Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Pluto]

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9867374

[cbclark4]

There are three Koreas.

North Korea
South Korea
and
Chinese Occupied Korea

[freshking]

Just a side note. Thought it was funny that his whole motorcade was made up of a couple of Mercedes and several American SUVs. No Korean autos at all save for the Daewoo bus in the back carrying what I guess were the photographers. Roh's too good for an Equusuh?

[Tjames426]

There are three Koreas.

North Korea
South Korea
and
Chinese Occupied Korea

____

I thought North Korea is China occupied, or at best....a slave state?

[Pligganease]

Roh's just pissed that the only Nobel to be gained out of this situation has already been bought and paid for. He even brought the money with him...

[cbclark4]

Roh crosses border for Korea summit

Roh Moo-hyun has become the first South Korean president to walk
across the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone into North Korea.

Roh was on his way to Pyongyang on Tuesday for a summit with Kim Jong-il,
the North Korean leader.

"I am now crossing this forbidden line as a president," Roh said before
stepping across the Cold War frontier.

"After I return home, many more people will do likewise. Then this line of
division will finally be erased and the barrier will break down.

"This visit will help tear down the wall of division, ease national pain from
the division and lead to the path for peace and reconciliation," he said.

Roh, who is leading a 300-strong entourage, exited his black bulletproof
Mercedes on the south side of the border and walked 30 metres across
the border along with First Lady Kwon Yang-suk and the South's 13 official
delegates.

He was greeted by two North Korean women wearing badges of their
leaders who presented him with bouquets.

The South Korean leader was to arrive on the outskirts of Pyongyang
about three hours later for an official welcoming ceremony.

Focus on peace

Roh, pledging to foster peace and trust between the longtime foes in only
the second such meeting ever on the divided peninsula, said he would
build on the achievements of the first summit between Kim Dae-jung, the
then South Korean president, and Kim Jong-il in 2000.

Roh said he would "hasten the slow march" of reconciliation between the
two countries which remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean
War ended in an armistice.

"I intend to concentrate on making substantive and concrete progress that
will bring about a peace settlement together with economic development,"
Roh had said before setting out on his trip for the 200-km journey.

For the first summit, Kim Dae-jung travelled by air.

Buoyed by apparent progress in six-party nuclear disarmament talks, Roh
had said on Monday: "Many issues will be discussed but I will put priority
on the establishment of peace on the Korean peninsula.

"Without confidence in peace, we cannot promise co-prosperity and
unification," he told a military parade in the central city of Daejeon, noting
that the six-party talks "have entered a different phase".

Envoys at the talks struck a draft agreement on Sunday on the next
phase of ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programme but called a
recess for the respective governments to review the plan.

Criticism

Roh may promise billions of dollars to North Korea's economy.

But critics have expressed concern that Roh may pledge so much in aid
that North Korea will feel it can reject incentives offered by regional
powers to stop its nuclear arms programme.

Others say that with just a few months left on his presidency, Roh may
make unrealistic promises because he will not have to deliver on them.

Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan, reporting from South Korea, said many South
Koreans appeared to be sceptical about the benefits of another summit.

They point out that Seoul has gained few concessions from the North and
Pyongyang has tested missiles and even a nuclear device since the
previous summit.

South Korean officials have said they do not want to sour the mood by
pushing Pyongyang on what they call "sensitive issues" during the
summit.

So Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme and human rights issues
are to be side-stepped when Roh meets Kim for the three days of talks.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5C4493A2-8E06-4CB7-AF7E-D9027B0C6D81.htm

[cbclark4]

Taking the Roh Moo-hyun Show to Pyongyang

by Kim Dae-joong

An old saying has it that you can only do well and exercise your power abroad if all is calm and peaceful at home -- a lesson that a person from a noisy and dysfunctional home can’t accomplish much in society. The same applies to a country. If the leadership puts the country into turmoil with corruption and fosters a society whose members feud and clash, it cannot expect to be treated well abroad, nor can they acquit themselves well. It's impossible for such a country to conduct proper diplomacy.
Many people watching President Roh Moo-hyun go to Pyongyang early in October will feel that way. A president with less than three months left in his tenure whose closest aides are being grilled by the authorities about corruption scandals; a politically sterile president devoid of a ruling party to lead, whose de-facto party is torn asunder: seeing such a president make a grand entrance in Pyongyang is rather pitiful.

How will he sit down face-to-face with a self-confident man used to absolute rule? Will he have the nerve to say what he should, and reject what he should, with dignity as the representative of South Korea? Will he be able to act as a bulwark for the South's security and peace, its leader in reality as well as in name? The public is uneasy about that.

