Korea

In this interview, Christine Hong speaks about the Korean history not told in corporate media, present day moves towards peace on the peninsula, and more.

Christine Hong is an associate professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an executive board member of the Korea Policy Institute. She has spent time in North Korea, including as part of a North American peace delegation.

She specializes in transnational Asian American, Korean diaspora, critical Pacific Rim, and comparative ethnic studies.

(ANTIMEDIA Op-ed) U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is a fucking asshole — for more than one reason. Most Americans who aren’t also assholes have known about Mike Pence for while. He thinks you can “cure” gay people with therapy — as if being gay is a condition in need of a remedy. He thinks gayness can be “prayed away,” […]

The unified Korean team marches in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics at Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium. Credit James Hill for The New York Times.
Despite President Moon’s Efforts to Encourage Diplomacy, Childish Anti-Diplomatic Behavior of Vice President Pence Undermines Opportunity for Peace Diplomacy

This week, following the recent announcement of a new National Defense Strategy that focuses on conflicts with great powers and a new arms race, the Pentagon announced an escalation of nuclear weapons development. The United States’ military is spread across the world, including several dangerous conflict areas that could develop into an all-out war, possibly in conflict with China or Russia.

The retired Generals on the talk-show circuit look grim.  They say if the US attacks North Korea, it will retaliate and bomb Seoul, South Korea’s capitol.  Hundreds of thousands could die.  The Generals look even grimmer.  There will be a ground invasion.  Result? A possible 20,000 casualties per day.
No one mentions the X factor.
James Mattis, H.R. McMaster, Rex Tillerson, John Kelly, Nickki Haley – not a peep from them either.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos has come and gone, and nothing has really changed. The wonderful people of the world struck again – blowing hot air to the four corners of the world. When in reality the poor get poorer, the rich get richer, wars and conflicts are on the rise – and humanity, at least in the western world, is ever more exposed to propaganda lies and mind manipulations, of which then WEF is just one tiny, miserable example.

The more overtures, sudden but entirely appropriate, being made by North Korea to their South Korean counterparts, the more concern seems to emanate from quarters in Washington and Tokyo.  A recurring streak in these engagements is the fear that Pyongyang is simply prevaricating, distracting and diverting: they are having us all for fools.

On 6 February 1976, in his syndicated column in the New York Post, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Jack Anderson revealed to his readers that “the CIA once tried to bribe the Communist World’s most famous newsman, Wilfred Burchett, into defecting to the U.S. for $100,000.”

The false alarm on a ballistic missile attack on Hawaii last Saturday from North Korea did not help the Peace Talks which were essentially initiated by DPRK’s President, Kim Jong-un. They spread enormous fear of a nuclear annihilation of Honolulu, pulverization of homes and people – of Armageddon for the Hawaiian population. Was this a Trump attempt to boycott the talks?

With less than a month to go before the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea, leaders of the North and South have agreed to form a joint Olympic hockey team and march together at the opening ceremony under one unified flag, as reported by the AP.

BREAKING: South Korea says rival Koreas have agreed to form their first joint Olympic team and march together in opening ceremony.
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 17, 2018