China and its role in East Asia

  It's almost impossible not to mention China when talking about East Asia.
China is more than Pandas, Great Wall, and Confucius.

First of all, China is a huge country with around 1.5 billion people.

Secondly, the East Asian region has been heavily influenced by China, it's culture and power for centuries. And finally, China's role is crucial in the region and globally in the coming era.

  Let's first define the Range and Culture of East Asia.

China (PRC), Korea and Japan, are the major players, but Taiwan (ROC), Hong Kong and Mongolia are also small yet important players. The region shares similar cultures and social atmosphere of Confucianism and Buddhism. Age is important when defining social ranks, as elderlies are respected. In Korea, sometimes even a difference in 1 or 2 years of age can make big differences.

Christianity may also play an unnegligible role in modern days. There is about half of population in South Korea that are Christians (Protestant, Catholics etc.), including the current president Moon.

Some people say that the number of Christians is sky-rocketing in China, reaching approximately 30% of its population. China can be the country with largest number of Christians in the world.

  East Asia has a complicated political situation, and remains a conundrum in the world stage.

Most of it derives from History, especially Japan's military aggression. Japan  spread its military influence to mainland China, Korana peninsula and Taiwan before WW1 started, and continued to the entire Asian region including South East Asia until the end of WW2, 1945. Notorious war crimes such as Nanjing Massacre and Comfort Women issues remain much resentments among the people even today. Currently Japan plays an important role in technological advancements and development aid to poor countries, but we still often see many Chinese and Korean civilians protest, demand for Japan's official apology whenever some "Remembrance Day"s arrive. You can find how school Textbooks are arranged differently in the Asian countries, which is an interesting phenomenon.

  Apart from history, current instability in the region can attribute to the battle between Ideologies.

Originally, Republic of China was established in 1912, but Nationalists lost the war to Communists (a complicated history involving Japan's invasion), thus "People's Republic of China" established in 1949. Within East Asia, Japan and South Korea, along with Taiwan (where Chiang Kai-Shek left for after defeat) and Hong Kong, belong to the Democratic block, while China and North Korea still belong to Communist-Socialist side even after USSR's collapse, each claiming it being the orthodox of Marxism-Leninism.

China and DPRK's military have been heavily supported by Russia, and till this day, they pose threat to entire World Peace.

  Territory issues is also a key factor of current controversies in East Asia.

Japan claims sovereignty over Senkaku island over PRC (Diao Yu Dao) and ROC (Diao Yu Tai).

On the other hand, Takeshima (Dokto) is a dispute between Japan and Korea.

Meanwhile, the region has gained concern over China's recent behaviors in territory issues, claimed it's intention of "Chinese hegemony" by some emotional comments.

Chinese officials continuously provoke its neighbors by drilling the seabed near demarcation lines, deploying warships to borders and constructing artificial islands. The main purpose of gaining territories lies not on the land itself , but Resources and Power. In many cases, there lies rich oil and gas beneath the seabed. When building an island, there will be increase of economic zones as well, where one can gain fishery and expand military. International regulation of maritime boundary is 12 nautical miles apart from land for territory and 200 for exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

 

Despite the issues, China remains the largest Trade partner for many countries. China has gained international attention since later half of 2000s. China has 2nd largest GDP in the world, and 1st in Asia (although it having high discrepancy between rich and poor within country). China has signed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with many countries, but some fear that being too dependent on China's products is harmful for domestic economy. It is not a member of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), but is included in the framework of "ASEAN +3", together with South Korea and Japan. It is mainly about cooperation on economical issues, but also on some shared issues such as security and environment.  

Currently, Asia is the only region in the world without a formal framework of Regional Cooperation. Some borderless common issues cannot be solved with over-emphasizing of borders.

Voices of North Korean refugees event last night

I am not sure how it came together but ENoK out of Chicago was hosted by the North Korea Study Group of Harvard and was completely free of charge and open to the public.

I was surprised how many turned out to this event. well over 100 with standing room only for many.

Take a look.

Grace gave an interview with Andrew Hong of ENoK (emancipate North Koreans) and she spoke briefly about her life in North Korea, how she defected and her aspirations for the future. 

I was not able to get any footage of the interview because I somehow managed to get a seat but at that angle, was not able to record the interview.

The event will be posted up soon on the ENoK facebook site I guess

Next was the dance called Home Sweet Home performed by Flora Hyoin Kim, Bona Lee and Justin Han.

It was a really professional performance which was designed to portray the love-hate relationship between North and South but underneath it all, the deep desire to become a united Korea again because in the end, they really are one family.

a nicely done statement in the art form.

Anyway, here is some not too good footage from my vantage point but you can get some idea.

This is the first part of the act conveying the division between North and South

Here is the second part conveying the unity of North and South

These two clips are where the performers introduce themselves and Flora explain the meaning of the dance performance.

