North Korea // Current

North Korea does it again

South Korea is asking for an apology after water from a dam in North Korea was... more

msaldate
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3 months ago
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North Korea sends excuse to South Korea over deadly flood

SEOUL, South Korea—North Korea told South Korea on Monday its surprise release of... more

mjsmith11
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Schools to Big Brother Barack: Stay Out!!

When Barack Obama won Florida last November — the first Democrat to take the Sunshine State since FDR — many saw it as a sign of centrist GOP Governor Charlie Crist's moderating influence. But lately, Florida's disgruntled Republicans aren't looking very moderate. This week, in fact, the peninsula's GOP registered arguably the loudest outcry over the education speech President Obama plans to deliver to U.S. primary and secondary students via webcast and C-Span next Tuesday. In perhaps the most over-the-top performance, state Republican Chairman Jim Greer called it an attempt to use "our children to spread liberal propaganda" and "President Obama's socialist ideology."

Thanks in large part to the Administration's ham-handed advance work, the strident conservative anger that erupted this summer over health-care reform has shifted from town halls to school halls. On the surface, Obama's intentions for Tuesday seem nothing more threatening than a presidential pep talk about taking education seriously. But some ill-advised prep material from the Education Department — like suggestions that teachers have students write letters on "how to help the President" and recommendations that those pupils read his books — has left the door ajar (and that's all it seems to take these days) for Republican charges that Obama "wants to indoctrinate our kids," as Clara Dean, GOP chairwoman of Florida's Collier County, puts it.
(Read Joe Klein on Barack Obama's August to forget.)

The public school systems in both Collier and next-door Lee counties, a conservative pocket in southwest Florida that includes Naples, announced Thursday that their students won't be seeing Obama's speech. In a statement, Collier County Schools Superintendent Dennis Thompson cited "the logistics of making a Webcast available during that time of the school day." But his office also acknowledged that he'd been hearing from the community and its fears about Big Brother Barack. "We tend to be very conservative here," says Dean. "This President is extremely liberal, and we worry that he's leading us to socialism." Thompson did say his school district will post the speech on its website after Obama delivers it. But Collier Democratic Chairman Steve Hemping says it's the Republicans who are using students for cynical political gain. "No one should ever turn communication between a President and young people about what you can aspire to in the future into an ugly us-against-them exercise," Hemping argues. "This is a lost opportunity, because [Obama] is a role model who raised himself from a poor, single-parent situation precisely through education."
(Read about the shrinking state of Florida: what's causing the exodus?)

School districts in at least half a dozen other states have made similar decisions not to air the President's talk. In one of those states, Minnesota, Republican Governor and possible 2012 presidential aspirant Tim Pawlenty called the speech "uninvited" and voiced concerns about its "content and motive." One school superintendent in Arizona, James Murlless, while calling Obama's education advocacy "well intended," said he preferred his students see it "in their own homes under the supervision of their parents." The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, a fiscal watchdog group that has become a sort of clearinghouse for conservative grievances since the anti-health care reform movement began, has revved up a campaign called "Hall Pass On That," urging parents to have their kids excused from watching the speech. In Oklahoma, state Senator Steve Russell rivaled Florida's Greer for hyperbole, calling Obama's talk "something you'd expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein's Iraq."

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When will the madness end?

See link for the full articleWhen Barack Obama won Florida last November — the first Democrat to take the... more

chrisliu
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3 months ago
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N. Korea 'in final uranium enrichment stage'

(CNN) -- North Korea's state-run news agency said Thursday that the country has sent a... more

Hurtsville
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3 months ago
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China Denies U.S. Reporters Were Seized in China

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said that Laura and Euna weren't seized... more

Glans
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3 months ago
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Thank you Laura and Euna

A statement was released detailing the circumstances surrouding Laura Ling and Euna... more

JanforGore
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3 months ago
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Discuss Laura Ling and Euna Lee's statement on North Korea, "Hostages in the Hermit Kingdom"

Hostages in the Hermit Kingdom While covering human trafficking between North Korea... more

unimatrix0
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3 months ago
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North Korean cargo seized on its way to Iran

The United Arab Emirates seized a ship carrying cargo headed to Iran. On the ship was... more

msaldate
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3 months ago
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North Korea Frees 4 South Korean Fishermen

North Korea is in a forgiving mood.

Glans
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3 months ago
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North Korea attempts to ship weapons to Iran

The United Arab Emirits has informed the UN that it has a North Korean ship in custody... more

MilchMann
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3 months ago
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N.Koreans' quiet food aid trip to US

North Korean officials quietly visited Los Angeles last week to talk about resuming... more

Glans
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3 months ago
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Family reunions for North and South Koreans

The two Koreas reached a deal on Friday to have about 100 families meet. They will... more

msaldate
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This is in bad taste.

But's it's OK to lighten up sometemes. Or is it?

Glans
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3 months ago
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Laura Ling and Euna Lee Come Under Harsh Criticism In South Korea

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the two American journalists released after nearly five months in North Korean custody, have been widely portrayed at home as victims of unduly harsh punishment by a repressive government for simply doing their job.

But here in South Korea, human rights advocates, bloggers and Christian pastors are accusing them of needlessly endangering the very people they tried to cover: North Korean refugees and the activists who help them.

The accusations stem from a central fear repeated in newspapers and blogs here: that the notes and videotapes the journalists gathered in China before their ill-fated venture to the border fell into the hands of the authorities, potentially compromising the identities of refugees and activists dedicated to spiriting people out of the North.

The Rev. Lee Chan-woo, a South Korean pastor, said the police raided his home in China on March 19, four days after the journalists visited and filmed a secret site where he looked after children of North Korean refugee women. He said that he was then deported in early April and that his five secret homes for refugees were shut down. The children, he said, were dispersed to family members in China, who could not afford to take care of them.

“The Chinese cited scenes from films confiscated from the journalists when they interrogated me,” said Mr. Lee, 70. As evidence of the ordeal, he provided documents he said the Chinese police gave him after the raid.

“The reporters visited our place with a noble cause,” he added. “I did my best to help them. But I wonder how they could be so careless in handling their tapes and notebooks. They should have known that if they were caught, they would suffer for sure, but also many others would be hurt because of them.”

The Rev. Chun Ki-won, the chief pastor of the Durihana Mission that Mr. Lee works with, said that two of the women interviewed by the American journalists fled China after being told about the arrests, frightened of being repatriated to North Korea and put in labor camps. Another interviewee was still on the run in China, he said.

“We could not find out whether they filmed any other refugees we don’t know of,” Mr. Chun said. “If that’s the case, we have to find them, provided it’s not too late already. But the American reporters are not talking to us.”

Many elements of Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee’s reporting trip remain shrouded in mystery. Neither their employer, Current TV, nor the journalists have revealed details of their work or the circumstances under which they were captured.

Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee were arrested by North Korean soldiers on March 17, while their cameraman, Mitch Koss, and their guide were reported to have been detained by the Chinese authorities after fleeing.

Brent Marcus, a spokesman for Current TV, said, “We’re concerned about the situation that has evolved with Lee Chan-woo and the Durihana Mission.”Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the two American journalists released after nearly five... more