Danger: Chung takes another step

It seems that this past weekend was an interesting one for the Uri-party. They had their leadership election and they all smoked A LOT of Marry-Jane. I'm not sure on the second point of course, but how else could they have elected someone like Chung?

My only positive feeling about this is that it might just result in the chrushing defeat of Uri-dang that I have so long dreamed for.


Korea's ruling party has a new leader in former unification minister Chung Dong-young. Chung was elected chairman of the Uri Party on Saturday at a national convention attended by some 12,000 party members with 48 percent of the vote. His main rival, former health minister Kim Geun-tae, lost by a 6 percent margin.

President Roh Moo-hyun, himself a member, sent Chung a congratulatory message, saying he hopes the transition of power will help advance the ruling party. Party officials expect the new leadership to boost the party's chances in local elections on May 31. The party hopes to recover from a crushing defeat by the main opposition party in last October's parliamentary by-elections.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200602/200602190012.html

Ban Ki-moon for UN Secretary-General

Well, someone who I've liked on the political scene for quite some tie has been Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon. I've always felt that while the current administration has tried it's best to subjegate the South to the North, Minister ban has taken the middle-road to most issues. he has always seem to play the level head in a feild of occasional loons.

I'm not sure he'd be up for this challenge though:

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200602/200602140009.html

Korea will field Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon as a candidate for leadership of the UN to replace Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whose term ends in the second half of this year. The decision was made last December but the government delayed making it public to avoid prejudicing Ban’s candidacy.

“I humbly accept the nomination, which is based on the nation’s strength on the global stage and on public support,” Ban told reporters Tuesday. The UN secretary-general is the world body’s chief administrative officer in charge of 3,000 UN staff. He earns US$200,000-300,000 a year and is treated on a level with heads of state around the world.

Dubbed the CEO of the international community, the secretary-general also has a role to play as a mediator in international conflicts in a post symbolic of the global community’s administrative, political and moral authority.

Government officials give Ban a 50:50 chance of being elected. Given the principle of rotation by continent, it is theoretically Asia’s turn, but on the continent Ban is up against Thai Vice Premier Surakiart Sathirathai, who has the support of ASEAN. The AFP news agency reports Surakiart and Ban are the “leading” candidates. Singapore’s former prime minister Goh Chok Tong is also reportedly in the running.

However, the U.S. has recently come out against rotation by continent and could support a candidate from Eastern Europe. A high-ranking Foreign Ministry official said the U.S. was also not helping in another sense since Seoul’s alliance with Washington could make Ban suspect to other members of the UN Security Council, who could exercise their veto in the belief that he will side only with the U.S.

China, which is on the Security Council, has warned it will veto any non-Asian candidates. France is sticking to a notion that the secretary-general must speak French, and Ban is reportedly learning what was once the language of international diplomacy.

Another disadvantage for Ban is that Korea is $130 million in arrears in UN membership dues. Even government officials say it is “like a billionaire trying to get a top government post without paying his taxes.” The government has promised to pay up soon.

North Korea is another factor. A high-ranking Foreign Ministry official said, “We informed North Korea of Ban’s candidacy separately but haven’t received a response.”

North Korea may think twice about Ban’s candidacy. Any increase in South Korea’s international standing could mean problems for Pyongyang, but Seoul could counter North Korean objections by pointing to the plentiful help it has given the North. Pyongyang would probably prefer to work behind the scenes by urging its ally China to support the ASEAN candidate.

What happens in the deadlock over North Korea’s nuclear program over the next few months could also have a decisive influence. If the six-party talks resume and North Korea is willing to open up further, Ban’s candidacy could gain momentum. But if the matter ends up being referred to the Security Council for resolution, it could deal a fatal blow to South Korea’s bid.

N.K. Prison Camp Musical

It seems that I have not had a lot of time for blogging of late , but hopefully that will change soon. Here is an article about how the Ui party is not the fan of free speech it claims to be.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200602/200602050001.html

N.K. Prison Camp Musical Falls Foul of Seoul Officialdom
A planned musical about human rights abuses in North Korea’s Yoduk concentration camp has run into massive obstacles, not least from officials fearful of upsetting the Stalinist country. South Korean government agencies are demanding changes to the story, which they say dwells too heavily on the negative aspects of the camp, according to producers. Officials also allegedly invoked the National Security Law to warn producers against showing a portrait of former leader Kim Il-sung and the singing of North Korean songs in the show.


Director Chung Seong-san and cast rehearse for the musical ‘Yoduk Story’, which deals with human rights abuses in North Korea, despite government pressure to tone down the show’s criticism of the Stalinist country.

After the Chosun Ilbo ran a story about the musical, one theater abruptly canceled the run there and a company which had promised to invest W300 million (US$300,000) pulled out. A key member of the production team has quit, and the director Chung Seong-san, who happens to be a North Korean defector himself, has received death threats.

Political prisoners carry pails of human waste from guard barracks at the Yoduk concentration camp in South Hamgyeong Province, North Korea in this video grab of footage shown by Japan's Fuji TV.

“Yoduk Story” focuses on a camp where 20,000 inmates work more than 14 hours a day living on just one bowl of cereal and a spoonful of salt. Those who try to escape are executed by hanging or stoning because the authorities do not want to waste bullets killing them. But its scheduled debut in March is now in jeopardy. Reportedly under official pressure, more than half its budget of W700 million has disappeared, making it difficult to feed producers and cast. "After reading our script, government officials demanded that we change part of the story, saying it’s too much,” Chung said. “I got a phone call, I don’t know if it was a government official, saying 'It's so easy to get you. You will be punished.'”

But Chung is determined to plough on. When Seoul KyoYuk Munhwa Hoekwan promised to show the musical in its theater last December, Chung borrowed W20 million against a contract to sell his left kidney. His father was publicly stoned to death in a Hoeryeong concentration camp in 2002. “I feel that my father is watching over our rehearsals,” Jeong says. Private citizens are also chipping in. One elderly woman sent a gold ring, a jade ring and a pair of earrings after reading about the show, and an elderly man sent a box containing W500 coins, W1,000 bills and W10,000 bills totaling W10 million. Chung says he is always hopeful in rehearsal but anxious when he is on his own. But he believes the show must be staged. "This is not a political activity. What we’re trying to do is just let people know about human rights abuses in North Korea by producing the musical. We are ready to deliver the message in the right way to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il,” he said. For more information call 02-569-4483 or go to http://www.yodukstory.com/