How the Kim's Survive

How the Kim's Survive by Gordon Chang

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a destitute and reviled state, yet it endures. Despite periodic foreign predictions of imminent collapse, the Kim family regime manages to carry on from one year to the next.

North Korean hunting for left over rice.

inSh

How can the world’s worst government continue to exist for more than six decades? The standard explanation has been that its rulers, three generations of the Kim family, have been able to wall off their society. As a result of the isolation, Kim Il Sung, who founded the miserable state, was then able to convince his subjects that he had mystical powers.

Seoul Shrinking?

Seoul's Population Keeps Dwindling

The population of Seoul has continued to decline for a fifth consecutive quarter as childbirth remains low. The Seoul metropolitan government said Sunday the registered population stood at 10.49 million as of the second quarter this year, down 201,081 or 0.2 percent from the first quarter.

Until recently, people from the provinces flocked to the capital in search of jobs, overcrowding the city and jacking up real estate prices. But now the backlash has begun in earnest.

Seoul's population began to decline in the first quarter of 2011, dropping 0.11 percent from 10.58 million to 10.57 million in the following quarter. The decline continued this year as well with the population of the capital falling 8,994 people (0.09 percent) in the first quarter of 2012.

"The population decline stems from the rising number of single people in the capital while young married couples continue to leave the city in search of cheaper housing, which causes the number of newborns in Seoul to decrease," said Lee Sam-sik at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. Baby boomers who are now in their late 40s and 50s also move out to satellite cities once their children have grown up.

Seoul's population also keeps aging. As of the second quarter of this year, 1.08 million people in the capital were over 65, accounting for 10.32 percent of the total population of Seoul, up from 1.071 million or 10.18 percent in the first quarter. People over 65 or more accounted for only 7.1 percent in 2005.

"By 2020, five working people will have to support one senior citizen, and by 2030 three working people will have to support one senior citizen," said Hwang Jong-sung at the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

The district in the capital with the highest population is Songpa south of the Han River, home to 689,120 people. Next are Nowon-gu (605,162) and Gangseo (574,994). Jung in central Seoul has the lowest population at 143,957. For every 100 females, there are 97.8 males.

englishnews@chosun.com / Jul. 31, 2012 12:46 KST

SInchon Village, 2008, near Camp Market, Ascom City, Korea

Click here for pictures of Sinchon Village

Cherry Hill, 2008

Click here for pictures of Cherry Hill

Scene from Seasons in the Kingdom...

By the time the three began their ascent of Cherry Hill, slivers of light were shooting into the alleyway from shaded and barred windows. The light blurred as Mike hurried through the silent passageway after Cook and Lucas. Each house had its own rustic fortifications, only the small barred windows and locked gates indicated human habitation. On top of the walls that separated the courtyards from the alley were broken pieces of glass stuck into cement. Some of the houses had barbed wire strung along the top. The three continued through the meager castellation concealing a low life and forgotten dreams of sentimental folly.

New Photos circa 1972

Greetings, Two new photo submissions, also to be seen on the Korean Service Veteran Photo pages. This is the street corner and the bus stop that was just outside the stockade compound, which was at the north end of Ascom City.

The stockade entrance would have been on the left side of the street, past where the cab is sitting, which was just outside the Lotary Club.

1972. Main street in the village near the stockade compound.

2008. Street heading east. Road straight ahead was once a sewage ditch, and the large building on the right is the general vicinity of the Lotary Club. Take a left at the corner, and the location of the bus stop above could be found, although highly modernized like the picture below.



2008, street leading to the same corner as seen in the older photos.

Photo Link Smothers 52

Smothers 52

If you haven't seen these pictures yet, take a look. Excellent work and it takes you back in a good way.

Practice Makes Perfect

Seoul Practices Striking N.Korean Command Posts

South Korean military authorities would respond to any fresh provocation from North Korea by striking key command posts as well as the actual source of the attack and its support groups.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff on Monday conducted an emergency preparedness drill on the ground and in the air on the assumption that the North launches a long-range artillery attack.

The JCS checked the Army's missile command and frontline corps and Air Force units, a spokesman said. The drill began at 4 a.m. without prior notice on the assumption that the JCS receives an emergency report of long-range artillery shooting at the northwesternmost islands and the Seoul metropolitan area.

