The Agonist - Asia: NE & Koreas

US finally wise to Pyongyang's ways

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:39:58 -0800

Asia Times, By Andrei Lankov, November 12

SEOUL - In the past few weeks, North Korean watchers have been confronted with a sight they do not see frequently: Americans outsmarting North Koreans.

Usually, the opposite is the case. North Korea might be a failing state, balancing on the verge of famine, but when it comes to diplomatic games, North Korean politicians are second to none.

They have studied the dangerous art of manipulating great powers since the 1960s, when they played Russians and Chinese against one another. They perfected their skills in the 1990s, when they managed to manipulate the US, South Korea and China into providing large amounts of food and energy aid while giving essentially nothing in return.

This was a remarkable achievement, and it seemed that the North Koreans would always have the upper hand when confronting Washington. However, this time things are different. North Korea's attempts to use tried-and-tested methods have backfired.

[...]

So, for a while, things seemingly worked in the usual way. However, by October, North Korean diplomats made an unpleasant discovery: the Americans, while smiling broadly and expressing their willingness to talk, were in no hurry to start actual negotiations, let alone shower North Korea with money.

Ambassador Stephen Bosworth, special representative for North Korea policy, is much-waited in North Korea, but he has not visited Pyongyang yet (and, in a telling gesture, did not even retire from his academic job). One can also expect that once negotiations finally begin, the North Koreans will make another unpleasant discovery: it is now far more difficult to squeeze concessions and money from the US.

There are at least two reasons for this change in mood. First, Americans are learning from their experience. This time, they have a much better understanding of both North Korean methods and the likely outcome of negotiations. When in 1993-94 the North Koreans drove tensions high, many people really expected a war and there was even talk about a preemptive strike.

[...]

However, this is an old story by now. It seems that after the second nuclear test in May and all associated statements, virtually nobody in the US government still clings to the belief that denuclearization of North Korea is possible. In other words, the Americans have come to realize the obvious: North Korea will stay nuclear.

Obama meets Japan's Hatoyama, stressing equal partnership

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:17:12 -0800

Takehiko Kambayashi | Tokyo | November 13

CSM - Obama, in first stop of his Asia trip, addressed the thorny issue of a US military base in Okinawa. Despite recent tensions, Obamamania is still strong in Japan.

President Barack Obama's first trip to Asia as head of state began with a warm welcome Friday in the highly guarded Japanese capital, where excitement over the president persists despite recent tensions over the two nations' security alliance – in particular the presence of United States military bases in the Japan.

The visit comes against the backdrop of a newly assertive Japanese government, led by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which in August ended a half-century of nearly unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.

On Friday, the two leaders exchanged views on issues including Afghanistan, nuclear nonproliferation, the economy, and the main US military base in Okinawa.

Mr. Hatoyama has said that, although the US-Japan alliance remains solid, he wants to put it on a more "equal footing." He has previously called for moving the US military base out of Okinawa – where many of the nearly US 45,000 troops in Japan are stationed. But for now, he has shelved plans to do so.

The Great Atomic Film Cover-Up

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:26:28 -0800

Greg Mitchell | Nov 10 | Huff

Early this week, President Obama -- perhaps under new pressure as a Nobel Peace Prize winner -- said he would like to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki during his presidency. If he does, he will become the first sitting U.S. president to make that trip.

Yesterday, Veterans Day arrived, so here I'd liked to pay tribute to two of the most remarkable veterans I've ever encountered.

In the weeks following the atomic attacks on Japan 64 years ago, and then for decades afterward, the United States engaged in airtight suppression of all film shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombings. This included footage shot by U.S. military crews and Japanese newsreel teams. In addition, for many years, many newspaper photographs were seized or prohibited.

The general public did not see any of the newsreel footage for 25 years, and the U.S. military film remained hidden for nearly four decades. I first probed the coverup back in 1983, and developed it further in later articles and in my 1995 book with Robert Jay Lifton, Hiroshima in America and in a 2005 documentary Original Child Bomb. To see some of the footage, go to my blog.

