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Monday, January 5, 2009

North Korea vows to bolster its military in 2009 by Hyung-Jin Kim of the Associated Press

[Happy new year, everyone. This is Juyeon. Have I told you that I have problems with the sensationalism in the news media? The title could have been “North Korea Reaffirms Its Commitment to Denuclearization,” or “North Korea Changes Its Tone in New Year’s Address Hoping to Build up Ties with the Incoming Government of President-elect Barack Obama.” But, of course, then, the ‘reclusive country’ will sound too tame and good, right? Besides, what’s up with the conservative extremes who intentionally want to block any effort the south and the north may be able to make by ruthlessly provoking the north with balloons? As if they represent all Korean people! Aarrgh! Sorry to put personal comments here in the news column. Couldn’t help myself.]

North Korea vows to bolster its military in 2009
by Hyung-Jin Kim (The Associated Press) Google page of the AP News

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea ushered in 2009 with an appeal Thursday to unite around leader Kim Jong Il and bolster the country’s military while reaffirming its commitment to denuclearization.

North Korea traditionally marks New Year’s Day with a joint editorial by the country’s three major state-run newspapers representing its communist party, military and youth militia force. Outside observers pore over the statement for insight on the reclusive country’s policy direction.

This year’s message accused South Korea of an “anachronistic confrontation policy” and stressed the need to strengthen the country’s 1.2 million-member military — the backbone of Kim’s totalitarian rule.

However, it lacked the country’s usual criticisms of the United States, an indication the country may hope to build up ties with the incoming government of President-elect Barack Obama.

A President Forgotten but Not Gone by Frank Rich at Opinion Section in the New York Times (1-3-09)

A President Forgotten but Not Gone
by Frank Rich
Published January 3, 2009 Op-ed by Frank Rich on Bush

WE like our failed presidents to be Shakespearean, or at least large enough to inspire Oscar-worthy performances from magnificent tragedians like Frank Langella. So here, too, George W. Bush has let us down. Even the banality of evil is too grandiose a concept for 43. He is not a memorable villain so much as a sometimes affable second banana whom Josh Brolin and Will Ferrell can nail without breaking a sweat. He’s the reckless Yalie Tom Buchanan, not Gatsby. He is smaller than life.

The last NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll on Bush’s presidency found that 79 percent of Americans will not miss him after he leaves the White House. He is being forgotten already, even if he’s not yet gone. You start to pity him until you remember how vast the wreckage is. It stretches from the Middle East to Wall Street to Main Street and even into the heavens, which have been a safe haven for toxins under his passive stewardship. The discrepancy between the grandeur of the failure and the stature of the man is a puzzlement. We are still trying to compute it.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

NKorea vows to exclude Japan from nuclear talks by Kwang-Tae Kim (AP)

for full story on La Crosse Tribune, click here

Dec 6, 6:18 AM EST

NK VOWS TO EXCLUDE JAPAN FROM NUCLEAR TALKS
[in other words, Japan keeps hindering progress of the six party talks from the perspectives of the north]

By KWANG-TAE KIM
Associated Press Writer

U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill talks to reporters upon his arrival at the Incheon international airport, west of Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008. Hill arrived in South Korea for consultations before talks with Japan, China, South Korea and Russia that being on Monday in Beijing on North Korea’s nuclear disarmament. (AP Photo/Jung Yeon-je, Pool)

Friday, December 5, 2008

우리같이 한국말을 배웁시다! Let’s all learn Korean together!

Spring Semester Schedules:

BEGINNER II:
01/13/09 to 03/17/09 (10 weeks)
Tuesdays 6:30-8:30pm
Some basic knowledge of Korean language [Korean alphabet, basic greetings, numbers, etc.] required.

INTERMEDIATE:
01/14/09 to 03/18/09 (10 weeks)
Wednesdays 6:30-8:30pm
Students with about 7-8 months of Korean language Instruction. Corresponding level of Korean proficiency to conduct basic social activities. Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing.

+ Classes are held in Mid-Manhattan. Each class will be small (a maximum of 10 students) and focus on developing conversational Korean language skills in an informal atmosphere.
+ Tuition : $300 per 10-week session ($225 for Nodutdol members, low income and students)

Contact: By telephone: Nodutdol (718) 335-0419
By Email:

Please spread the word!

Friday, November 28, 2008

Korea Policy Institute “Censoring History: Interview with Bruce Cumings”

http://www.kpolicy.org/documents/interviews-opeds/interview081126bruce-cumings.html
November 26, 2008

On Oct. 30, 2008, the South Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology demanded that the authors of six textbooks currently used in South Korean high schools delete or revise 55 sections in their texts that the Ministry claimed, “undermine the legitimacy of the South Korean government.” South Korea formerly used a single government-issued textbook to teach its high school students a modern history of Korea, but in 2003 the government approved six privately published history textbooks for high school use. These textbooks have drawn heavy criticism from South Korean conservatives, and with last year’s presidential election of conservative Lee Myung Bak they are now seeking to influence the content of the textbooks.

