Nodutdol | News | February 2009

NEWS | February 2009

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Nodutdol at ECAASU today 3:30-4:30 p.m. and KASCON next weekend!

If you are at Rutgers today, please check out the workshop:
Korea: From Armistice to Peace
Axis of evil, human rights, nuclear missiles, terrorist state...these are what define Korea according to the mass media. Want to learn about Korea’s modern history beyond simple media caricatures? Come and learn about the history of war and division on the Korean peninsula, as well as the history of the Korean people’s movement for peace and the right to define their own future. Reflect on the history of the Korean Diaspora, talk about the impact of continued division and military conflict on Koreans everywhere, and learn about the national Peace Treaty campaign and what you can do to take action!

Op-Ed Column “The Uncertain Trumpet “ by David Brooks of the New York Times

Op-Ed Columnist
The Uncertain Trumpet

By DAVID BROOKS
Published: February 27, 2009

On Tuesday night, President Obama talked about a national culture of irresponsibility. He talked about the way Americans have sacrificed the long term for the short term, spent more than they could afford, and how the country’s leaders have broken promises and delayed reform. Obama described a rot that was ingrained and pervasive.

On Thursday, he offered a budget of his own, and the question arises: Will he really change all that?

The answer is somewhat, but not enough. Obama’s budget is far more honest than the ones that preceded it. It imposes real pay-as-you-go rules on future outlays. Intellectually serious efforts are made to pay for at least half of the cost of health care reform.

But the ingrained habits are still there, and the rot is not expunged. Obama enthusiastically perpetuates the myth that the American people can have everything they want without a dose of shared sacrifice. They can have health care, education reform, even a cure for cancer, and 98 percent of them need pay nothing. The burdens of progress will be borne by the rich while everyone else can enjoy their tax cuts and go shopping.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, Cardinal, Dies at 86, reported by CHOE SANG-HUN of the NY Times

By CHOE SANG-HUN
Published: February 16, 2009

SEOUL, South Korea — Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, South Korea’s first Roman Catholic cardinal, to whom Catholic and non-Catholic South Koreans turned for consolation and support during the era of military dictatorship from the 1960s through the 1980s, died Monday. He was 86.

Cardinal Kim died at St. Mary’s Hospital in Seoul, said Lee Hee-yeon, an official with the Archdiocese of Seoul, according to The Associated Press.

Washington Post, February 17, 2009: Living With a Nuclear North Korea

Living With A Nuclear North Korea

By Selig S. Harrison
Tuesday, February 17, 2009; A13

Will North Korea ever give up its nuclear weapons?

To test its intentions, I submitted a detailed proposal to Foreign Ministry nuclear negotiator Li Gun for a “grand bargain” in advance of a visit to Pyongyang last month. North Korea, I suggested, would surrender to the International Atomic Energy Agency the 68 pounds of plutonium it has already declared in denuclearization negotiations. In return, the United States would conclude a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War, normalize diplomatic and economic relations, put food and energy aid on a long-term basis, and support large-scale multilateral credits for rehabilitation of North Korea’s economic infrastructure.

The North’s rebuff was categorical and explicit. Its declared plutonium has “already been weaponized,” I was told repeatedly during 10 hours of discussions. Pyongyang is ready to rule out the development of additional nuclear weapons in future negotiations, but when, and whether, it will give up its existing arsenal depends on how relations with Washington evolve.

The Guardian, February 16, 2009: Clinton issues warning on North Korea

Clinton issues warning on North Korea
Justin McCurry in Tokyo

Hillary Clinton arrived in Asia on her first overseas trip as US secretary of state today as North Korea prepared to test a ballistic missile which is believed to have sufficient range to reach US territory.

In a move that looked set to heighten rather than defuse tensions between the two countries, the Pyongyang regime announced it would launch a missile, widely though to to be the Taepodong-2, from a base on its east coast.

Before leaving Washington on Sunday, Clinton had said the United States is willing to normalise ties with North Korea and help rebuild its economy if it abandons its nuclear weapons.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Washington Post, February 16, 2009: Clinton Criticizes Bush on N. Korea

Clinton Criticizes Bush on N. Korea

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska, Feb. 15—Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton cast doubt Sunday on a claim by the Bush administration that North Korea had a clandestine program to enrich uranium, and she said she will focus on getting the Pyongyang government to give up its stock of weapons-grade plutonium.

“There is a debate within the intelligence community as to exactly the extent of the highly-enriched-uranium program,” Clinton told reporters traveling with her to Asia on her first voyage as the chief U.S. diplomat.

