If President Obama and our Congress don’t soon learn the lessons Alexander Hamilton taught us in 1791, we’ll continue to see American industry slowly die.
Posts Tagged ‘South Korea’
Lost in translation
July 13th, 2009 |
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By John Sudworth
BBC News, Seoul
South Korea has even begun to keep count.
A government official recently claimed that North Korea’s official state media has insulted the South Korean president more than 1,700 times this year alone.
That is an average of 10 insults a day.
He is variously called "a lackey", "a stooge", "a dictator" and the leader of "a gang of traitors".
The official admitted that the jibes were sometimes "downright silly".
But the language chosen by North Korea to attack its opponents can border on the terrifying.
Last year, for example, it threatened to reduce South Korea "to ashes" and, more recently, warned of a "fire shower" of nuclear retaliation.
So, just how much attention should we be paying to this kind of rhetoric
Is it mere bluster, or is there a real risk that the bombastic outbursts will be translated into action
‘Wolf in sheep’s clothing’
Michael Harrold has an unusual claim to fame.
In 1987 he became the first British citizen to be employed by the North Korean government in Pyongyang.
SELECTION OF N KOREAN QUOTES- The American Yankee is a wolf in sheep’s clothing
- About the US:Even piles of manure in the fields are fuming out smoke of hatred
- [S Korean leader Lee Myung-bak] is a political charlatan, an absent-minded traitor and a US sycophant
- US imperialists are the greatest threat to humanity [in the 20th Century]
- We will tear the limbs from the United States, which is an empire of evil
- The situation is inching close to the brink of war due to the brigandish moves of the US
His mission was to offer advice on the correct use of English for the translations of North Korean propaganda.
At the start of his seven-year posting, having arrived in a strange and bewildering city, he remembers buying himself a Korean phrase book.
"The second from last chapter was called ‘useful phrases’," he tells me.
It included such choice essentials as: "The American Yankee is a wolf in sheep’s clothing", and "the US imperialists are the greatest threat to humanity in the 20th Century".
Unlikely to trip off a beginner’s tongue perhaps, but the run-of-the-mill phrase book was his first lesson in how all pervasive this kind of language is inside the reclusive country.
External enemy
So does the average North Korean go about his daily life peppering his speech with such casual insults Is North Korea really one of the angriest places on the planet
"At times when the relationship with the outside world is more peaceful they use softer language. But when relations get worse, that’s when it gets much tougher"
Prof Paik Hak-soon
Joo Sung-ha, who defected from North Korea seven years ago, thinks it might be.
He is now a journalist working on the foreign desk of the Dong-A Ilbo, a South Korean broadsheet, with regular cause to analyse the propaganda coming out of Pyongyang.
"It is a unique aspect of socialist societies in general," he tells me.
"People learn to use this kind of strong language, even in everyday life. It is instilled into society."
The state-run newspapers are certainly full of it, a constant hard-blowing of warnings and threats aimed at an external enemy kept constantly in the forefront of people’s minds.
But if the rhetoric is designed to rally citizens to the leadership’s cause, it may have limited effect, according to Mr Joo.
"People are too used to it. They learn to read between the lines for the real meaning, and the often repeated words like ‘war’ don’t even register."
‘Nuclear maniac’
They register in South Korea though.
So much so that North Korean propaganda is still illegal here, banned under the country’s national security laws.
To read a North Korean newspaper you need special permission to access one of the secure collections, like the one held at the Sejong Institute, a private think-tank, located just outside Seoul.
Professor Paik Hak-soon shows me round, and pulling a large volume of the Pyongyang Times off the shelves, it falls open at an edition from March 1988.
Little has changed, it seems.
Right there in the first paragraph is the talk of the "US imperialists" and the South Korean "military fascist clique".
The individual words might not tell you much, but according to Professor Paik, it is worth trying to follow the trend, the rising and falling tone of North Korean rhetoric.
"There are ups and downs," he says. "At times when the relationship with the outside world is more peaceful, they use softer language. But when relations get worse, that’s when it gets much tougher."