The JCS's intelligence and operations units practiced determining the coordinates of the long-range artillery batteries using AN/TPQ-37 firefinder radar and immediately passing them on to relevant units. The missile command practiced launching Hyunmu missiles with a range of 300 km and frontline units practiced firing K-9 self-propelled guns to respond within five to six minutes time after a North Korean artillery attack.

F-15K fighters armed with SLAM-ER standoff land attack missiles with a range of 278 km were immediately scrambled and practiced striking North Korean command posts in the rear.

"The drill was designed to target sources of provocations including command posts of the enemy Army's divisions, corps, or higher-level units," a JCS officer said.

Monday's impromptu drill was carried out following an order by Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin to JCS Chairman Jung Seung-jo after the North threatened to attack major South Korean media and some North Korean fighter jets flew threateningly close to the border.

Chosun Ilbo News Service

Border Hostilities - Korea

N.Korea Stations Attack Helicopters Near Sea Border

North Korea has deployed around 20 helicopters at two bases near South Korea's Baeknyeong Island in the West Sea, according to a government source here. They include attack helicopters that are capable of engaging targets on the ground.

Baeknyeong Island is South Korea's northernmost island that lies just south of the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border with North Korea. The North has deployed the attack and transport helicopters at air bases since May, the source said. "They seem to have been put there independently of any military exercises," the source added.

The choppers are upgraded versions of Mi-2s as well as Mi-4 and Mi-8 troop carriers. But some are armed with heavy machine guns and rockets.

The deployment is believed to be part of a strategy targeting the South Korean islands that would also involve hydrofoils.

After Kim Jong-un took power at the end of last year, North Korea deployed rocket launchers, hydrofoils, Mi-2 helicopters and fighter jets on the western coastline and conducted military drills which appeared to prepare for an invasion of the South Korean islands. The deployment of the helicopters seems to be a response to South Korea deploying AH-1S Cobra attack helicopters and multiple launch rocket systems on the West Sea islands.

The South Korean military is ready to strike back with Cheonma surface-to-air-missiles or deploy KF-16 fighter jets if the North mobilizes a large number of choppers.

The South Korean military also plans to bolster anti-aircraft weapons stationed on the West Sea islands if the ones already deployed there are deemed insufficient to fend off a North Korean invasion.

"There are no signs yet that North Korea is seeking to stage a provocation," said a military source. "But since the ouster of North Korean army chief Ri Yong-ho, there may be some instability in the North Korean army, so we have stepped up our preparedness."

englishnews@chosun.com / Jul. 24, 2012 09:52 KST

General Shoot it Out?

N.Korean Army Chief 'Refused to Go Quietly'

Choe Ryong-hae (left) and Ri Yong-ho

A gunbattle broke out when the North Korean regime removed army chief Ri Yong-ho from office, leaving 20 to 30 soldiers dead, according to unconfirmed intelligence reports. Some intelligence analysts believe Ri, who has not been seen since his abrupt sacking earlier this week, was injured or killed in the confrontation.

According to government officials here, the gunbattle erupted when Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, the director of the People's Army General Political Bureau, tried to detain Ri in the process of carrying out leader Kim Jong-un's order to sack him. Guards protecting Ri, who is a vice marshal, apparently opened fire. "We cannot rule out the possibility that Ri was injured or even killed in the firefight," said one source.

Chosun Ilbo - Ousted!

N.Korean Army Chief's Ouster 'Carefully Plotted'

Ri Yong-ho

The North Korean regime meticulously planned the ouster of Army chief Ri Yong-ho, informed sources here said Sunday.

One source said North Korean eminence grise Jang Song-taek, the uncle of leader Kim Jong-un, and Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae prepared the firing by checking ammunition supplies at military bases directly under Ri's command and stepped up surveillance of any army divisions Ri could mobilize in his defense.

South Korean intelligence apparently noticed this before Ri was fired. (Read article by clicking the title)

China Breaks International Law

China Repatriation of North Korean Defectors in Opposition to International Law

JAKARTA (Yonhap) -- The forced repatriation of North Korean defectors by the Chinese authorities constitutes a violation of international law, a special rapporteur on the situation of the North's human rights said Thursday, calling on Beijing to cease such actions.