It is broken up into two clips and not complete but you can get the idea

There was a 10-minute break and I managed to get a better spot.

The last part of the event was several music performances.

here is a part of the song Mountain Flower sung by Yeongeun Kim

really nicely done. 

I should have gotten the whole song but for some reasons I didn't. maybe my arm was getting tired.

On the way out I was lucky to bump into Grace and thanked her for the work she is doing.

it was a good night and I am very glad I went.

You can see the entire event program here which goes into more detail.

http://www.enok.org/vnkr/program.pdf

Korea's seperations and unifications throughout history

  Throughout history, Korea has not always been 1 country.
During the period around 427 ~ 660 AD, there were 3 kingdoms, Baekje (백제), Silla (신라) and Goguryeo (고구려) in Korean peninsula. (There were also some small countries within the peninsula prior to this era.)
The history of Korea, or Asia as a whole, have never existed independently, and have always been influencing one another.
Prior to the era of 3 Kingdoms, Koreans believed and practiced in Shamanism, like some Japanese and Altaic people still do in modern days. It was in the 3 Kingdoms' era that Han Chinese culture including Confucianism started to influence Korea. Buddhism (originally from India, Nepal) also spread into the area in 4 AD, once becoming a national religion for the 3 Kingdoms.

 

(7th C. Tang dynasty (China) painting of envoys from the 3 Kingdoms: Baekje, Goguryeo, Silla)

 

  After the separation, a unified Korea was ruled under Goryeo (고려국) Dynasty in 10th C., Joseon Dynasty in 1392, a short Korean Empire in late 19th C., until Japan's occupation in 1910. Many scholars believe that Goryeo Dynasty was the 1st unified country in Korean history.

 

(Fortress of Joseon Dynasty)

 



  Korean peninsula was annexed by Imperial Japan no long after Qing's defeat in Sino-Japanese war 1894 -95. Japan and Qing Dynasty (China) were competing for influence in East Asia, and Japan's victory was mainly attributed to its quick modernization and Westernization, in science, education, daily lives and especially military. In early 20th C., Japan advanced its military across the entire Asia, and many nations suffered its invasion. The modern day Asian politics was largely shaped from Japan's influence. Days under Japanese occupation in Korea were uneasy, having lack of autonomy and freedom, but some stable, new infrastructures were established in those days. A part of today's Seoul National University was founded under Japanese rule.

(Keijo Imperial University, later merged with other branches into Seoul University)

  In 1945, the most tragic war in human history, WW2, ended. Japan surrendered and Korea was cheered with Liberation (haebang 해방). August 15 is celebrated in both South and North Korea till this day, commemorating victory over Japan. Imperial Japan's defeat provided much joy and hope for Koreans, but few people knew that it was the beginning of another tragedy. Immediately after the war, Korea was divided at 38th parallel, occupied by forces of Soviet in North and USA in South. In 1948, ROK was established, with Syngman Rhee as President, while DPRK was also established, with Kim Il Sung as premier.

  As we can see from Korea history, a country can influence, while being influenced at the same time. The religion Asia - Pacific shares a large part of history that continues till this day, and a common destiny toward the future. History belongs to the past, and can only be reviewed, but we can learn much from history, not to repeat the mistakes and create good history for the future.

평창 동계 올림픽은 남한과 북한의 평화 분위기 조성에 도움

평창 동계 올림픽은 남한과 북한의 평화 분위기 조성에 도움이 된다.
한국의 뉴스를 보면 평창 올림픽에 한국의 국기가 아니고 한반도기를 들고 남한과 북한 선수들이 동시에 입장한다.
태극기를 들지 않고 입장한다고 해서 평창 동계 올림픽의 의미가 없어지는 것은 아니다.
하키는 남한과 북한 선수들이 단일팀으로 출전한다.
북한선수들 때문에 남한 선수들 일부가 출전 기회가 적어졌다고 하지만 우수한 선수라면 사람들의 눈에 들어오지 않을까? 훌륭한 가수는 노래의 앞 부분만 잠깐 들어봐도 정말로 노래를 잘 하는지 금방 알 수 있다.
평창 동계 올림픽 기간 동안에는 남한에서의 한미 합동 군사 훈련을 하지 않기로 했다.

평창 동계 올림픽 이후에도 이런 평화적인 분위기가 계속되었으면 좋겠다.

http://www.unityinfo.co.kr/sub_read.html?uid=24626&section=sc4

A suggestion for future Leadership in unified Korea

  Some days ago, football star George Weah was elected as president of Liberia.
He doesn't have that much education nor political experiences, but was elected because the people believed that he can fulfill their wishes, provide them what they need. Future leadership in this new era may not require such high educational degree or experience in political arena, but the commitment and zeal for peace and harmony.