North Korean propaganda, the theory goes, can be used like a barometer, giving clues about the current thinking of the leadership in Pyongyang.
President George W Bush was "a gangster" and "a nuclear maniac", but despite the abuse heaped on current US policy, no personal insult has yet been levelled at President Barack Obama.
If and when it comes, it might tell us something about North Korea’s assessment of the prospects for dialogue and engagement with his administration.
‘Piles of manure’
At times of extreme hostility the language turns flamboyant, even poetic.
America sank so low in 2003, according to state radio, that even the "piles of manure in the fields" were "fuming out the smoke of hatred."
It is strong stuff, no doubt, but sometimes the outside world can be tempted to analyse too deeply.
Michael Harrold has written a book about his seven years in Pyongyang, entitled Comrades and Strangers: Behind the Closed Doors of North Korea.
"One very senior translator once asked me whether using the title Great Leader every time we referred to Kim Il-sung was perhaps too repetitive and limited its impact, and I agreed," he tells me.
So, for a time, the term was occasionally dropped from North Korea’s English language news reports, much to the excitement of foreign journalists.
Speculation began to run rife, Mr Harrold recalls, that the leader was losing his grip on power.
"I think they were somewhat disappointed when I told them it was simply a translation issue," he says.
Brigandish
The anecdote helps explain why North Korea’s statements sometimes read so strangely.
Mr Harrold was employed as a proof-reader, but the English translation itself is always done in-house by North Korean nationals.
And it is the English language news reports from the country’s state-run news agency that make up the bulk of what appears in the foreign press.
Joo Sung-ha, the defector turned South Korean journalist, says there is an easy explanation for North Korea’s use of seemingly antiquated words like "brigandish" to refer to its opponents.
"They’re using old dictionaries," he says.
"Many were published in the 1960s with meanings that have now fallen out of use, and there are very few first-language English speakers available to make the necessary corrections."
So, while North Korea’s rhetoric is certainly worthy of analysis, perhaps we shouldn’t be too alarmed by every outburst.
To be fair, even its most inflammatory statements are not always what they seem.
That "fire shower" of nuclear attack made a great headline for journalists, but many gave less emphasis to an important proviso: as so often with North Korea, the warning was conditional, to be acted upon only if someone else started the fight.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
N Korean leader Kim ‘has cancer’
July 13th, 2009 |
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Nuclear negotiators from China and South Korea have opened talks in the South Korean capital, Seoul, about how to handle the threat from the North.
The officials said their goal was to have frank and in-depth discussions.
The talks take place amid new rumours about the ill health of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, with unconfirmed reports he has pancreatic cancer.
The United Nations stepped up sanctions against the North after its nuclear and missile tests of May.
"What is important is that the two sides have frank and in-depth consultations," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei was reported as saying by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
He was meeting Wi Sung-lac, the South Korean special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs.
Mr Wu, who chairs the international talks on the North’s nuclear programme, arrived in Seoul on Sunday. He had already visited Russia, the United States, and Japan which, with the two Koreas and China, make up the six-party negotiations.
These talks faltered last year when North Korea and the US could not agree on verification procedures to asses the full extent of the North’s programmes.
Health speculation
This second meeting in a month between Mr Wu and Mr Wi comes amid heightened speculation about the health of the North’s Mr Kim.
A South Korean television news report said Mr Kim had life-threatening pancreatic cancer, diagnosed around the same time as he was thought to have a stroke last August.
The report was based on unnamed South Korean and Chinese intelligence sources and has not been confirmed.
Mr Kim, now 67 years old, was seen on 8 July, attending a memorial to mark the 15th anniversary of his father’s death.
He appeared gaunt and thin, with a slight limp, prompting more questions about his health.
It has been widely reported that Mr Kim’s third son, Kim Jong-un, is being groomed as his heir, although the regime has made no announcement.