"I will visit China soon to make it clear that sending North Korean defectors back to their country is in violation of international law, as they are refugees after all," Marzuki Darusman, special rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of the communist North, said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency.

Darusman, a former prosecutor general of Indonesia, has served in the position since October 2010, with specific mandates to investigate, monitor and recommend solutions to human rights problems in North Korea.

Tens of thousands of North Korean defectors are believed to be hiding in China, as a constant stream of North Koreans reportedly continues to cross the porous border into China to avoid chronic food shortages and harsh political oppression. (Yonhap)

China views the North Koreans as "economic migrants," and not refugees, and typically sends them back to their communist homeland where they can face harsh punishment.

"My planned trip to Pyongyang was rejected, but I'll try again to get the real picture there regarding human rights issues," Darusman said, calling on the North to "take a sincere attitude toward the international community by opening up on what is happening there."

Speaking on a recent incident in which Pyongyang claimed Sin Suk-ja, the ex-wife of high-profile South Korean activist Oh Kil-nam, had died of hepatitis, Darusman said the key is "to confirm her death and learn the details."

Oh reportedly escaped the North alone in 1986, a year after his family was lured to the North via West Germany. His escape led to the detention of his wife and two daughters in a political prison camp.

North Korean Women working in China

North Korean Women Working in China for Money

BEIJING (Yonhap) -- North Korea, eager to accumulate much-needed hard foreign currency, has dispatched an army of female workers to a landmark hotel in China's richest village, sources said Friday.

According to officials in Huaxi, Jiangsu Province's model city which amassed massive wealth thanks to its capitalistic economic drive, about 20 to 30 North Korean women began working as waitresses in the five-star Longxi International Hotel in early 2012.

The skyscraper hotel drew much attention in and outside of China when it opened late last year for its massive investment of nearly $500 million.

The North Korean staff mostly in their early- or mid-20s are working at the hotel's North Korean restaurant as well as Chinese and Japanese restaurants for as much as 5,000 Chinese yuan ($785) in monthly salary each.

North Korean officials are keeping them under surveillance while the hotel accommodates them in a separate section, the sources said.

Experts said the female workers in the Chinese hotel are just part of more than 1,000 North Korean women working mostly in Korean restaurants across China, North Korea's closest ally and a key source of foreign currency income.

The latest staff dispatch indicates North Korea is diversifying its export of workforce into foreign restaurants from its previous pool of Korean diners, experts said.

Korea Times - Minor Murder?

  Minor Murder?

A 16-year-old boy charged with raping and beating a girl to death and discarding of the body received the maximum sentence for a juvenile offender of 10 years in prison, court officials here said Friday.

A Goyang branch of the Euijeongbu District Court also handed down two- to nine-year sentences to eight other teenagers, including a 17-year-old girl, depending on the degree of their involvement in the crime.

The nine were indicted on charges of brutally beating the 18-year-old girl to death with blunt weapons in an empty apartment in Goyang, north of Seoul, on April 5, for supposedly badmouthing them and "refusing to heed their instructions." They buried the victim's body in a nearby park the following morning.

The incident sent a shock wave across the nation, drawing public calls to toughen punishments for minors who commit horrendous crimes.

"Judging from the brutal ways in which they beat the victim and disposed of the body, there is an indication of willful negligence and inhumanity," the court records showed, explaining the reason for the maximum sentence.                       

Comfort Women - Sex Slaves

'Comfort Women' Were Sex Slaves

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has reportedly told officials to refer to the women drafted as prostitutes for the Japanese military during World War II as "enforced sex slaves" rather than by the euphemism "comfort women." In response, Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba claimed in the Diet on Tuesday that the term is "incorrect."

In 1996, the UN Human Rights Commission passed a resolution against violence against women, which says that Japan's victims were "sex slaves." The International Labor Organization in a 1996 report also said Japan violated ILO Convention No. 29 that bans forced labor and slavery. In 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on the Japanese government to make a formal apology and take responsibility for forcing these women to serve as sex slaves.

