move comes as a blow to the SoCal community of Downey, which thought they were about to sign a deal with Tesla to convert an old Space Shuttle facility (where relatives and family friends of mine had worked) into this new factory of green automotive technology:

The move disappointed Downey officials who had been wooing the automaker, hoping the company would set up shop in a closed facility that had been used to manufacture the space shuttle.

"We are shocked, upset and betrayed. We can see why the public is so upset with corporate America," said Downey City Councilman Mario Guerra, adding that Tesla had told the city it would sign the lease for the Downey plant on Friday.

For Tesla, which is based nearby Fremont in Palo Alto, the corporate proximity to their new plant makes sense. I, however, had hoped that Hyundai or Kia would eye the NUMMI plant for their next base of operations. Perhaps they'll give the Space Shuttle plant or some of the Boeing facilities in nearby Long Beach a look.

Japan's prime minister slams North Korea over Chonan sinking

So says the Japan Times:

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Thursday denounced the sinking of a South Korean warship that Seoul has blamed on North Korea but did not elaborate on how Japan might respond to the incident.

"Our country strongly supports South Korea," Hatoyama said in a written statement. "North Korea's action is inexcusable and, along with the international community, we strongly condemn it."

The statement followed a report by the South Korean military and private-sector experts that concluded North Korean forces had used a torpedo to sink the corvette Cheonan, killing 46 sailors.

Praising the report as "scientific and objective," Hatoyama said Japan would cooperate with South Korea, the United States and other parties involved "for the peace and security of the region."

Wow. When the Japanese left is on Pyongyang's case, you know it's bad. Of course, it's good politics for PM Hatoyama to make nice with both Washington and Seoul, so a tough stance isn't all that surprising.

And if South Korea decides that the best way to respond to North Korea's hostile act is to get all sanctions-enforcing on their asses, then it's nice to have Japan on board with ships that might go in and out of the Korea Strait (going past Tsushima or Kyūshū) or Sōya Strait (aka La Pérouse Strait, going past Hokkaidō).

From my perspective, it's good to have Seoul and Tōkyō working together on matters of national and regional security.

I wonder if we could use the UK as a bulldog K-9 in a game of good cop/bad cop against China

Please excuse the mixed and muddled metaphors. I'm just wondering if US President Barack Hussein Obama can employ the UK — which is looking for new running dog duties now that the Gulf War is winding down — in a bid to force China to stop sponsoring the rogue regime in Pyongyang.

What inspired this thought was this op-ed news piece in the Telegraph:

South Korea has already indicated that it plans to refer this extraordinary act of aggression by its estranged, renegade brother to the United Nations Security Council, where it will rightly demand stern and unanimous action against Pyongyang.

This is where the international spotlight will fall, with uncomfortable brightness, on China, the North's last ally which for years has advocated a softly-softly approach to North Korea in the vain hope that Kim could follow China's own transition from cultish despotism to economic reform.

China fears that tough action against North Korea could fatally destabilise a regime that is already on its knees economically and, according to reports from North Korean defectors, facing political instability following a disastrous attempt at currency reform last November.

But notwithstanding those concerns, China must join the rest of the world in condemning this attack which is only the third torpedoing of an enemy warship since the Second World War.

However, the early signs of whether China will live up to its new responsibilities as an emerging Great Power are not encouraging.

Hey, it would be great if the London representative on the UN Security Council would stand up and whack the Beijing representative in the head with his (her?) shoe if China's milquetoasty reply that the sinking was "unfortunate" (quoting the article) is repeated. Then he or she should repeat the rest of the article:

The sinking was a deliberate, pre-planned operation in which a North Korean submarine commander armed a torpedo, plotted a firing solution and then pulled the trigger, killing 46 young sailors in cold blood.

The fact that China appears unable to join the chorus of condemnation for this wanton act of provocation is simply unbecoming a nation that, day by day, demands a greater say in the how the world is run. With rights must come responsibilities.

Damned straight! I do believe, as I've often stated, that China needs to be put at ease about any concerns over Seoul taking over the DPRK, but at the same time, threats that it could replace the United States as the most-hated planet nation on Earth should be made. Ever so diplomatically.

Ling Sisters on Larry King

They thank former President Bill Clinton for securing the release of Laura Ling and her colleague Euna Lee, by having offered "a message of condolences" that I found a bit suprising:

"There was no deal," Ling said of their release in August 2009. "What President Clinton said on the plane ride home was that Kim Jong Il told him, 'You were the first person who reached out to me when my father ... died, even before my allies. I've always remembered that and I've always respected you for that and I've always wanted to meet you.'"