  It's heard that some young North Korean defectors are provided with knowledge of democratic system, how it works, and trained with such political skills. It is important that once they successfully succeed the leadership, they don't repeat the same mistake which have persisted in the country for decades. Children and young people is the future of a country. They should be provided with good quality of education, indoctrinated not with coercive ideology or religious dogma that cause fear, but universal value that call for integration and love among humanity.

   From what occurred in Liberia, we can say that in this new era, everyone has great chance to lead the country or region as long as they have big motivation and good strategies, to gain agreement among the people. For sure knowledge and high educational background is important too, but it is better to deepen one's interest, become professional in it and make it as a "brand" to contribute to the community.

Event in Massachusetts

Finally, a North Korean event in my area and I will attend

Just putting it out there if anyone is around the area this Saturday.

https://www.nkinusa.org/updates/2018/01/voices-of-north-korean-refugees-with-vice-president-grace-jo-and-board-member-andrew-hong-this-saturday-january-27/

This is how it should be

There is a long way to go but this is good to see even if it is just symbolic

http://www.foxsportsasia.com/olympics/780454/koreas-march-unification-flag-olympics/

PyeongChang Winter Olympics with a Unified Korean team

  South Korea is preparing for 2018 Winter Olympic games held in Pyeong Chang next month.
What is impressive, is this time North and South Korea will participate as "Unified Korean team", under one flag symbolizing unification.
This is the 1st time the separated nation perform together in Olympics.

  Hyon Song Wol, leader of Moranbong band ( an all-female music and performance group whose members were selected by Kim Jong Un), arrived in South Korea in January 21.


  This joint project may bring friendship, understanding, collaboration and peace to both nation, seeking a bigger chance for reunification in near future, but has also caused some disputes.
There will be big economic burden for ROK. According to news source "The Diplomat",
'North Korean delegation will be comprised of athletes, officials, journalists, an art troupe, and others. The sports delegation alone (athletes and officials) will include 46 people. The ultimate size of the delegation hasn’t been negotiated yet, but is expected to be the largest in scale ever, and so will be the corresponding expenses.'

  Hope the game will be an epic in human history, and bring more benefits than costs.

Kim Jong Un be jailed soon?

  A couple of days ago, families of Japanese victims abducted by North Korea some decades ago urged ICC (International Criminal Court) in Hague, Netherlands, to prosecute Kim Jong Un.

  The information of many abductees still remain unknown, or kept secret by NK regime. The most famous case may be Yokota Megumi's case. Megumi was only 13 years old when being snatched by NK agents in 1977. Today, her parents, in their 80s, still embrace hope to reunite with her despite NK regime's claim of her suicide.

  Hope all humanity can walk toward peace and light, to deal things in democratic and rightful ways.

UC Berkeley 대학교의 북한 전문가

UC Berkeley 대학교는 세계적인 명성의 대학교이다.

이 대학교 Website에는 북한 문제 전문가로 2분을 소개하고 있다.
Michael Nacht 교수님은 공공정책대학교에서 강의하고 계시고, Steven Weber 교수님은 정치학과에서 강의하고 계시다.

북한 예술단에 대한 쓸데없는 걱정

평창 동계 올림픽 기간 동안에 140명의 북한 예술단이 남한을 방문할 예정이다.
어떤 사람들은 북한 예술단이 북한 체제에 대한 찬양이 들어가지 않도록 해야 한다고 걱정한다. 남한 사람 중에서 북한 체제를 부러워할 사람이 있을까?
국민 수준을 너무 낮게 보는 것 같다.
북한에서 어떤 음악으로 김정은을 찬양하는지 들어보는 것이 북한이 얼마나 한심한 나라인지 알 수 있는 기회가 되지 않을까?

news.joins.com/article/22288942

Possible false flag blamed on North Korea

Here is an article suggesting the liklyhood of a false flag blamed on the north possibly during the Winter Olympics.

What is a false flag?

A false flag is an action carried out by a person or group, like a government or cabal, that is blamed on someone else to achieve a subversive goal. False flags pose as imminent threats to the security of a populace, when in fact they’re usually committed by that group’s own government.

You can read more on the signs of a false flag here.

https://www.gaia.com/lp/content/do-you-know-how-to-identify-a-false-flag-event/

The writer bases his theory on the current shaky financial situation in the western world and that history tells us that financial crisis have preceded large wars or invasions.

most people are familiar with the great depression of the 30's. what happened after that? world war 2

On the other hand, i'm hearing that this false flag will not happen. rather, the international pressure on China will become so intense to do something about their neighbor that it will reluctantly step in and effect regime change itself. militarily too if necessary.