The international community is unanimous in the belief that Japan enslaved Korean, Chinese, Southeast Asian and Dutch women who were living in Indonesia, that this was a crime against humanity, and that the term "sex slaves" is wholly appropriate in describing them. Yet Japanese diplomats have been told by their government to lobby to remove memorials for these women set up in the U.S., while some thoughtless Japanese people have tried to destroy these monuments designed to remind future generations of the atrocities.

The Korean government uses the long-winded phrase "victims who served as comfort women for Japanese soldiers" in official documents, chiefly for fear of dishonoring the women. But the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan on Wednesday welcomed Clinton's decision to stop using the Japanese euphemism "comfort women" and said her decision "reflects [their] thoughts."

If Japan thinks it can hide the atrocities it committed during World War II by resorting to euphemisms, it is making a huge mistake. It would only be right for Korea to use terms in its official documents that call the crimes Japan has committed by their proper name.

englishnews@chosun.com / Jul. 12, 2012 13:12 KST

North Korea Claims South Tried To Blow Up Kim Regime Statues

North Korea Claims South Tried To Blow Up Kim Regime Statues

Foreign Policy - Article about China

From House Slaves to Banana People

 

Seven new words that explain modern China.

BY EVELINE CHAO | JULY 19, 2012

Last week saw the release of the eleventh edition of the mammoth Xinhua Dictionary, China's official compendium of the Mandarin language. Available in hardcover and softcover, with an e-version in the works, the 711-page tome is the world's best-selling reference book, with over 400 million copies printed since it launched in 1953.

This edition includes slang and online terminology for the first time -- remarkable for an official Chinese publication for which informal language has long been prohibited. Indeed, the Xinhua Dictionary has always been a guide to what's new and modern in China, but a few steps behind, aimed more at the masses less aware of the cutting edge. In the early days, it was like the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Oxford English Dictionary rolled into one, teaching a mostly illiterate country about everything from umbrellas to fertilizer to how to write the word "pigeon." A 1971 edition, published at the height of the Cultural Revolution, contained 46 of Mao's proclamations, which many readers already knew by heart. Today, competing publishers release numerous alternative dictionaries, but the Xinhua edition remains a staple of most schools.

In many languages, there are disagreements about whether dictionaries should standardize how language should be used, or reflect how language is used. The Xinhua Dictionary contains far more words that actually reflect how language is used than in previous editions, yet it still omits sensitive entries. There is unsurprisingly no entry for the Tiananmen Massacre, but it also leaves out shengnv ("Leftover Ladies" a common term which refers to ageing, unmarried women) and the reappropriation of the word "comrade" to mean gay. "We abandoned these words because it's kind of rude to label this group," Jiang Lansheng, a linguistics expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who was responsible for the revisions, told Chinese Central Television.

So what does the new edition, compiled over seven years and featuring more than 3,000 new words and expressions, include? Many of the new entries are deeply vernacular, originating from Internet memes, tabloid scandals, and other informal sources. Some, like boke (blog), and tuangou (online group shopping, along the lines of Groupon) reflect today's new, digital world. Others, like fenqing (nationalists, literally "angry youth") and xiangjiao ren (banana person, which usually refers to Chinese-Americans -- yellow on the outside, white on the inside -- though unlike in the United States this is not pejorative), are names for new social categories and subcultures that have emerged. The seven words below offer insights into the movements and preoccupations of today's China.

LIU JIN/AFP/GettyImages

(click on title From House Slaves to Banana People above - long article but very interesting)

Kim Tightens His Grip

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wrests economic control from military

Ri Yong-ho sacked for opposing Kim Jong-un's plans to introduce major economic reforms, claims report

• Justin McCurry in Tokyo
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 July 2012 07.42 EDT

North Korea's sudden dismissal of its military chief this week was designed to remove opposition to major economic reforms about to be initiated by the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, it has been claimed.

Citing an unnamed source with close ties to the governments in Beijing and the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, Reuters said Ri Yong-ho had been sacked for opposing plans to seize control of economic policy from the military.

Ri had been one of the regime's most enthusiastic champions of the "songun" military-first policy pioneered by the country's former leader, Kim Jong-il, who died in December. (click title to read full article.)