As editor of Nuclear Times in the early 1980s, I met Herbert Sussan, one of the members of the U.S. military film crew. The color U.S. military footage would remain hidden until the early 1980s, and has never been fully aired. It rests today at the National Archives in College Park, Md., in the form of 90,000 feet of raw footage labeled #342 USAF. I have a VHS copy of all of it today.

When that footage finally emerged, I spoke with and corresponded with the man at the center of this drama: Lt. Col. Daniel A. McGovern, who directed the U.S. military film-makers in 1945-1946, managed the Japanese footage, and then kept watch on all of the top-secret material for decades.

"I always had the sense," McGovern told me, "that people in the Atomic Energy Commission were sorry we had dropped the bomb. The Air Force -- it was also sorry. I was told by people in the Pentagon that they didn't want those [film] images out because they showed effects on man, woman and child....They didn't want the general public to know what their weapons had done -- at a time they were planning on more bomb tests. We didn't want the material out because...we were sorry for our sins."

Sussan, meanwhile, struggled for years to get some of the American footage aired on national TV, taking his request as high as President Truman, Robert F. Kennedy and Edward R. Murrow, to no avail.

More recently, McGovern declared that Americans should have seen the damage wrought by the bomb. "The main reason it was classified was...because of the horror, the devastation," he said. Because the footage shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was hidden for so long, the atomic bombings quickly sank, unconfronted and unresolved, into the deeper recesses of American awareness, as a costly nuclear arms race, and nuclear proliferation, accelerated.

In 2005, Editor & Publisher (where I am editor) broke the news that articles written by famed Chicago Daily News war correspondent George Weller about the effects of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki were finally published, in Japan, almost six decades after they had been spiked by U.S. officials. But suppressing film footage shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was even more significant, as this country rushed into the nuclear age with its citizens having neither a true understanding of the effects of the bomb on human beings, nor why the atomic attacks drew condemnation around the world. The common view abroad, and among many U.S. historians, is that Russia's entry into the war (long scheduled and carried out on August 8) would have forced a Japanese surrender long before any U.S. invasion took place. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower himself later said it was not necessary to hit Japan "with that awful thing."

Hiroshima hails Barack, but he's too busy to visit

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:09:37 -0800

David McNeill | Tokyo | Nov 12

The Independent - It was a speech Tsutomu Yamaguchi had waited 64 years to hear. Watching television at home in Hiroshima in April, one of Japan's most famous A-bomb survivors heard an American president call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

"As... the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon," Barack Obama said that day in Prague, "the United States has a moral responsibility to act." Mr Yamaguchi was elated. "I feel he is the only one we can now rely on the end these terrible weapons," he said.

Mr Yamaguchi's words carry more weight than most people's. In 1945 he was exposed to the only two atom bombs ever used in anger, both Hiroshima's and Nagasaki's. Now 93, Japan's only recognised double survivor has been dealing with the horrific consequences all his life. He has lost his son and wife in the past four years, both to cancer. And with only months to live himself, he is hoping that President Obama will visit his city before he too dies. "That would be very important to us, and to the world."

Political pressure at home and tight scheduling during Mr Obama's first visit to Japan on Friday and Saturday make the chances of a presidential trip to either city almost zero. Mr Obama arrives in Tokyo amid a growing firestorm over the relocation of a controversial US airbase in the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. He is still trying to establish a rapport with the country's new Democrat government, which is withdrawing its support for the US war in Afghanistan and has hinted at wanting more independence from Washington. For decades, Japan has been one of America's most dependable allies.

Navies of 2 Koreas Exchange Fire

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:03:04 -0800

Choe Sang-Hun | Seoul | November 9

NYT - Navy patrol boats of North and South Korea exchanged fire in disputed waters off the western coast of the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday, leaving a North Korean vessel heavily damaged, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

The damaged patrol boat retreated to North Korea, according to the news agency, which quoted an anonymous government source in Seoul.

There were no casualties on the South Korean side, Yonhap reported.

“It’s true that there was an exchange of fire, and we plan to reveal details later,” an officer at the South Korean military’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the news media before the military issued a formal announcement.

