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North Korea's stunted
policy stunts children
We
should
be pleased that notoriously secretive North
Korea at last has disclosed statistics about
children's and mothers' health - a rare revelation.
The grim, funereal figures, however, are the
bleak contours of malnutrition and wasting to be
borne into adulthood, the debilitating brand of
glorious juche or self-reliance. -
Aidan Foster-Carter (Mar 14, '05)
Puzzle
of the vanished
'parliament'
North Korea
abruptly canceled its one-day Supreme People's
Assembly, the rubber-stamp parliament in which
inscrutable economic reports are delivered. The
leadership may be divided over four huge
challenges - the economy, succession, nukes, and
grassroots discontent. (Mar 7, '05)
North Korea's long, subtle
game
By announcing he has nuclear
weapons and withdrawing from disarmament talks,
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is playing out a
long, subtle game. Probably not a wise one, but
it's not the end of the world - not today, at
least. What counts now is how others react,
particularly Beijing and Washington. (Feb 11,
'05)
'We have nukes': The
six-party failure
 For
the first time North Korea has publicly
acknowledged that it does indeed possess nuclear
weapons and is abandoning the six-party talks
aimed at defusing the nuclear crisis on the
Korean Peninsula. Aidan Foster-Carter
examines why those talks were going nowhere
fast and why the forum failed to persuade
Pyongyang to give up its weapons program. (Feb 10,
'05)
A
Korean messenger in Europe
President Roh Moo-hyun, an outsider
once known as "Stone Bean" - small but tough -
is making his first trip to Europe as head of
state of South Korea, visiting the United
Kingdom, France and Poland. No doubt he has some
forceful views regarding North Korea that need
to be passed on to US President George W
Bush. (Dec 2,
'04)
North
Korea: And still they starve
After almost a decade,
hungry North Koreans are no longer news. But
they're still there, and still hungry -perhaps
hungrier than ever, as donor fatigue and bad
weather set in. - Aidan
Foster-Carter (Aug 4,
'04)
N
Korean refugees beginning of a
flood?
 Welcome the Vietnam 460, North
Korean refugees who arrived in Seoul via
Vietnam. May many follow them. And will the last
North Korean to leave please turn out the
lights? No need: Kim Jong-il's power cuts have
already rendered it a land of darkness, in every
sense. Let there be light, and life. -
Aidan Foster-Carter
(Jul 28,
'04)
Part 2: Bush's U-turn: Too little, too
late
As an underwhelmed world awaits yet
another dreary round of go-nowhere six-party
talks, the Bush administration's well-hidden
dove faction springs a surprise. For the first
time, the US offers Pyongyang a plan.
Incentives, even. But Aidan Foster-Carter, in
the conclusion of a two-part report, says the
new US proposal offers too little and comes too
late.
(Jun 29,
'04)
Part
1: Six-party glacier: Did the US melt?
Another round of six-party talks on
defusing the North Korean nuclear crisis has
come and gone. No breakthrough, no real
dialogue. But, as Aidan Foster-Carter reports in
the first of two articles, the US did drop (or
leak) what might be a concessionary bombshell:
an actual plan. Could this hint at a
thaw? (Jun 28,
'04)
Seoul's
capital idea?
Of all the urgent
tasks facing South Korea - defanging Pyongyang,
handling tetchy US ties and fixing the economy -
President Roh Moo-hyun has a startlingly
different priority. Aidan Foster-Carter
says Roh's grand misguided project is to shift
the capital from Seoul, which has gotten too big
for its boots. Forget Kim Jong-il and his nukes.
(Jun 21, '04)
Double
jeopardy for North Korean defectors
French philosopher
Voltaire once summed up the two values of modern
civilization: free speech and toleration. Yet in
Seoul, where several North Korean defectors
recently opened an Internet radio station, those
values are increasingly being undermined.
Disgusted, Aidan Foster-Carter challenges these
enemies of free speech to argue their
case. (May 17, '04)
A jolly jaunt
through North Korea
Pondering what
may well be the imponderable, Aidan Foster-Carter,
undaunted, mulls and muses upon the official
North Korean website and its contradictory
capitalist address - korea-dpr.com - which
advertises a cross-Korea slog for reunification.
(Dec 18, '03)
 SOUNDS OF
SILENCE
A Pyongyang-watcher's fits and
starts
Having followed North
Korea for 35 years instead of getting a life,
Aidan Foster-Carter believes he has
something to say on the subject. But not in this
column. Instead, he delves deep into the murky
soul of the Pyongyang-watcher
himself.