There's a new Marshal in town

Kim Jong-un Gets Splendid New Military Title

North Korean soldiers dance in the plazas of Pyongyang on Wednesday after leader Kim Jong-un was given the title of marshal. /AP-Yonhap

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was named a marshal on Wednesday. A notice on state TV and radio in the morning promised an "important announcement" at noon, when they reported that the decision was made jointly by the four key power organs -- the Workers Party's Central Committee, the Workers Party's Central Military Commission, the National Defense Commission, and the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly.

Regime founder Kim Il-sung and Kim's father Kim Jong-il both held marshal titles of some description, but the top active military officers are vice marshals. The announcement therefore reinforces Kim Jong-un’s position at the top of the military amid what appears to be a purge of troublesome top brass.

Kim Jong-un, who is only 29, was made a four-star general on Sept. 27, 2010.

"I've never heard of a 20-something young man being given the rank of a marshal in any country in the world," a South Korean government official said. "It seems that Kim Jong-un is in a hurry to get a firm grip on the military."

North Korea experts believe Kim's promotion is closely related to the sudden sacking of army chief Ri Yong-ho.

Chung Sung-jang of the Sejong Institute said, "The North Korean military could become restive after Ri's sudden dismissal, and by awarding himself the rank of marshal Kim Jong-un may have wanted to give the impression of greater authority."

There is some speculation that the regime will have more wiggle room to introduce economic reforms if it breaks the stranglehold of the hardline reactionary military. One reason may be that the party elite, which consists of relatively younger technocrats, is trying to wrest projects to earn hard currency from the military, which has previously monopolized them, according to an informed source.

But a Unification Ministry official dismissed the speculation. "There's a slim chance that Kim Jong-un will decide on his own to reform and open up the country," he said. "If the regime comes up with something, it will be a one-off event aimed at luring foreign investment."

Meanwhile, it was confirmed that Hyon Yong-chol, who was promoted to vice marshal the previous day, has also been appointed as new army chief. State-run broadcasters introduced Hyon as the "chief of the People's Army's General Staff" when they showed recorded footage of an army rally in Pyongyang that day to celebrate Kim's promotion.

englishnews@chosun.com / Jul. 19, 2012 07:28 KST

The Iron Lady in Red - Economist

Could a strongman’s daughter be South Korea’s first female leader?

Jul 14th 2012 | SEOUL | from the print edition 

POLITICS in South Korea is notoriously unpredictable. But Park Geun-hye’s announcement on July 10th that she would run in December 19th’s presidential election seemed to fulfil a promise shown almost 30 years ago. Ms Park, daughter of Park Chung-hee—the military dictator who masterminded South Korea’s industrial take-off—has been preparing for the role for much of her life. (Click title for full article)

Family Planning - China

Around Asia

Gordon G. Chang

The Price of Life in China

16 July 2012

How much is a life worth? In Ankang City, in central Shaanxi Province, the answer is 40,000 yuan, or about $6,300. That’s the amount Feng Jianmei did not have when population control officials demanded the amount as a fine for a second birth. As a result, no fewer than 20 officials went looking for the 22-year-old woman. When they found her, they forced her into a car. When she resisted, they beat her. Then, they detained her for three days.

inSh

On June 2nd, officials forced Feng to undergo an abortion. Afterwards, they laid the blood-soaked, seven-month-old fetus next to her on her bed. A photo of the mother with her dead child circulated online, causing national outrage. “This is what they say the Japanese devils and Nazis did,” a comment on the website netease.com said. 

Eventually, family planning officials paid Feng 70,600 yuan to settle the matter. Deng Jiyuan said he and his wife still want another child.

In Changsha, in Hunan, the price of a life is $24,000. Cao Ruyi, five months pregnant, didn’t have that much. She was lucky. After being detained, Cao was released because US Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey intervened on her behalf. She was allowed to leave the hospital after signing an agreement to abort her child. She is now in hiding until her baby is born.

There are countless Fengs and Caos across China. Reggie Littlejohn, the founder of San Jose­–based Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, told the story of some of them to the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs last week. As she noted in prepared testimony, “Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, no one supports forced abortion, because it is not a choice.”

And no one—at least outside the Chinese government—supports murder. In Linyi, in Shandong Province, in March, a full-term fetus was ripped from the mother. It cried at birth, but officials drowned the infant in a bucket of water. Population control officials, enforcing the one-child policy, have been involved in the killing of infants, according to reports.

