Nodutdol | News | March 2009

NEWS | March 2009

Monday, March 23, 2009

REMINDER: TWO EVENTS THIS WEEK South Korea Truth & Reconciliation Commission

Truth & Reconciliation: Remembering War Crimes on the Korean Peninsula, 1948-1953

South Korea’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission is the first of its kind in Northeast Asia. Established by South Korea’s National Assembly in 2005, the Commission’s mandate includes finding the truth behind massacres of civilians before and during the Korean War, and human rights abuses perpetrated by South Korea’s authoritarian regimes.

The establishment of this Truth and Reconciliation Commission represents a dramatic change from the silence that was imposed by past authoritarian regimes in South Korea about massacres of civilians committed by U.S. forces and the South Korean police/military both before and during the Korean War.

1] Columbia University, Center for Korean Research
DATE: Tuesday, MARCH 24, 2009: 4:00-6:30 pm
LOCATION: 918 International Affairs Building, Columbia University

2) NYU, Department of East Asian Studies Korean Studies Colloquium
DATE: Wednesday MARCH 25, 2009: 5:00-6:30 pm
LOCATION: 715 Broadway, Room 312
*Seating is limited. R.S.V.P. to Nicole:
NYU faculty and graduate students will have priority.

Co-sponsored by the Center for Korean Research (Columbia University) & the Department of East Asian Studies (New York University)
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ckr/events.html
http://www.nyu.edu/pages/east.asian.studies/

KPI Presents Critical Event on April 1st @ UC BERKELEY

The Korea Policy Institute is pleased to present the following critical event:
“UNCOVERING THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE KOREAN WAR:
THE WORK OF SOUTH KOREA’S TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION”

featuring Kim Dong-Choon, Standing Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, South Korea, Professor of Sociology, and Director of the Human Rights and Peace Center, Sungkonghoe University, South Korea

Wednesday, April 1, 2009 5-7 p.m.
Heller Lounge, Multicultural Center, MLK, Jr. Building UC Berkeley

‘NO WAR IN IRAQ’ PROTEST IN SEOUL

Members of 25 peaceful anti-war organizations hold a demonstration to urge the United States to end Iraq War in front of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul on March 20. They wear hijab, the traditional Muslim dress for women that covers all but the head, hands and feet, and hold chrysanthemums to express their solidarity with the Iraqi people.

Photo by Lee Jeong-ah/The Hankyoreh

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Severe pollution levels detected at 13 U.S. bases scheduled for return to S. Korea

The Hankyoreh March 18, 2009
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/344760.html

Lead levels far exceed the S. Korean standard,
and the cleanup costs for S. Korea could reach into the trillions of won

Severe pollution levels have been detected at 13 United States military bases nationwide scheduled to be returned to South Korea, with lead levels detected at more than 150 times the standard value at one U.S. firing range.

On Tuesday, The Hankyoreh obtained a copy of the results of pollution studies for 13 U.S. military bases scheduled for return to South Korea, showing that the lead levels of 15,200 parts per million detected at the Texas firing range in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, were more than 150 times the South Korean pollution cleanup standard of 100 parts per million. Copper levels were detected at 792 parts per million, 16 times the standard value of 50 parts per million. Zinc levels in the soil at the site of the Stanley highway expansion in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, were detected at 1,137 parts per million, far in excess of the standard level of 300 parts per million.

Over 100 journalists stand against media reform bills

The Hankyoreh February 17, 2009
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/339260.html

More than 100 journalists, including Lim Jae-gyeong, former vice president of The Hankyoreh, third from left, announce their opposition to the ruling Grand National Party’s plan to revise media-related laws in front of the Seoul Press Center on February 16.

Former Hankook Ilbo editorial writer Jung Kyung-hee, former Hankyoreh Vice President Lim Jae-kyung, former DongA Ilbo Editor-in-Chief Jang Haeng-hun, and 105 other senior journalists gathered at the Seoul Press Center on Taepyeongno Boulevard Monday to denounce media-related legislation being pushed by the ruling Grand National Party as “evil media legislation” that “kills democracy.”

Together they signed and issued an “Emergency Declaration by Media Professionals Opposed to the Media Policy of the Current Administration,” the second such emergency appeal by Korean journalists. The first came in the form of a similar document released on October 22 of last year by 7,800 current and former heads of nine journalists’ organizations, including the Korea Journalists Association and the Korea Producers and Directors Association.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Hankyoreh, March 16, 2009: S. Korea’s insistence on KORUS FTA ratification could lead to conflict

Hankyoreh, March 16, 2009: S. Korea’s insistence on KORUS FTA ratification could lead to conflict with U.S.

Renegotiation of the South Korea-United States free trade agreement is rising as a major issue between the two nations.

In connection with U.S. Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton’s raising of the necessity for renegotiation, Cheong Wa Dae and the government emphasized that there is to be “no renegotiation” and indicated that the ratification agreement would be resolved in the National Assembly in February.

In response to Clinton’s statement the previous day, Cheong Wa Dae deputy spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said in a Thursday briefing, “I don’t know that it would be appropriate for us to talk about a statement made before the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama takes place in the United States, but the question of whether the U.S. will demand renegotiation or not is something we will have to wait and see on.” Kim added, “Our position is that there are no renegotiations.”

Thursday, March 12, 2009

CONTESTED TERRAIN: THE PROMISE AND PERILS OF REUNIFICATION*

Special Feature Article By Martin Hart-Landsberg

*This is a revised version of a paper presented at a Korea Policy Institute organized conference on “Reunification: Building Permanent Peace in Korea,” which was held at the University of California, Berkeley on October 10, 2008.