In a slap at her predecessors, Clinton made it clear she believes that the Bush administration’s decision to walk away from an agreement negotiated during her husband’s administration—the 1994 Agreed Framework—helped create the current crisis over North Korea’s stash of nuclear weapons.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Yonhap News, February 10, 2009: Gov’t to enhance rights of tenants to prevent recurrence of Yongsan

Gov’t to enhance rights of tenants to prevent recurrence of Yongsan tragedy

SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Yonhap)—The government said Tuesday that it will take steps to enhance the rights of tenants and small business owners facing eviction to prevent a recurrence of the tragic Yongsan fire that claimed six lives last month.

The Cabinet, chaired by the prime minister, said that in the future, people who have rented shops in buildings that are later slated for destruction as part of an urban development project will be given first choice when purchasing new shops. Policymakers also said compensation for business closures affecting the livelihood of these people will be extended to four months from three, as stipulated at present.

Korea Times, February 10, 2009: Police Chief-Nominee Quits Over Yongsan Fire

Police Chief-Nominee Quits Over Yongsan Fire

South Korea’s national police chief-designate resigned and withdrew from nomination Tuesday amid mounting pressure for him to step down over a police raid on protesters last month that left six people dead.

“Holding myself morally responsible for the Yongsan accident, I withdraw from the nomination for the head of the National Police Agency and also step down as the Seoul police chief,” Kim Seok-ki, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, was quoted as saying at a press briefing.

On Jan. 20, a police SWAT team raided a dilapidated four-story building in central Seoul to evict dozens of squatters opposing redevelopment of the area. Six people, including a police officer, were killed in the blaze that occurred during the pre-dawn raid.

Many have blamed Kim, nominated just two days before the incident by President Lee Myung-bak as the new national police chief, for permitting the raid despite knowing the protesters were armed with fire bombs and other flammables.

Hankyoreh, February 10, 2009: Police and protesters clash at Yongsan memorial events, 6 arrested

Police and protesters clash at Yongsan memorial events, 6 arrested

Police and civilians clashed on Saturday during a memorial event for the victims of last month’s police raid on anti-urban development protesters in Seoul’s Yongsan district. The gathering was the third of its kind held in central Seoul following the Yongsan tragedy, which left six people dead.

On Saturday, police arrested six people during the event organized by the People’s Committee to Protest against the Murderous Clampdown on the Yongsan Evictees, including a 25-year-old student only identified by his surname, Park.

Monday, February 9, 2009

The Korea Herald, February 10, 2009: Seoul Picks U.S. lobbyist for FTA Passage

The Korea Herald, February 10, 2009: Seoul Picks U.S. Lobbyist for FTA Passage

The Seoul government has signed a contract with a U.S. lobbying firm in efforts to facilitate the U.S. Congress`s ratification of the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, diplomatic sources said yesterday.

The Korean embassy in Washington sealed a six-month deal in December with Parven Pomper Strategies, a renowned American lobbying group, for help in persuading U.S. officials and members of Congress critical of the FTA, the sources said.

The PPS is well-known for dealing with trade issues and maintains a significant connection with the U.S. Democratic Party, they said.

The contract, worth $120,000, became effective Jan. 1, sources said, adding that it could be renewed once on the same terms and conditions.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Hankyoreh, February 6, 2009: Public Securities Warn of Stern Response to Demonstrations on Yongsan

Public security authorities warn of stern response to demonstrations on Yongsan tragedy

Public security authorities, including the prosecutors and police, warned of more hard-line responses to the candlelight demonstrations taking place following the Yongsan demolition protest tragedy. They made it clear that they do not intend to accept even opposition to an investigation that many say places responsibility for the tragedy on the protesters. The prosecutors also postponed the release of its investigation from Friday to after the weekend on Monday.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office announced Thursday that it plans to hold a meeting on countermeasures with related organizations, including the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, and take strict measures against illegal assemblies and protests on the recent fire that took six lives at a Yongsan building slated for demolition.

“The Committee Against the Brutal Suppression of the Yongsan Demolition Protest plans to use the incident as a pretext to hold a third memorial assembly this weekend and engage in a large-scale street protest, and we held a meeting for countermeasures because the degree of illegal violence is reaching a dangerous level, including the disruption of traffic by some protesters occupying the roads, the throwing of rocks at police, the damaging of police buses, and attempted arson,” the prosecutors’ office said.

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