Because of the book release, Laura and Lisa are, naturally, all over the media. Laura also penned an opinion piece for CNN:

We were the first Americans tried in North Korea's highest court. Our sentence, two years for trespassing and 10 for "hostile" acts, shows where the North Korean government's real concerns lie. Leery about a negative portrayal of its regime, the North Korean authorities decided the documentary we were making would threaten their government. It was seen as a hostile act meant to weaken or bring down the country.

She also talks about the attitudes of North Korean refugees, using it as a window into the psyche of DPRK citizens. She also talked about what she had to say in order to get released:

In June, I stood before a North Korean judge and expressed my hope that the United States and North Korea might one day establish closer relations. That desire still exists.

I also promised that if released, I would never report on the issue of defectors or North Korean human rights abuses again. That is an oath I cannot keep as long as the people of North Korea remain silenced.

I'll come out and say that the contrition-in-exchange-for-leniency concept seems alive and well in both Koreas. That should make reunification at least a skosh easier.

Anyway, it appears there are new revelations coming out that are making these media appearances interesting, to say the least.

100-meter record set in ROK

This is Korea-related — it happened in Taegu — but the real reason for mentioning this news item is that I just love that the sprinter's name is Bolt, Usain Bolt.

I'm trying to think of some other aptly-named people, but all I can come up with off the top of my head is Steve Jobs, who has given a lot of people work in the Bay Area. Or Jack Shepherd, who herded all the Oceanic 815 survivors to safety, but he's a fictional character.

Anyone else?

Yeah, Marmot probably wouldn't be happy about this kind of thing

While Arizona is making everyone in the state carry documents showing they're in the country legally, Trenton, New Jersey, the capital of the Garden State (I say that without any irony; I've never visited, so I have no reason to dis) is going in the other direction.

From the New York Times:

Since moving to this city from her native Guatemala a decade ago, Herlinda, an illegal immigrant, has supported her family with restaurant work, but has had no way of proving that she lives here. Without government-issued photo identification, like a driver’s license or a passport, she said, she could not get treatment at most medical clinics, borrow a book from the library, pick up a package from a mail center or cash a check.

But this month she discovered a solution: a community identification card issued by a coalition of civic groups and endorsed by Trenton and Mercer County officials.

“When you don’t have a proper ID, they can humiliate you,” said Herlinda, 43, as she waited in the offices of a church where the cards were being issued. “I feel I belong in Trenton.”

As a new law in Arizona makes the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and spurs similar proposals in other states, Trenton is one of a small but growing number of municipalities that have moved in the opposite direction — making sure that illegal immigrants have documents to make their lives easier.

At least six city governments, including San Francisco and New Haven, now endorse or issue photo identification cards to residents. The latest is Princeton, N.J., where advocates for immigrants, with the consent of both the borough and the township, will begin issuing cards on May 22; other New Jersey communities have also expressed interest. Oakland, Calif., has approved a program but has not yet started issuing cards.

The issue is not new (driver licenses for undocumented residents emerged as a campaign issue in the latter part of this just past decade), and many people protest that "making life easier" is the exact opposite of what we should be doing for illegal immigrants.

From a law-and-order point-of-view, I get that (even though I think laws and policies to stop illegal immigration should first be vigorously enforced in the workplace, which goes to the heart of why almost all undocumented workers come to the US, it's easy to understand the concerns that making life easier elsewhere only undermines the efforts of law enforcement and the government — as meek as they typically seem to be — to put a dent in the overwhelming number of people who residing in the United States illegally).

From a public health and welfare stance, however, the opposite is true. Like it or not, millions of people are in the US illegally, and it becomes a health and safety hazard for all if they cannot get (or feel they cannot access) health care, insurance, or education. Communicable diseases have no regard for legal status or passport, so it's certainly not in our best interest to prevent illegals from getting adequate healthcare (and Obamacare goes so far as to bar undocumented residents from buying health insurance on exchanges, even with their own money). Likewise, having people on the road who cannot legally obtain car insurance, or children of illegal immigrants growing up within our borders without an education, is also fraught with trouble waiting to happen.

You see, you don't want to keep people away from activities that enhance social welfare: punishing them punishes us and only exacerbates the problems associated with illegal immigration. So from that perspective, these community IDs make sense (and laws like Arizona's that potentially require everyone to show their papers anytime the police walk by are problematic).

But more importantly, it underscores why workplace regulations should be Ground Zero for efforts to reduce their number: If there's one place we should be scaring undocumented residents away from, it's the workplace.