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This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Kim Jong Il Has Pancreatic Cancer: Report
July 13th, 2009 |
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SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has life-threatening pancreatic cancer, a news report said Monday, days after new images of him looking gaunt spurred speculation that his health might be worsening following a reporte…
Obama Ghana Speech: FULL TEXT
July 11th, 2009 |
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Here are President Obama’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, from his speech to Ghana’s parliament, Saturday July 11, 2009.
Good morning. It is an honor for me to be in Accra, and to speak to the representatives of the people of Ghana. I am …
North Korea Army, Lab 110, Suspected Over Cyber Attacks
July 11th, 2009 |
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SEOUL, South Korea — A North Korean army lab of hackers was ordered to “destroy” South Korean communications networks _ evidence the isolated regime was behind cyberattacks that paralyzed South Korean and American Web sites _ news report…
North Korea launched cyber attacks, says south
July 11th, 2009 |
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Intelligence service claims document shows hackers across border waged internet war on Seoul and the US
South Korea has obtained intelligence that North Korea ordered a military institute of computer hackers known as Lab 110 to “destroy” its neighbour’s communications networks last month, news reports said.
The National Intelligence Service told parliament of its finding on Friday, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing evidence the north was behind cyber attacks that paralysed major South Korean and US websites in recent days.
The newspaper, citing unidentified members of the parliament’s intelligence committee, said Lab 110, which is affiliated with the north’s defence ministry, received an order to “destroy the South Korean puppet communications networks in an instant”.
The JoongAng Ilbo said Lab 110 specialised in hacking and spreading malicious programmes.
The NIS – South Korea’s main spy agency – said it could not confirm the report. Calls by Associated Press to several key intelligence committee members went unanswered.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency carried a similar report, saying the NIS obtained a North Korean document issuing the order on 7 June. The report, quoting an unidentified senior ruling party official, said the North Korean institute was affiliated with the people’s army.
The state-run Korea Communications Commission said it had identified and blocked five internet protocol (IP) addresses in five countries used to distribute computer viruses that caused the wave of website outages, which began in the US on 4 July.
The addresses point to computers distributing the virus that triggered the “denial of service” attacks in which many computers try to connect to a single site at the same time, overwhelming the server. They were in Austria, Georgia, Germany, South Korea and the US, a commission official said on condition of anonymity.
The attacks targeted high-profile websites, including those of the White House and South Korea’s presidential Blue House.
Though fingers were immediately pointed at the north, the IP addresses themselves provide little in the way of clarity. It is likely the hackers used the addresses to conceal their identities – for instance, by accessing the computers from a remote location. IP addresses can also be faked or masked, hiding a computer’s true location.
South Korean media reported in May that a North Korean internet warfare unit was trying to hack into American and South Korean military networks to gather confidential information and disrupt service. The Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that the north had between 500 and 1,000 hackers.
Members of the parliamentary intelligence committee have said in recent days that the NIS also suspects North Korea because of a threat it made in state media last month where it boasted of being “fully ready for any form of hi-tech war”.
The fact that some of the attacked sites – such as that of the ruling party and the office of President Lee Myung-bak – have links to the South Korean government’s hardline policies toward the north were further cited.
The north has drawn repeated international rebukes in recent months for threats and actions seen as provocative by the international community. Those include a nuclear test in May and short-range ballistic missile launches on 4 July.
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Cyber attacks hit key networks in US and Korea
July 8th, 2009 |
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• White House, Pentagon and treasury targeted
• Seoul spy agency accuses Pyongyang of being culprit
A paralysing barrage of electronic cyber attacks has been let loose on government computers and networks in the US and South Korea, including the White House and Pentagon, underscoring the growth in assaults against vital state infrastructure.
Other targets affected by one of the most serious cyber attacks to hit the US included the New York stock exchange, the national security agency, homeland security department, state department and the Washington Post. In South Korea, the presidential Blue House came under fire from the rain of electronic interference, along with banks, government computers and media.