Seoul's secret
success
Which nation is poised to overtake China
as the principal buyer of North Korea's
distinctly meager exports? It seems to be the
other Korea, but the numbers are difficult to
find. In fact, instead of shouting their
cooperation from the rooftops, Seoul is keeping
quiet and choosing to count itself out.
(Nov 18,
'03)
Re-Orienting:
Seoul's new No 1 market
In the age of
empire, it was said that trade follows the flag.
But in the era of globalization, it may be the
other way around. So for the US to lose its slot
as Seoul's top export market is no big deal. But
to lose South Korea to China? That would be both
careless, and in the eyes of the US, very
serious. (Oct 15, '03)
Freedom
fighter or traitor?
The shadowy Dr
Song Du-yul has returned to Seoul after 37 years
of exile, and is the subject of fierce debate:
was he a fighter for freedom from military
dictatorship in South Korea, or an agent of the
North? Whatever the truth, the Roh Moo-hyun
government has obviously not thought through the
complications of inviting former exiles back
home.
(Oct 8, '03)
Setting the North Korea
agenda
Holding talks that include all the
nations that should be involved is a positive
step toward settling the North Korean nuclear
crisis. But making further progress will be a
little harder. Like: what exactly to discuss?
That could prove to be the rub, given the long
list of bones to pick with Pyongyang.
(Aug 26,
'03)
Who whom: A
North Korean hexagon
With all the
maneuvering ahead of six-party talks on the
North Korean nuclear issue, it is easy to see
there is no love lost all around. But at least
the "who whom" (in Lenin's curt phrase, cutting
to the chase) is sorted out.
(Aug
25, '03)
Cook and tell: Another chef spills the beans
A recently released book by the man who was Kim Jong-il's exclusive
sushi chef for nearly 20 years peels back another layer of the Dear Leader's
private life. Now there is only one category left for full disclosure: "kiss
and tell". (Jul 1, '03)
The Dear Leader, demystified
Are the tales of Kim Jong-il's sleazy and indulgent behavior true? Several
books about the Dear Leader have been released - bringing the world one step
closer to unraveling the mystery shrouding North Korea's "party center".
(Jun 23, '03)
Beware defective tales of
defectors
All of a sudden, the papers are awash with tales of North Korean
defectors - not just ordinary folk, but the hermit kingdom's elite. Aidan
Foster-Carter, however, is leery of the stories and reminds us that we
shouldn't believe everything we read. (May 20, '03)
Guerrilla, or just outlaw?
Historians and authors have compared the North Koreans with
"guerrillas", perhaps invoking some kind of admiration for the regimes of Kim
Il-sung and his son Jong-il. But others have observed that some so-called
guerrillas lose sight of their broader cause, if it ever existed, and become no
better than bandits. (May 14, '03)
Stalinism, revisited
North Korea's baffling actions at the recent three-way talks in Beijing seemed
calculated both to gladden hawks in Washington and alienate the Chinese, their
last remaining ally, rather than advance Pyongyang's interests. How can such
behavior be explained? Aidan Foster-Carter offers a way to understand
(partly) the Hermit Kingdom. (May 6, '03)
Talking
to North Korea: Format or substance?
Before the North Korea talks set for Wednesday even started, there was already
disagreement. Worry not: substance matters much more than form, says Aidan
Foster-Carter. After six months of rising tension, any talks are
better than none. (Apr 22, '03)
When
the statues are toppled
The fact is that, unlike the case of that other dictator who once ruled in
Baghdad, there are few if any actual statues in North Korea of the Dear Leader,
Kim Jong-il. But despite the unlikelihood of an Iraq-style "regime change" in
Pyongyang, there are reasons to suspect and hope that its days are numbered.(Apr
16, '03)
How 'shock and awe' plays in Pyongyang
The image of a toppled statue of Saddam Hussein is a historic moment - and one
pregnant with significance for a peninsula at the other end of Asia. But "who's
next?" may be too pat a question. Aidan Foster-Carter examines how the
war in Iraq impacts North Korea. (Apr 11, '03)
Sow corn in your enemy's field
While blasphemers kill in God's name in the Middle East and world leaders
unleash fire and brimstone in an effort to out-evil evil, others quietly pursue
a more profound wisdom. South and North Koreans are still officially foes, but
their hands are reaching out to each other across their fortified border as
never before. (Mar 21, '03)
North Korea as trashfilm roadshow
Although some people tut-tut when North Korea is portrayed as Planet Weird,
filmmaker Johannes Schoenherr, a world expert on the bizarre, has shown in a
recent book just how strange things can get in the hermit Kimdom.