Some argue the solution to these horrific abuses is a two-child policy. Littlejohn disagrees. “The central issue,” her prepared testimony states, “is not whether the government allows couples to have one or two children. Rather it is the coercion with which this limit is enforced.”

As she says, the one-child policy is now all about controlling the Chinese people. The population of China will level off soon, perhaps by 2020. A country that once had one of the most dynamic demographic profiles in the world will soon have one of the worst. Estimates put China’s total fertility rate—the average number of children born per woman—as low as 1.2, when 2.1 is needed to keep the size of a population stable. China is facing a demographic catastrophe, yet Beijing retains its one-child policy long after it is no longer needed and when it has even become disadvantageous.
In reality, the Communist Party keeps the policy in place because it is clinging to political power in a volatile society. And as a result, local officials commit murder from one end of China to another.

• Gordon G. Chang's blog

North Korea in Crisis - Chosun Ilbo news

N.Korean Military in Crisis

South Korean government officials believe the chief of the North Korean Army's General Staff, Ri Yong-ho was abruptly sacked as part of a purge aimed at consolidating leader Kim Jong-un's grip on power.

A government official here said it seems Jang Song-taek, the uncle and patron of Kim, and Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae, the director of the People's Army General Political Bureau, got the nod from Kim to investigate Ri and sacked him after uncovering corruption. (Click title for full story)

Agent Orange - Ascom City

Ascom City Link & Maps

Very good link of old aerial map of Ascom City. Link also has a number index to see the location of locations of Agent Orange and also where it was spilled into the environment.

Photos from the 1950s

Korea 1958
Click here to see a great album of Korea during the late 50s. Some really great shots, although having been back to Ascom City recently, all the rice fields near the fence at not apartment blocks.

Out with the Old and in with the New...

Young North Korea leader pushes out father's allies as he tightens grip

By David Chance | Reuters – 12 hrs ago

• North Korea leader Kim Jong-un …

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's young leader promoted a new army marshal after sacking his top general in what a South Korean official report said was a bid to impose authority on a military that has been the backbone of his family's long rule over the isolated state.

But analysts said the moves, just seven months since rising to power, do not suggest any fundamental change by Kim Jong-un to the policies of his grandfather and father which have left North Korea constantly on the brink of famine and ostracized by the most of the world.

The rise of relative unknown Hyon Yong-chol to vice marshal was announced by North Korean state media on Tuesday.

Thought by South Korea's defense ministry to be in his early 60s, Hyon first rose to prominence in 2007. In 2010, he was named a "leader" along with then-heir apparent Kim Jong-un and his place in the ruling elite confirmed by being part of the official delegation at December's funeral of former ruler, and the young Kim's father, Kim Jong-il. (Click on heading for full story.)

Related article go here. 

VIDEO - Korean War in Color

I found this on Youtube. It is the first in a series of videos in color of the Korean War. Excellent background and amazing film of the war. I will post these videos in sequence over the next coming weeks. I hope you find them interesting. As some of us have found out, the entire series is found at this link, and at the end of each segment the next segment automatically begins. Great footage with some generic commentary of the war.

VIDEO - Korean War in Color

WSJ - Pay for Reunificiation

Paying for Reunification: No Joking Matter

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By Kwanwoo Jun

When Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik came up with the idea of gathering donations from the public as a way to help cover the costs of Korean reunification, he raised more eyebrows than cash.

Kwanwoo Jun / The Wall Street Journal

Unification Jar

That hasn’t stopped him pushing ahead with the idea, and on Thursday evening he hosted a fundraiser-cum-comedy-show in northern Seoul to kick-start the program. The centerpiece of the event was the presentation of the first of his own hand-made ceramic “unification jars.”

The audience got to chat with a famous TV comedian, Choi Hyo-jong, before dropping their own donations into the jar. One of them included a man who had collected about 4.5 million won ($3,900) in one-won coins. In contrast, a student dropped in a 1,000 won note ($0.87).

Seoul estimates reunification would cost at least 55 trillion won ($48 billion) annually in the initial stage. Mr. Yu acknowledges that donations won’t get anywhere near covering that, but stressed the need to make a start and raise awareness of the issue.

