What the heck is happening on the Korean peninsula?! This appears the most tense time in the history of the Korean conflict since the 50′s. Kim Jong-Il must be getting crazier as his health deteriorates and gets closer to death. Maybe he’s trying to take the world down with him for some apocalyptic end. And what the heck are the Chinese doing by indirectly providing political support for North Korea. If you haven’t been following, the low down is this: on March 26th, a South Korean naval ship was destroyed and since that tragic day, investigations have shown that the sinking was from a torpedo by a North Korean submarine. This is a direct provocation for war. However, North Korea warned that it would wage an “all-out war” if they’re punished for the sinking of the South Korean warship. This is really ugly and Kim Jong-Il is truly the craziest man alive. Would someone please shoot him because not only has he starved and eroded the lives of millions of North Koreans, but he’s also held Asia hostage and endangered the world with its arm’s development. Thankfully the U.S. is on our side and is providing full support of South Korea’s efforts.
U.S. Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton spoke of the “immediate crisis” of the sinking that “requires a strong but measured response” and of a “longer-term challenge of changing the direction of North Korea, making a convincing case to everyone in the region to work together to achieve that outcome, denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, and offering the opportunities for a better life for the people of the North.”
Korean-American missionary, Robert Park, has returned to the U.S. after having been held in captivity in North Korea for 43 days. He crossed a frozen river between the Chinese and North Korean border to deliver a message of regime change.
Robert Park, of Tucson, Ariz., crossed the frozen Tumen River from China into North Korea on Dec. 25, carrying letters calling on leaderKim Jong Il to close the country’s notoriously brutal prison camps and step down from power. Those acts could have risked execution in the hardline communist country.
It was either brave or stupid for Robert Park to attempt what he did but we can all agree that North Korea does need a regime change. It is an “Axis of Evil” that starves its people and holds the world hostage with its nuclear intentions. It is one of the harshest regimes on the planet and sadly, it appears that the young Robert Park was under great distress while in North Korea as his views apparently changed over the course of 43 days in captivity.
The family didn’t have time during their brief airport reunion to ask whether he had been mistreated by North Korean officials, Paul Park said. They also didn’t get a chance to ask him about a statement that North Korea attributed to him on Friday, he said.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency quoted Park as saying he was ashamed of the “biased” view he once held of the country.
Robert Park said he was now convinced “there’s complete religious freedom for all people everywhere” in North Korea, citing the return of the Bible he carried as he entered the country and a service he attended at Pongsu Church in Pyongyang, KCNA said.
“I would not have committed such crime if I had known that the (North) respects the rights of all the people and guarantees their freedom and they enjoy a happy and stable life,” it quoted him as saying.
It was trying to be funny and it was a worthy attempt. Rex Lee (of Entourage fame) stars as Kim Jong-Il in a short film called “The Adoption Agency,” on Will Ferrell’s “Funny or Die” website. You be the judge. I think Danny Cho’s skit as Kim Jong-Il as an eHarmony candidate is a bit funnier.
It’s a great day to be an American! There are so many winners in the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling. How big? National networks stopped programming for a live feed into the arrival of Euna Lee, Laura Ling and ex-President Bill Clinton. One of the journalists who was present at the airport hanger said it was even emotional for her as she watched the two journalists step off the plane. Today may be a seminal moment for Asian-Americans because it said that all Asian-Americans are citizens of the U.S.; that you don’t have to be white to be identified as an American. Take pause and think about what just happened here. According to various news reports, there were a lot of behind the scenes negotiating that even involved the White House. Perhaps a decade ago – because Euna Lee and Laura Ling weren’t white – the media and the rest of America may not have cared. Fast forward to today and what we witnessed was a country, a government, and the higest of digniatries extending themselves to save two Asian-Americans from the clutches of Kim Jong-Il. I wouldn’t doubt that Kim Jong-Il would’ve used these these two ladies as bargaining chips in the bigger issue of nuclear and missle arms disarment. In the end, the White House actively engaged and brought a happy ending to the ordeal of these two young ladies.
Whatever you may want to say about Bill Clinton, he’s d’man! Everyone has an opinion about the ex-president called “Slick Willy,” but let’s give him credit for going all the way to North Korea and returning Euna Lee and Laura Ling with him. When he descended from the plane, there was a long hug and embrace between vice president Al Gore and president Bill Clinton. As we stated up front, everyone is a winner. If you’re Asian-American, you’re a winner because today says we really are citizens. For Bill Clinton and his team, your legacy may be better than before. And finally for President Obama and the White House – they could’ve ignored the two ladies during the escalating tensions between North Korea and the U.S., but they engaged and diplomatically brought home the two American journalists. Bravo Bill! Bravo to the White House!
In the New York Times today, there was an Op-Ed from Seoul-based journalist B.J. Lee who warns that South Koreans shouldn’t shrug off the latest noise coming out of North Korea. Perhaps it’s a derivative of the boy who cried wolf, but the fact of the matter is that Kim Jong-Il isn’t playing with toy missiles. He’s kicked-out nuclear inspectors and has essentially pissed in the face of the world with his nuclear and missile ambitions. It was reported a couple weeks ago that the most recent underground nuclear test had a magnitude greater than the Hiroshima bomb. This is very serious stuff and this is happening just hundreds of miles north of Seoul.
Pyongyang’s belligerence is much stronger than before. It seems ready to take chances. Internal factors, notably rising uncertainties about the succession of leadership, make Pyongyang more adventurous. The development of a nuclear arsenal and other advanced weapons is not just a bargaining chip, it’s a serious effort to solidify the country’s leadership, which needs to show evidence of progress to its increasingly doubtful people. Nothing is more convincing than nuclear warheads mounted on long-range missiles that can reach its archenemy, the United States. Read more at the NYTimes.com>
Perhaps it’s ignorance to North Korea. The New York Times writes about how South Korea has become nonchalant about North Korea’s latest nuclear and missile testing. If you’ve ever visited Seoul, it’s a city drenched in neon lights and pop culture. The population doesn’t seem to concerned that a few hundred miles away, there’s a nuclear threat and missiles are being launched. It’s one thing to reside in the U.S. because it’s always been protected by the oceans, but the DMZ won’t protect the citizens of South Korea from Kim Jong-Il’s craziness. Is it generational that the younger folks who are obsessed with the Wonder Girls just simply don’t care? Or is it that the South Koreans feel that Kim Jong-Il is crying wolf again? Go to the NYTimes.com for more>
Jon Stewart is so talented at taking something serious and simplifying it to the point of stupidity. The failed missile launch by North Korea is certainly a serious matter. However, don’t you think it would be great to see Kim Jong-Il have a smackdown or debate against Jon Stewart.
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What the heck is happening on the Korean peninsula?! This appears the most tense time in the history of the Korean conflict since the 50′s. Kim Jong-Il must be getting crazier as his health deteriorates and gets closer to death. Maybe he’s trying to take the world down with him for some apocalyptic end. And what the heck are the Chinese doing by indirectly providing political support for North Korea. If you haven’t been following, the low down is this: on March 26th, a South Korean naval ship was destroyed and since that tragic day, investigations have shown that the sinking was from a torpedo by a North Korean submarine. This is a direct provocation for war. However, North Korea warned that it would wage an “all-out war” if they’re punished for the sinking of the South Korean warship. This is really ugly and Kim Jong-Il is truly the craziest man alive. Would someone please shoot him because not only has he starved and eroded the lives of millions of North Koreans, but he’s also held Asia hostage and endangered the world with its arm’s development. Thankfully the U.S. is on our side and is providing full support of South Korea’s efforts. 