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Korea/US Issues
VFP-Korea Peace CampaignThe following report comes from the Hankyoreh (a South Korean newspaper), http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/301730.html It shows how hard the S. Korean military establishment is trying to be pro-U.S. by banning some books. It was discovered that the Ministry of National Defense has labeled books about culture and best-sellers as "seditious publications" and taken them off the shelves. Military authorities instructed the army to block distribution of dangerous documents by requiring that all mail be opened in the presence of a military officer. According to an official document from the Air Force Chief of the General Staff obtained by The Hankyoreh on July 30, Air Force Headquarters instructed military units on July 24 to check whether or not subversive books were brought in and to report the results to higher units by August 11. Action was taken following an order given by Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee on July 19, the document said. In the instructions, the Air Force states that "seditious books" can hinder soldiers' concentration and suggested a list of 23 books to be banned in three categories: pro-Pyongyang, anti-government and anti-U.S., and anti-capitalism. The blacklist also contained a considerable number of books written by internationally-recognized scholars, books about culture, ordinary literature and books on the best-seller list. "Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism," written by Ha-Joon Chang, a professor at the University of Cambridge, is a best-seller that was selected as one of the 10 best books of the year by many media companies. Hyeon Gi-yeong's novel "A Spoon on Earth" was classified as pro-North Korea and "Year 501: The Conquest Continues" by Noam Chomsky was classified as anti-government and anti-U.S....." It looks like US officials were, at least, complicit in the killing. US WAVERED OVER S. KOREAN EXECUTIONS Associated Press (Charles Hanley and Jae-Soon Chang, "US WAVERED OVER S. KOREAN EXECUTIONS", Seoul, 2008/07/06) reported that in the early days of the Korean War, American officers observed, photographed and confidentially reported on wholesale executions by their ROK ally. Extensive archival research by The Associated Press has found no indication Far East commander Gen. Douglas MacArthur took action to stem the summary mass killing, knowledge of which reached top levels of the Pentagon and State Department in Washington, where it was classified "secret" and filed away. "The most important thing is that they did not stop the executions," historian Jung Byung-joon, a member of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said of the Americans. "They were at the crime scene, and took pictures and wrote reports." This is a significant commitment on the part of North Korea to show its willingness to abandon nuclear weapons, in return for a normalization of relations with the US. The question now is whether Uncle Sam will keep its words in the recent deal with North Korea. SUNG KIM TO VISIT N. KOREA TO SEE DEMOLITION OF COOLING TOWER Yonhap (Lee Chi-dong, "SUNG KIM TO VISIT N. KOREA TO SEE DEMOLITION OF COOLING TOWER", Seoul, 2008/06/25) reported that t he US State Department's top Korea expert will visit the DPRK this week to view the planned demolition of a cooling tower at its main nuclear site in Yongbyon, U.S. embassy officials here said. Sung Kim, director of the department's Korea desk, arrived in Seoul for his trip to the DPRK, they added. The DPRK is expected to blow up the cooling tower in a show of its will to denuclearize on Friday. It has already invited the US cable television channel CNN and four other foreign media to cover the event. This doesn't sound good. S. KOREA, US TO INAUGURATE AIR DEFENSE EXERCISE Korea Times (Kim Jong-chan, "S. KOREA, US TO INAUGURATE AIR DEFENSE EXERCISE", 2008/06/13) reported that the ROK and the US will inaugurate a new training exercise for their air forces in mid-June, the US Air Force said. The joint ``Max Thunder'' will involve more than 450 troops from both sides, about 90 fighter jets and other aircraft, including B-52 Stratofortress bombers, and KC-135 refueling tankers, an official of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command said. "The inaugural exercise will test aircrews' war-fighting skills in realistic combat situations and involve both air forces' flying and maintenance units from around the Pacific and continental United States,'' the U.S. 8th fighter Wing based in Geunsan, North Jeolla Province, said in a press release. US is ultimately responsible for this massacre of South Korean civilians by the South Korean military and police since they were under the control of Gen. MacArthur. THOUSANDS KILLED IN 1950 BY US'S KOREAN ALLY Associated Press (Charles Hanley and Jae-Soon Chang, "THOUSANDS KILLED IN 1950 BY US'S KOREAN ALLY", Daejon, 2008/05/19) reported that during the early days of the Korean War, with U.S. military officers sometimes present, ROK army and police emptied prisons, lined up detainees and shot them in the head, dumping the bodies into hastily dug trenches. Others were thrown into abandoned mines or into the sea. Women and children were among those killed. They were "the most tragic and brutal chapter of the Korean War," said historian Kim Dong-choon, a member of a 2-year-old government commission investigating the killings. Hundreds of sets of remains have been uncovered so far, but researchers say they are only a tiny fraction of the deaths. The commission estimates at least 100,000 people were executed. Things seem to move again on the denuclearization process. SIX-PARTY TALKS TO RESUME EARLY NEXT MONTH Donga Ilbo ("SIX-PARTY TALKS TO RESUME EARLY NEXT MONTH ", 2008/05/12) reported that the DPRK nuclear issue faces a new phase as Sung Kim of the Office of Korean Affairs at the US Department of State and his company came back from Pyongyang with documents detailing the DPRK's nuclear program. It is expected that the six-party talks will be resumed early next month to discuss the composition of a unit to verify the DPRK's nuclear declaration and its related methods. Other past articles |
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