South Korean intelligence officials quickly pointed the finger at North Korea, or pro-Pyongyang forces. But computer security analysts in Seoul said that they had tracked the attack as an updated version of the Russian MyDoom virus – the world’s fastest spreading virus when it was first unleashed in 2004.
The new type of the virus appeared on Saturday in the US when it targeted a number of key US government institutions in a so-called denial of service attack, which bombards and jams networks with messages from infected computers, making them inaccessible. Two government officials acknowledged that sites belonging to the US treasury and secret service were brought down, and said the agencies were working with their internet service providers to resolve the problem.
Also hit was the US federal trade commission and the transportation department. So resilient was the attack that some sites were down for two days, while others are reported to be still suffering problems. The White House and Pentagon apparently deflected the incoming gremlins without major disruption.
A second wave of attacks began on Tuesday, targeting South Korean institutions. Both the US and South Korea suffer thousands of computer attacks daily, but rarely on this scale.
Cyber warfare is rapidly becoming one of the world’s most contentious security issues, with the US and Russia split over whether a treaty is required to formally ban it in international law, in a similar way to chemical weapons. Experts have warned that the world is confronting a “cyber arms race”, with Russia and China being the biggest global menaces.
According to AhnLab, a computer security consultancy in Seoul that has analysed the computer worm, it is an updated version of MyDoom that not only contains lists of the sites to be attacked, but also compromises the infected computer.
Others who examined the virus’s code said that it listed 13 South Korean and 23 US computer networks, although the writers had included the ability to add new targets at will.
South Korea’s main spy agency told MPs it believed that North Korea was behind the attacks. John Bumgarner, director of research at the US Cyber Consequences Unit, said: “There’s been a lot of chatter recently about cyber war. The North Koreans may have felt they were not getting enough attention launching missiles, so they moved into another potential warfare – cyber. It’s a form of sabre rattling. But did the North Koreans launch it themselves, or did someone do it for them?”
Asia has become the most active cyber-war front. North Korea is understood to have set up a computer warfare unit in the late 1980s, mirroring China’s military investment in cyber warfare capability.
The first versions of MyDoom were traced originally to Russia. Both western and Russian security firms, which examined version one of the virus, said they were certain it had originated there.
Analysts studying the US outage said the fact that government websites were still affected three days later indicated an unusually sophisticated attack.
But Professor Peter Sommer, an expert on cyber-terrorism at the London School of Economics, warned against jumping to immediate conclusions about the source of the attacks.
“Even if you are right about the fact of being attacked, initial diagnoses are often wrong,” he said.
Previous onslaughts
Estonia v Russia
In 2007 a flood of bogus visits from computers worldwide brought down Estonian media, banking and government websites. The “denial of service” attack came days after a row with ethnic Russians over a Red Army statue.
Russia v Georgia
In 2008 another denial of service attack, this time against Georgia, coincided with Russia’s military advance against the former Soviet republic.
China v US
Last year a US congressional panel reported that Chinese hackers regularly targeted networks and databases used by the US government and American defence contractors.
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North Korea ‘tests Scud missiles’
July 4th, 2009 |
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• South Korea reports launch of seven ballistic missiles
• Tests on US Independence Day violate UN resolutions
North Korea fired seven ballistic missiles off its eastern coast today, according to South Korea, a violation of UN resolutions and an apparent message of defiance to the United States on Independence Day.
The launches, which came two days after North Korea fired four short-range cruise missiles, will likely further escalate tensions in the region as the US tries to muster support for tough enforcement of the UN resolution imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test.
South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said three missiles were fired early this morning, a fourth around midday and three more in the afternoon. The defence ministry said the missiles were ballistic and are believed to have flown more than 250 miles (400km).
“Our military is fully ready to counter any North Korean threats and provocations based on strong South Korea-US combined defence posture,” the joint chiefs said in a statement.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted military officials as saying the missiles appeared to be a type of Scud missile, which are considered short-range.