US, North Korea agree to hold bilateral meetings

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:32:31 -0800

Seoul | Nov 4

AFP - The United States and North Korea have agreed to hold two rounds of bilateral meetings before the North returns to multilateral nuclear disarmament talks, a US news report said.

The agreement was reached at last month's meetings in New York and San Diego between officials from the two sides, Foreign Policy magazine said on its website, in a report seen Wednesday.

The communist state, putting further pressure on the United States to start direct talks, announced Tuesday it has completed reprocessing spent fuel rods to produce more plutonium for its atomic weapons programme.

The US State Department responded that the plutonium production "runs counter" to the North's disarmament commitments and violates UN Security Council resolutions.

It said it has not decided when and where to hold bilateral talks involving the US special envoy to North Korea, Stephen Bosworth.

In rarity, South Korean defects to the North

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:17:13 -0700

Seoul | Oct 27

DPA - In a rare incident, a man from South Korea has defected to the communist North, traversing the heavily fortified demilitarized zone (DMZ), it was reported Tuesday.

North Korea's official news agency KCNA identified the man as Kang Dong Lim, 30, who defected on Monday and 'is now under the warm care' of the relevant North Korean authorities.

'He is pleased with the accomplishment of his desire for defection,' the KCNA report said.

KCNA said that Kang, during his military duty for South Korea, had already attempted on a few occasions to defect. It said that he last had worked in the semi-conductor division of the Samsung company.

Hwang Convicted of Embezzlement, Cleared of Fraud

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:25:18 -0700

Park Si-soo | Oct 26

Korea Times - Disgraced stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk was convicted Monday of embezzling state and private funds and illegally buying human eggs for his research, but was cleared of fraud charges.

The Seoul Central District Court gave the 56-year-old scientist a two-year prison sentence suspended for three years, ending a three-year, four-month saga that dates back to his indictment in 2006.

His lawyer said Hwang was unlikely to lodge an appeal. But the prosecutors are said to be planning to file an appeal, which means that a legal battle over Hwang's case will likely drag out.

Hwang reported false breakthroughs in human stem cell research and had them published in the journal Science and other global research magazines in 2004 and 2005.

However, when it was revealed by a Korean research team that he had fabricated the experimental results, Korea's reputation as a leading scientific country in stem cell research was literally "devastated."

The journal, Science, retracted his papers following the finding and still remains cautious of publishing papers by Korean scientists.

Prosecutors didn't try to penalize Hwang for his test fabrications, leaving that to the discretion of the science community.

The prosecution sought a four-year jail term, but Presiding Judge Bae Ki-ryul reduced it, citing Hwang's dedication to the development of Korea's biotechnology, his lack of a criminal record and deep remorse.

Japan informs US it will stop Afghan naval mission

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:56:32 -0700

Oct 15

Raw`Story/AFP - Japan has told the United States it will end a naval refuelling mission backing its war in Afghanistan, a month before President Barack Obama visits Tokyo, a top defence official said Thursday.

The formal confirmation to the White House and Pentagon, days before Defense Secretary Robert Gates visits Japan, is part of efforts by the new centre-left government in Tokyo to recalibrate its security ties with Washington.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who took office last month, has said he wants "more equal" relations with the United States and that he opposes plans for a new US military air base to be built on southern Okinawa island.

Hatoyama, whose party in opposition spoke out against Japan abetting "American wars," has for months said it would not renew a naval refuelling mission in the Indian Ocean that was first launched in 2001.

Adrift On A Russian Island, Part 1

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:22:19 -0700

Oct 15

Asia Times -

ADRIFT ON A RUSSIAN ISLAND, Part 1
Koreans left high and dry

When Sakhalin Island, off Russia's east coast, became a Japanese colony in 1905, thousands of Koreans were brought in to work in the fishery and timber industries. When the Soviet Union regained the island 45 years later, the Koreans became virtual prisoners, and a stormy coexistence began that lasts to this day.

This is the first article in a two-part report.

