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China-Japan-Koreas

N. Korea's Hard-Labor Camps: On the Diplomatic Back Burner

2009-07-22

Great, great piece (and very long) at WaPo (seriously). Interactive graphics and maps as well. This story does a good job at exposing both the terrible conditions at the Nork labor camps, and the State Department's traditional unwillingness to confront it. Josh Stanton at One Free Korea had a small hand in this.

If State admits to knowing, really knowing about the concentration camps, then the U.S. would have to do something about it, which probably means going to war. Since we aren't prepared to go to war with North Korea...

That's one explanation that's been put forward -- we have to ignore it so as not to be in an awkward position. The other explanation is that with the Norks making all their bellicose threats and exploding their nukes, we don't have the time or attention span to talk about human rights.

Things would be different were we to allow South Korea to slip the leash... and were they ready to accept responsibility for the reunification after. But reunification is expensive. I do not deal well with this particular brand of deadly nonsense, which is why Hillary Clinton has the job and not I.

Posted by:Steve White

#4 I have lived in two Asian countries and am semi-fluent in one Asian language. And I do think East Asian cultures have a great history and a lot to offer. I just don't think it is our job to do the lion's share or even close to a lion's share of military duties there, and get our families and soldiers killed (again).

China and South Korea are getting our services on the cheap and not pulling their weight. I don't want to launch into a very lengthy tirade, but that is what is going on.

Posted by: GirlThursday 2009-07-22 22:29

#3 And another thing:

Kim Jong Il's daddy was a military commander who fought the Japanese as a communist guerilla and as a Soviet commander during WWII. That carries an incredible weight amongst the Chinese Communist leadership, many of whom had parents or relatives who ought the Japanese; men and women who survived the war of genocide by Japan were a bunch of tough old birds, just like just about every parent or grand parent of many of the regulars here, and they cut a wide swath, including their kids.

But the Chinese know that North Korea is about to fall into the hands of a third, and likely last generation of the Old Man; Chicoms like to take the long view. We may all be dead when it happens, but the leadership in North Korea will change, and the last thing the Chinese want is a western ally on their borders.

Posted by: badanov 2009-07-22 22:27

#2 If you speak for any length of time with a mainland Chinese national (I married one ), they will remind you that China and Han Chinese culture is one ofthe oldest cultures on the planet, and they are proud of that culture.

They do not flinch about comments about human rights since everything is China is much, much better than it was before 1980 and they believe that things will get yet better over time.

But the main thing Han Chinese are concerned with are the well being of their families, their own persons and their culture in that order, and that is a major reason why you can't shake them when you talk about their own country. They think that the US is just a big basket case as we think China is. ( it's not, but that's what they believe )

Posted by: badanov 2009-07-22 22:17

#1 Could Asia for once solve some of their own problems? And without going into murderous rampages that kill thousands? They act like children who need protection, but Asia by now is a full grown "adult." Ironically, the Chinese will be the first to remind Americans that their culture has been around a lot longer than ours. So that being the case, they can use some of their considerable cultural clout and resources.

Having seen the Korean War Monument in the flesh, and the names of the fifty some thousand of our fallen, it reminds me that viewed in a different light, I would say it is getting a little old and tired for Asia to always play the helpless card. They have plenty of resources thoughout East Asia to take Kimmie out. IMHO if they don't it is firmly on their scorecard. Team Asia needs to get a set of balls or admit they are a bunch of needy, American dollar sucking eunuchs.

Posted by: GirlThursday 2009-07-22 19:15

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