(Mar 12, '03)
Castro and Kim: Ill-suited comrades
In a recent stop in Japan, Cuban President Fidel Castro offered his mediating
services with regards to the North Korean nuclear crisis. On the surface,
Castro and North Korea's Kim Jong-il may appear to have similar agendas, but as Aidan
Foster-Carter reveals, their differences have increased steadily over
time. (Mar 4, '03)
Kim Jong-il's Grouch(o) Marxism
The spirit of Marx - Groucho, not Karl - is alive and well in North Korea. The
funny man's famous quip, "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept
me as a member," has inspired the Dear Leader, as Pyongyang refuses to accept
its obligations to the "club" that is the global community.
(Feb 26, '03)
Why sunshine is not moonshine
(Feb 13, '03)
Self-righteous know-alls dissing Dae-jung
(Feb 7, '03)
Whose suffering matters most?
(Jan 22, '03)
He scoffs, they
scour
(Jan 3, '03)
An appeal for the children
(Dec 23, '02)
The lightbulb dilemma
(Dec 19, '02)
Scuds across the sea
(Dec 11, '02)
Banking on change?
(Nov 29, '02)
Axis of ...
cute? (Nov12, '02)
Guns or butter?
(Nov 4, '02)
Bonhomie to bombshell: goodbye,
goodwill
(Oct 21, '02)
One weekend's news
(Oct 14, '02)
Stop fief: Was Sinuiju thought through?
(Oct 1, '02)
What a week
(Sep 23, '02)
Russia or
China? Two trains of thought
(Sep 9, '02)
North Korean
outreach: Are we motoring?
(Sep 2, '02)
North Korea's quest for 'normalization'
(Aug 27, '02)
Charcoal heroes
(Aug 13, '02)
North Korea caves in to the
market (Aug
5, '02)
Beer leader
(Jul 29, '02)
Adopting, adapting: Korean
orphans
(Jul 16, '02)
Free
as a bird?
(Jul 11, '02)
Pyongyang's tentative
telecoms
(Jul 5, '02)
No-penalty shootout
(Jul
2, '02)
The crab who would be a
shark (Jun 20, '02)
Slowly but surely?
North-South summit, two years on
(Jun 14, '02)
Food, football,
floods: Sprigs of hope?
(Jun 10, '02)
A menace at home
and abroad (May 30, '02)
A rogue by any
other name (May 24,
'02)
North Korea: Dam
nuisance (May 16, '02)
Human rights: The
sound of silence (Apr 12,
'02)
Refugees: A new
McCarthyism (Apr 5,
'02)
Much fame, small
gain (Mar 29, '02)
Looking for the
right medicine (Mar 22,
'02)
Waste and want:
Will North Korea starve again?
(Mar 16, '02)
Try leading, dear
leader, before it's too late
(Mar 8, '02)
Soap, sleeze: North
Korea's first family (Mar
2, '02)
Why Bush
is scarier than Kim Jong-il (Feb
9, '02)
Korea vs Japan: Ne'er the twain shall meet? (Jan
25, '02)
Politicized
intelligence (Jan
21, '02)
Karl Marx 4,
Kim Jong-il 0 (Jan 11,
'02)
Looking
forward, looking back (Dec
22, '01)
Goodwill to all
mankind? Not in North Korea (Dec
19, '01)
Kim's thoughts
on art, diplomacy, and progress (Dec
15, '01)
Shots across
the DMZ: Should we worry? (Nov
30, '01)
Spies R Us, 3:
More tales from behind the line (Nov
24, '01)
Spies R Us, 2:
Seoul's old spooks tell all (Nov
16, '01)
Spies R Us, 1:
Inter-Korean infiltration (Nov
9, '01)
How hungry is
North Korea? (Oct
23, '01)
Is North Korea
open for business? (Oct
20, '01)
A bad hair day (Oct
18, '01)
Could North Korea
be in the firing line? (Sep
27, '01)
Is North Korea
Stalinist? (Sep 5,
'01)
A Pyongyang-watcher
confesses (Jul 31,
'01)
O Paek, opaque:
North Korea, not ARF that is (Jul
25, '01)
Juche on the beach:
Some summer reading (Jul
21, '01)
North Korea in SE
Asia: comradeship bombs (Jul
18, '01)
North Korea: first
of the worst (Jul
14, '01)
No, not that
President Kim (Jul
10, '01)
Tackle or tiptoe:
How to handle North Korea (Jul
4, '01)
Go north, go west:
growth poles in a reunifed Korea (Jun
27, '01)
One country, two
planets (Jun 20,
'01)
Shenanigans in
South Asia (Jun
16, '01)
Unhappy birthday:
Is the summit sunk? (Jun
13, '01)
Out of Africa (Jun
9, '01)
Nukes and missiles:
the Pakistan connection (Jun
5, '01)
Numbers add up like
fish and bicycles (Jun
1, '01)
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