Quite the history lesson~ tina

map: http://www.treehugger.com/2009/01/25-week/

China reportedly detects deadly nerve gas at border with NKorea

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:48:12 -0700

Tokyo | Oct 9

AFP - China has detected deadly nerve gas at its border with North Korea and suspects an accidental release inside the secretive state, a Japanese news report said Friday.

The Chinese military is strengthening its surveillance activities after detecting the highly virulent sarin gas in November last year and in February in Liaoning province, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported, citing anonymous sources from the Chinese military.

Sarin gas, which was developed in Germany before World War I, was used in the deadly 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway by a doomsday cult.

The Chinese special operations forces found 0.015-0.03 microgrammes of the gas per cubic metre when they were conducting regular surveys while there were winds from the direction of North Korea, the report said.

China suspects that there were some experiments or accidents in its neighbouring country, it said.

North Korea says ready to return to nuclear talks

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:29:35 -0700

Jonathan Thatcher | Seoul | Oct 6

Reuters - North Korea on Tuesday signalled it could return to nuclear disarmament talks it had declared dead six months ago, but a report it was near restoring its atomic plant underlined the secretive state would keep the stakes high.

Leader Kim Jong-il told Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on a rare visit to Pyongyang that he first wanted talks with the United States. The North sees such talks as key to ending its status as a global pariah that it argues gives it no choice but to have a nuclear arsenal.

"The hostile relations between the DPRK (North Korea) and the United States should be converted into peaceful ties through the bilateral talks without fail," the North's KCNA news agency quoted Kim as saying.

"We expressed our readiness to hold multilateral talks, depending on the outcome of the DPRK-U.S. talks. The six-party talks are also included in the multilateral talks."

China, NKorea vow to strengthen friendship

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:23:26 -0700

Seoul | Oct 5

AFP - China and North Korea vowed Monday to strengthen a friendship which they said preserved regional peace, as Premier Wen Jiabao pressed on with a mission to bring Pyongyang back to nuclear disarmament talks.

"History has proven that developing China-North Korea relations is in line with the fundamental interests and common aspirations of the two peoples and conducive to safeguarding regional peace and stability," said a Chinese foreign ministry statement quoting its President Hu Jintao and Wen.

"We are willing to work together with North Korea to... constantly push forward friendly and cooperative relations."

The statement, issued to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations, came on the second day of Wen's high-profile visit to Pyongyang. It made no mention of the North's nuclear programmes.

In the same statement, the North's leader Kim Jong-Il was quoted as calling the bilateral relationship "a common treasure".

How Japan plans to have more babies

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:20:57 -0700

Takehiko Kambayashi | Sept 29

CSM - The new government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has vowed to boost financial support for parents in an effort to increase its birthrate, one of the lowest in the world.

After Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's debut on the international stage last week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the premier is back home to tackle daunting tasks. One of the most intractable problems his country is facing is its falling birthrate.

Japan's population could shrink by 25 percent by 2050 if the birthrate does not increase, according to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.

Prime Minister Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan won an overwhelming election victory last month, breaking more than 50 years of almost uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party. In an attempt to bring the birthrate back to a sustainable level, the new government has promised to ease the expense of raising children in this island nation.

According to government minister Mizuho Fukushima, previous administrations "have been weak on providing financial support even though they have taken steps to tackle the daycare shortage problems." Now, Japan "is going to provide childcare support as much as it can to create a society where Japanese people can have a dream of raising children," Bloomberg quoted him as saying.

Obama says NKorea's Kim 'pretty healthy and in control'

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 07:49:30 -0700

Washington | Sept 20

AFP - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is "pretty healthy and in control," US President Barack Obama said on Sunday, citing an assessment by former president Bill Clinton after his trip to Pyongyang.

Clinton paid a rare visit to North Korea in August and met twice with Kim to win the release of two US journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who had been convicted of illegally entering the communist state.

Obama told CNN he had been interested by Clinton's assessment of Kim that "he's pretty healthy and in control. And that's important to know, because we don't have a lot of interaction with the North Koreans."

"Clinton had a chance to see him close up and have conversations with him," Obama added.

"I won't go into anymore details than that, but there's no doubt that this is somebody who I think for a while people thought was slipping away. He's reasserted himself."