In response, the Organization of Korean Historians (Han’guk yOksa yOn’guhoe) and 38 other academic associations/groups drafted a statement of opposition to the South Korean Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology’s plan to revise Korean history textbooks. Approximately 550 South Korean academics and 112 scholars outside of South Korea signed the statement in opposition to the South Korean government’s attempts to impose a single historical interpretation into South Korean textbooks. The Korean-language and English-language statements along with the complete list of signatories can be found here. (Over 400 graduate students of Korea Studies at more than 20 universities in South Korea and approximately 40 graduate students from 16 universities based in Europe and North America have signed on to a separate, related statement.)

One of the signatories to the statement of opposition is Bruce Cumings, an Advisory Board Member of the Korea Policy Institute. Professor Cumings is the Chair of the History Department at the University of Chicago. Given that this controversy is at the nexus of history, scholarship, and government interference, we note that his first book, The Origins of the Korean War, won the John King Fairbank Book Award of the American Historical Association, and the second volume of this study won the Quincy Wright Book Award of the International Studies Association....

Professor Cumings was asked by South Korean newspapers to speak to the recent efforts of the Lee Administration to impose a single version of Korean history into South Korea’s textbooks. His responses to questions from a reporter with the Donga Ilbo are below.

History textbook causes an uproar in South Korea By Choe Sang-Hun International Herald Tribune

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/17/asia/textbook.php
Monday, November 17, 2008

To conservative critics, a popular textbook’s version of how U.S. and Soviet forces took control of Korea from Japanese colonialists in 1945 exemplifies all that’s wrong with how South Korean history is taught to young people today.

The facts no one disputes are that, at the end of World War II, the Soviet military swept into northern Korea and installed a friendly Communist government while a U.S. military administration assumed control in the south.
But then the high school textbook takes a direction that is raising hackles among conservatives. It argues that the Japanese occupation was followed not by a free, self-determining Korea, but by a divided peninsula dominated once again by foreign powers.
“It was not our national flag that was hoisted to replace the Japanese flag,” reads the textbook published by Kumsung Publishing. “The flag that flew in its place was the American Stars and Stripes. Our liberation through the Allied forces’ victory prevented us from building a new country according to our own wishes.”

The critics include the government of President Lee Myung Bak, the conservative who came to power this year with a pledge to overturn a decade of liberal policies that Lee said coddled North Korea and denigrated the U.S. alliance - the alliance that liberals, for their part, accused of propping up South Korean dictators in the name of anti-Communism.

On Oct. 30, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology demanded that the authors of the Kumsung book and five other textbooks currently used in high schools delete or revise 55 sections in their texts that it said “undermine the legitimacy of the South Korean government.”

Saturday, November 15, 2008

DEEP 2008 Report Back in San Francisco, “TWO WEEKS IN NORTH KOREA” NOV 19 & 20

North Korea through the Eyes of Korean Americans

Four Bay Area Korean Americans and zainichi (ethnic Korean residents of Japan) will speak at two local venues about their participation in a peace delegation to North Korea this past July. Scheduled for Wednesday, November 19, at the Eastside Arts Alliance in Oakland and Thursday, November 20, at UC Berkeley, these report-backs will provide the members of the delegation with an occasion to share their experiences in North Korea with the public. “I strongly believe their insights will prove to be crucial in the direct diplomacy era of the Obama administration, particularly following the removal of North Korea from the U.S. terrorism blacklist,” stated Christine Ahn, a coordinator of the delegation.

Through the New York-based DPRK Education and Exposure Program (DEEP), eleven Korean Americans, Korean Canadians, and zainichi traveled and studied in North Korea for two weeks in early July. Included in this eleven-person delegation were several grassroots peace activists, two NGO directors, a documentary filmmaker, a lawyer, an art teacher, an academic researcher, and university and medical school students. Prior to their departure, the delegation launched a successful fundraising drive to raise money for essential medical supplies for North Korea.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

KEEP 2008 Reportback Seattle, WA November 22nd

This summer two members of Sahngnoksoo participated in a program called the Korea Education and Exposure Program (KEEP). Neither of us had experienced the social justice movement culture in Korea and were excited to have a glimpse at it.

Now that we’re back, we want to share the many things we learned. Show you the images of riot police spraying protesters with blue dye in order to identify and arrest them later. Talk about militarism and frame S. Korea as a nation under the thumb of American neoliberalism but also as a nation importing women into militarized prostitution. We want to explore the complex situation in S. Korea and tie it back to the work we’re doing locally. We hope that you’ll join us to learn more and to continue building strength in our alliances and work together.
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Host: Sahngnoksoo
Date: Saturday, November 22, 2008 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Place: 2100 24th Ave Seattle, WA
Email:
RSVP: http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=43466567441&ref=nf
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