North Korea is not allowed to fire either Scuds, medium-range missiles or long-range missiles under a resolution that bans any launch using ballistic missile technology. Thursday’s launches, however, did not violate the resolution as they were cruise missiles rather than ballistic, according to South Korea’s foreign ministry.
Ballistic missiles are guided during their ascent but fall freely when they descend. Cruise missiles are fired straight at a target.
The North has a record of timing missile tests around the US national holiday. During the Independence Day holiday in 2006, Pyongyang fired a barrage of missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2 that broke apart and fell into the ocean less than a minute after liftoff. Those launches also came amid tensions with the US over North Korea’s nuclear programme.
A senior official in South Korea’s presidential office said today’s missile launches were “part of military exercises, but North Korea also appeared to have sent a message to the US”.
He said North Korea could fire more missiles in coming days, but there was little possibility it could fire an intercontinental ballistic missile, as it threatened to do in April.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to media.
North Korea’s state news agency carried no reports of the launches. But the North had warned ships to stay away from its east coast until 10 July for military exercises – an indication it was planning missile operations.
The chief of US naval operations, Admiral Gary Roughead, said the American military was ready for any North Korean missile tests.
“Our ships and forces here are prepared for the tracking of the missiles and observing the activities that are going on,” Roughead said after meeting Japanese military officials in Tokyo before the news of the launches.
South Korea and Japan, which are within easy range of North Korean missiles, condemned the launches as a “provocative” act that violated the UN resolution.
South Korea “expressed deep regret over the North’s continuous behaviour that escalates tensions in north-east Asia by repeatedly defying” the resolution, the foreign ministry said.
Tokyo declared the launch “a serious act of provocation” against the security of neighbouring countries, including Japan.
In Beijing, a foreign ministry spokesman said he had no immediate comment. China is the North’s closest ally.
The US said last month it had positioned more missile defences around Hawaii as a precaution against a potential long-range missile launch by North Korea. Such a test would further flout the UN sanctions resolution punishing Pyongyang for its 25 May nuclear test.
But spy satellites have apparently not detected any of the preparations that would normally precede such a launch.
Pyongyang wants to show Washington that it is not yielding to pressure, and the regime is likely to save a long-range launch for later, according to Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Seoul’s Dongguk University and an expert on the country.
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Ssangyong – action needed, quick
June 18th, 2009 |
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It’s a right old mess over at Ssangyong. The beleaguered firm is in Korea’s equivalent of Chapter 11 and having a tough time of it. Market conditions aren’t fine and dandy and Ssangyong’s model line-up is short on recession busting fuel-sippers; it’s a niche offering concentrated in no-frills but good value for money SUVs with some reliable Mercedes heritage technology under the skin.
Ssangyong was, however, thrown an important lifeline with the Korean bankruptcy court administrator’s decision last month to allow it to restructure rather than enter liquidation.
And there are some significant plusses in the outlook for Ssangyong. A big one is an attractive looking crossover – the C200 – just around the corner as well as an international distribution set-up. There could also be financial sweeteners for anyone prepared to invest. Overall, Ssangyong looks like a brand with potential that could actually be attractive to outside investors (another OEM, for example, just has to figure that it can do better than SAIC did).
But the new business plan includes many job losses and that has led to a dispute with the union that has quickly paralysed production.
While some union resistance was to be expected, it has dragged on – to the detriment of those still left who want to take the business forward. It won’t be long before parts and vehicle supply lines start to run dry.
Korean labour unions aren’t to be taken lightly and the sit-in at the Pyeongtaek plant has reportedly attracted some extreme elements. The police are, by all accounts, standing off and prefering not to risk further violence by forcing the strikers out. Nipping it in the bud early on might have been the thing to do, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, of course.
The danger is that the whole thing gets more difficult to resolve the longer it goes on, positions entrenched, along with a growing siege mentality. Meanwhile, Ssangyong racks up accumulated revenue losses and confidence in the brand erodes further. And potential investors are turned off.
Decisive action immediately to end the dispute might well get the best outcomes for all concerned.