Unfortunately, he keeps betraying public expectations. He ridiculed public hopes that the first point on the agenda of the inter-Korean summit should be the complete dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear facilities and weapons because that was like “provoking a quarrel.” That is incoherent babble from a person responsible for the security of the country.

The agenda of the summit, he says, is peace. It’s peace everything: peace settlement, peace agreement, peace declaration… Needless to say, peace is a concept transcending everything in a world filled with disputes. But no peace is achieved by words, agreement or declaration alone. Could peace be achieved with words, agreement and declaration, neither world wars nor any other conflicts would have taken place. But peace can be realized only when it is accompanied by specific measures and substantial devices guaranteeing it. And the devices or means guaranteeing peace on the Korean Peninsula lie in denuclearization; not a declared denuclearization, but denuclearization in reality, the complete abolition of all nuclear weapons, programs and facilities.

If the heads of state of the two Koreas want to discuss peace, they should start with the complete dismantlement of North Korean nuclear facilities and weapons. A peace accord or declaration comes next. Roh seems determined to reverse the order, or perhaps he’s only interested in one of them. It is unbelievable that the president of South Korea regards the North Korean nuclear problem as mere trouble. How can a matter on which the security of the state and its people depend be a trouble to him? Or at least it should be the most important trouble he is put to. But embedded in Roh's brains is a perception that any controversy is trouble, and that anything the North doesn’t want to discuss is controversial.

He said asking him to discuss the nuclear program is like telling him to quarrel with Kim Jong-il. Fine, but isn’t it natural to quarrel if there is something important to quarrel about? “Quarreling” doesn’t necessarily mean acting in a way that runs counter to diplomacy. Assuming it even qualifies as quarreling if you explain what should be explained and cordially impart your people’s wishes as their representative, then you must quarrel. In any case, why does a man who so often quarrels with foreign leaders on the international stage intend to be so modest before Kim Jong-il?

Roh is unlikely to stop there. His staff seems to have decided to make some concessions on the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas. And although it is conditional on the North's request, Roh is also likely to watch the Arirang mass calisthenics, a propaganda performance for the North Korean regime. One worries he might do something else in Pyongyang we would have thought him incapable of. Given his unpredictability, running first one way and then the other at home, who knows if he might not use the stage offered by the North to pull another stunt. We can only hope that he doesn’t exercise his famous “contrary’ way of thinking again.

The question is whether we will be helplessly bound afterwards by any rash agreements he makes and bills he issues in Pyongyang. The question whether we should unconditionally accept and comply with any accords he may reach in Pyongyang, whatever discussions he holds and whatever action he takes. The presidential election 100 days from now will give the answer.


http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200709/200709210020.html

[Captain Corea]

His hope is to give the North what they want - I'm guessing he'll do his best to succeed.

[jinju]

This summit is a joke. Im wishing the North humiliates Roh. The guy doesnt deserve to leave office on any sort of a high. He deserves to leave office totally and utterly humiliated, broken and defeated.

Roh and DJ have basically prostrated this country before the North. They have given them everything they wanted, sabotaged the security of the nation that elected them. This summit is basically the culmination of all that is wrong with the past 2 administrations. Roh like the good little *beep* he is wont dare bring up the most important issue between the two countries (the nukes) for fear of offending Kim. He will instead go and watch the Arirang festival which is basically one big anti South, anti American propaganda show. Just going to this should be considered treason. I hope Roh remembers that the kids who put this show on are basically doing slave labor. Will he care?

On another issue, Lee MB is meeting with Bush. The US is this country's only real ally. What does the spokesperson for the Blue House call it? Pro-American cronyism. So lets see, going to meet a president of your country's ally is bad but going like a *beep* to Pyongyang is fine.

Only 3 months till this band of communist assholes are out.

[On the other hand]

[jinju]

[cbclark4]

I guess North Korean cameras really suck.

[On the other hand]

[Ya-ta Boy]

The Norks have stalled, postponed and procrastinated on the second 'summit' for more than 7 years now. The only reason they agreed at this point is to save Noh's bacon.

'Something' will be agreed to that the two incestuous connivers think they can spin into an issue that will win the 'progressives' another 5 years in the Blue House. In my paranoid fantasies, I think it will be a Peace Treaty, meaningless as that would be. That's the kind of thing that could be used to whip up nationalist fervor while leaving the Norks plenty of wiggle room to get out of when the time comes to ante up. I don't pretend to be as devious as those two, but I'll bet my next pay check they agree to something that a conservative Southern president would object to.

[jinju]