The title of this conference is “Reunification: Building Permanent Peace in Korea.” It seems that nearly everyone publicly supports the reunification of Korea—the governments of the U.S., North Korea, South Korea, the great majority of people in North Korea and South Korea, and, I would imagine, everyone here at this conference as well.

This should make us all nervous because what it means is that different people mean different things when they talk about reunification. This in turn means that we need to think carefully about what we mean when we offer our own support for reunification or, said differently, we need to stop thinking about reunification as an act that is unambiguously good and start thinking about it as a contested process. The obvious point is that a sound reunification process will greatly increase the likelihood of a desirable reunification outcome. One of our tasks then is to help support Korean efforts to advance a reunification process that will be truly responsive to the needs of the Korean people.

Generally speaking, the U.S. media presents us with two choices when talking about reunification: we can choose between a fast absorption of North Korea by South Korea (similar to the German experience) or a gradual absorption of North Korea by South Korea (where the process happens slowly so that the North does not collapse and the overall costs of reunification are kept to a minimum).(1) Both alternatives assume that the desired outcome will involve the expansion (and strengthening) of the existing South Korean political economy. Actual reunification—where the people of two separate states develop a common program to produce a new political economy for a reunified country—is just not talked about.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

‘THE BORDERS’ Opening Reception March 25, The Amelie A. Wallace Gallery at SUNY College

Open from March 25 – April 23, 2009
Artists: Nicole Awai, Erika Harrsch, Jane Jin Kaisen, Katia Kameli, Camilo Ontiveros,
Richard Ross, Patricia Ruiz-Navarro, Riiko Sakkinen, Dae Seung Seo, Steve Staso,
Eric Van Hove, O Zhang

Curated by Hyewon Yi

Opening Reception and Performance: Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 4:30 – 7:30 pm
Performer: Calvin Gladen

The Amelie A. Wallace Gallery at SUNY College at Old Westbury is pleased to announce the opening of a group exhibition of twelve artists’ works addressing issues of immigration and migration. Comprising such diverse media as video, film, photography, painting, drawing, sculpture and installation, The Borders offers the viewer an opportunity to consider the political, social, and economic contribution that human migration makes to racial diversity, multiculturalism, and issues of national security through the eyes of artists, some of whom have personal experience of immigration.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Hankyoreh, March 9, 2009: S. Korea’s diplomatic focus to shift to Asian nations

President promises South Korea will play a bigger role in the financial crisis, climate change and other global issues

President Lee Myung-bak yesterday announced his “New Asia Initiative,” pledging to improve relations with other Asian countries and intensify cooperation in the region during his visit to Jakarta.

“Cooperation among the three nations of South Korea, Australia and Indonesia will help us raise our profile and increase our influence in the international community,” Lee said in a meeting with South Koreans who work as diplomats in Asian countries. “It will be important for us to improve relations with neighboring Asian countries this year,” he said.

Friday, March 6, 2009

KASCON 23: Saturday March 7, 2009

Check out our table and workshop at KASCON this weekend if you are in Philadelphia at KASCON 23!

We will be tabling Friday, March 6th, 2009. We’ll be at Houston Hall

On Saturday, March 7th, 2009 from 3-4 p.m. we will be running a workshop in the Griski Room of Houston Hall where all the KASCON workshops will be held. Come check out and learn about Nodutdol’s perspectives on both North and South Korea as well as the United States and the role we can all play in achieving and maintaining peace on the Korean peninsula. See you there!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

US Forces Korea Official Website, March 2, 2009: U.N. Command, North Korea Hold Rare Talks

By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 2, 2009 - Officials from the North Korean army and the United Nations Command held their first high-level talks in nearly seven years today inside the Demilitarized Zone.

North Korea requested the meeting to discuss measures to reduce tension on the Korean peninsula, according to a statement released today by the U.S.-led United Nations Command there. The 32-minute meeting took place in Gyeonggi province’s Panmunjom village.

“The United Nations Command sees the North Korean request for these general-officer-level talks to start again as positive,” UNC officials said in the statement. “These talks can be useful in building trust and preventing misunderstanding as well as introducing transparency regarding the intentions of both sides.”

Nodutdol at KASCON 23 this weekend in Philadelphia March 6-8, 2009

Check out our table and workshop at KASCON this weekend if you are in Philadelphia at KASCON 23!

We will be tabling Friday, March 6th, 2009. We’ll be at Houston Hall

Monday, March 2, 2009

Survey says Lee is not faring well in his first year by the Hankyoreh

A majority would not vote for Lee again if given the choice today and 46 pct say the best thing he has done in his first year is ‘nothing’.

» In a recent survey in which respondents were asked whether they would vote for Lee Myung-bak if the presidential election of 2007 were held today, 57.9 percent said they would not vote for Lee again, far more than the 28.9 percent who said they would (upper graph). Survey participants also were asked to rate the Lee administration, with 31.1 percent saying the administration is performing well, as opposed to the 39.7 percent who said it is not (lower graph).

One third of all Korean voters who chose Lee Myung-bak in the last presidential election would not vote for him again if the election were held today.

In an opinion survey performed Saturday by Research Plus at the request of The Hankyoreh on the occasion of the first anniversary of Lee’s inauguration, 57.9 percent of respondents said they would not vote for Lee if the election were held today, far more than the 28.9 percent who said they would.

Of those who indicated they had voted for Lee in the presidential election held December 2007, only 48.7 percent said they would vote for him again. 33.4 percent said they would not vote for him again, while 17.9 percent of those who said they voted for him in 2007 did not answer the question.

Lee is constitutionally limited to a single five-year term.

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