Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Seoul regrets Washington's anti-Pyongyang rhetoric
Foreign Minster Ban Ki-moon and other ranking South Korean officials expressed strong regret Tuesday over the remarks by senior U.S. officials which continued to label North Korea one of the world's "outposts of tyranny." In a speech at a forum arranged by the Washington-based Hudson Institute on Monday, U.S. Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky repeated Washington's definition of North Korea as one of the four "outposts of tyranny," along with Myanmar, Zimbabwe and Cuba.
Yonhap News (June 21, 2005)
http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20050621/430100000020050621191014E0.html

North Korea: Allow Access for U.N. Rights Monitor
Tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled to China, leaving home for reasons both of political repression and widespread hunger. Regardless of their reasons for leaving, they face harsh treatment upon return, ranging from detention to torture, long prison terms and even executions. The North Korean government considers leaving North Korea without state permission as a criminal offense and often as an act of treason, which may be punishable by death.
Human Rights Watch: Asia : Democratic People's Republic of Korea
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/04/15/nkorea10489.htm

North Korea: Human Rights Concerns for the 61st Session of the U.N. Commission
Detention and Torture. Those arrested or detained in North Korea face harsh interrogation, often accompanied by torture, to extract "confessions." No legal counsel is provided or allowed throughout the process. The judiciary is neither independent, nor impartial. All individuals held in prisons are subjected to forced labor, and face cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; many die in prison because of mistreatment, malnutrition, and lack of medical care. Torture appears to be endemic.

Death Penalty and Public Executions. Under North Korea's penal code, theft of food is punishable by death, in addition to premeditated murder, so-called anti-state crimes such as treason, sedition, and acts of terrorism. Numerous eyewitness accounts by North Korean refugees have detailed how executions are carried out publicly, often at crowded market places, and in the presence of children, as a "lesson" to the general population.
Human Rights Watch
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/04/04/nkorea10410.htm

[dulouz]

I learned here that torturte is OK as long as its done by countries that are not democratic.

[On the other hand]

[dulouz]

Sure


I searched "North Korea Torture" and got 33 hits

I searched ""USA Torture" and got 74 hits

I searched "Abu Graib" and got 8 hits


Thats more than twice the amount. Silence, an act of omission indicates concurance.

[Bulsajo]

Well, we can be certain that Pyongyang 'regrets' Seoul's anti-Pyongyang rhetoric:

N. Korean delegation angered by anti-Kim protests in South

[lastat06513]

I love how they say one thing to the public and do something completely different when dealing with the US, in which they try to balance public opinion as not to look like sell-outs and try not to look like they are bailing out of the alliance.

But don't worry, I take pride in emailing the articles to my senator and state reps, to show them what Korea truly thinks.
I would be surprised if these articles I send them are the reason for some of the policy shifts going on right now, but that is only my wishful thinking...

[Real Reality]

Seoul Turns Blind Eye to Suffering of N. Koreans
North Korean defector and Chosun Ilbo journalist Kang Chol-hwan last week told U.S. President George W. Bush the plight of defectors and human rights should take precedence over the Stalinist country��s nuclear program....

But there is no effort to provide them with substantial and structural help from South Korea for fear of incurring Pyongyang's displeasure. South Korean leaders are moved to tears of gratitude if North Korean bigwigs deign to speak to them, all in the name of inter-Korean security and national reconciliation. It is high time the people stopped taking their lead from the government when it comes to dealing with North Korea.
by Kim Dae-joong,Chosun Ilbo (June 20, 2005)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506200016.html

[Gollum]

"Seoul regrets Washington's anti-Pyongyang rhetoric"

So what.

Many Koreans regret that Roh, who is absolutely worthless as a president, was ever elected.

We shouldn't expect much from him.

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

Love the bastardization of the term 'regret.'

Sparkles*_*

[Ya-ta Boy]

It seems to me that if I want to swap classes with a co-worker I don't get along with, it might not be effective to shout out in the office, "Hey, Joe you SOB, come over here and sit down. I want to talk to you."

I have to question the Bush administration's sincerity when they say they want to continue the 6-party talks. The fact that Condi and gang are 100% right in their descriptions of the North is beside the point if negotiations are the true goal.

[Alias]

[On the other hand]