“To fill this unification jar with money even 10 times would not result in raising enough funds to cover 55 trillion won,” Mr. Yu said during the show. “But reunification will come closer if more donors line up.”

The minister said he borrowed the fund-raising idea from the practice of many elder Koreans saving grains of rice in a jar for a rainy day. He said he was also inspired by the enthusiasm shown in 1997-1998 when many Koreans lined up to donate or sell their gold jewelry to help the country overcome the Asian financial crisis.

Without an imminent sense of crisis, persuading South Koreans to stump up for reunification is a tough sell.

“Honestly, I’m not really ready to spend my own expense money for people I do not really know in the North,” Choi Jae-Hyun, a high school junior, said while watching Thursday’s show.

Last year, the minister failed to persuade parliament to enact a new law to establish a permanent fund for use during reunification. Currently, the government only runs a temporary year-long fund for inter-Korean cooperation projects. The ministry says it will seek approval for a renewal of the fund in parliament this year.

Meanwhile, North Korea continues to rail against Mr. Yu and his donations idea, which doesn’t jibe with its ambition for a unified Korea under Pyongyang’s leadership. The North’s main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said in a May 22 article that the unification jars would be “shattered into pieces” by a joint national struggle.

With official inter-Korean talks at a standstill, Mr. Yu’s focus is on doing what he can to move forward discussion and preparation for the eventual day when reunification comes.

“With these jars made, South Korea has begun preparations for reunification,” he said during the show.

Project Seeks Korean Service Veterans

Documentary Projects Seeks Veterans

My name is Taylor Stanton. I am a filmmaker working on a documentary project about veterans in Korea. The documentary will aim to develop a better understanding of the range of veterans' experiences during the Korea War, as well, as during the massive political and social changes in post-war Korea. 

Photo - Wayne Golden, 1962

My film crew and I will be in Korea throughout late July and August researching and filming interviews. We are hoping to talk with any Korean or American veterans who may have served during the 1950s or 1960s. We would love to hear from anyone who wishes to be interviewed, or anyone who simply would be willing to share their experiences with us. We are committed to capturing a well-rounded and diverse set of views, so any and all experiences or view points are welcome. 

Anyone who may be interested, should contact Taylor at tayrstanton@gmail.com

Thank you for your interest, consideration, and support!

Taylor Stanton

North Korea's Golden Child - Kim Jong Un

The Slick PR Stylings of Kim Jong Un

North Korea's new leader seems to have a thing for "global trends" and Disney. Does that presage Pyongyang's opening to the West?

BY ISAAC STONE FISH, ADAM CATHCART | JULY 11, 2012

On July 9, North Korean state television aired a segment of photographs featuring Disney characters clowning around on stage, with an ebullient President Kim Jong Un clapping in the audience. In a country known for its antipathy towards the United States, it shocked observers of North Korea that state TV chose to air some of the most recognizable American icons. More striking than the unauthorized use of Mickey Mouse, however, are the women featured in the performance. One violinist wears a black cocktail dress that goes above her knees; others sing in strapless dresses. In 2009, South Korean media released a DVD meant for internal North Korean Party consumption showing scantily clad North Korean dancers, but it's almost unheard of for women in Pyongyang to show their shoulders publicly, outside of a gymnastics outfit. Even more shockingly for a country so proud of its individuality, the photos of the women in front of Disney characters present a scene that could be any country in East Asia. (Click on the link above for the full story.)

249th MP circa 1974

New Photos 249th MP Detachment, 1974

Mother & Child, Korea, 1974

Several new pictures have been sent to me by Greg Onorato. I have kept the white edge common to photos we printed during our service in Korea, usually at the small local PX on most compounds. The old photos carry alot of memories and their new life outside of a dusty album for all to share is a good thing.

Crime of Korea - film

The Crime of Korea ...

I just saw this on ROKDrop...interesting film from 1950s about Korea, which turns into a Defense Bond pitch at the end. However, very good film with good footage of Korean War scenes and atrocities committed during the war. about 15 minutes. For those of us stationed in Korea in the years after the war, it goes to the heart of why we were there.