Here is the article.

http://alt-market.com/articles/3353-olympic-games-in-south-korea-perfect-opportunity-for-a-false-flag-attack

북한이탈주민 남한사회에서의 성공은 한반도 통일을 앞당길 수 있다.

북한이탈주민(북한난민)들이 남한에서 성공했다는 소식이 북한에 전해져야 북한 사람들도 통일을 하고 싶은 마음이 들지 않을까?

북한이탈주민(북한난민)이 남한에서 정신적, 경제적으로 고통을 받는다면 북한 주민들이 통일을 두려워할 수 있다. 한반도 통일에 있어서 북한주민들의 마음이 가장 중요하지 않을까?

북한이탈주민(북한난민) 중에서 북한으로 다시 돌아가는 사람들이 있다고 들었다. 북한정권에서는 이를 대대적으로 북한주민들에게 알려서 "남한으로 가야 차별만 당하고 경제적으로 고통만 당할 뿐 별볼일 없다"고 선전할 수 있다.

북한이탈주민(북한난민)이 남한에서 잘 정착할 수 있도록 따뜻하게 반겨주어야 하며, 경제적으로 도움을 많이 주어야 한다.

Soongsil University hosted an academic conference to find solutions the unification of Korea.

Soongsil University hosted an academic conference to find solutions the unification of Korea.
Representatives from 6 Universities in South Korea participated in the conference.
In the conference, the Minister of the Unification emphasized that he will make every effort to support to educate all the university students about the unification of Korea.
The unification of Korea is the important step for Korea to be globalized.
The conference is focused on educating South Korean people for the unification of Korea.

www.fnnews.com/news/201712191216464844

Interesting article on economic reform by Lee Geun Young, Professor, Yanbian University

Lee Geun Young makes the comparison to various former socialist countries with North Korea regarding economic reform.
He thinks the north is in an awkward position because the regime is reluctant to dispense with the current political structure.

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=14944&cataId=nk03600

I have read that when the Chinese were going through their reforms, they found that privatizing the small farms rather than having collectives as it is the case in North Korea, farmers had more incentive to cultivate their crops and usually had the surplus to sell at the market. thereby making food available to all.

North Korea to participate in Pyeongchang Olympics

It should be interesting to see how the North Koreans do.
They better do well or else....says Kim Jong Un (just me joking around).
It should ease tensions a bit though

http://www.northkoreatimes.com/news/256023892/north-korea-engages-in-talks-with-south-on-olympics-trip

this came in from the dailynk

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=14945&cataId=nk01500

yep. probably..

Kim Jong Un's 34th birthday and his health

  These days Iran is filled with unrest, with outcry for Freedom in around 100 cities.
Specialists speculates that if Iran (re)gains a democratic and peaceful regime, like the one before 1979, many parts of the world besides Iran will be a better place to live.

  How about North Korea? Is it also shaky and on the verge of collapse? At least the health of its supreme leader is. Doctors have analyzed Kim Jong Un's voice pattern on his New Year speech recently, and discovered that he may have kidney problems. Indeed, Kim's health is just like current falling Iranian regime.

  Unlike previously, this time Kim appears with apparently unhealthy and pale look. Today, January 8th, is Kim's 34th birthday, but his voice sounds like 50+years old. Weighing more than 130kg, he suffers from gout as well. While many civilians are starving to death, he continues to enjoy luxurious gourmet, alcohol and cigarettes, feeling homesick for his "good old days" in Switzerland.

  If one of your wish can be materialized on this day, what would you wish for?

Testimony of Thae Yong Ho. former North Korean diplomat to the U.K. who defected to South Korea in 2016

One remark that got my attention was when he mentioned that Kim Jong Un is not afraid of a united states attack but rather an uprising from the Korean people including high ranking officials.

 Here is his testimony to the House committee on foreign affairs in November 2017.in pdf form.

http://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA00/20171101/106577/HHRG-115-FA00-Wstate-Yong-hoT-20171101.pdf

And here is the video

also, Thae Yong ho spoke about a video that jong un had made about his mother which was not shown to the North Korean public but somehow exists on youtube.
Kim Jong Un was advised against showing it to the public because it would undermine his legitimacy even further.

North Koreans can buy Bibles in Jangmadang.

North Koreans can buy not only USB containing South Korean movies and music but also Bibles in Jangmadang. It is a good piece of news.

North Korean police officers close their eyes about this because they think it is more beneficial for them.

www.christiantoday.co.kr/news/307913

Naenara. DPRK official website

There is some interesting reading coming from the horse's mouth so to speak.
This article discusses sending delegates to talk about the Phyongchang Winter Olympics. 

Naenara means "My Country" in Korean language.

http://naenara.com.kp/en/news/?19+8774

also found this

http://www.vok.rep.kp/CBC/index.php?CHANNEL=6&lang=

Large numbers of Chinese military trucks coming out of Yanji towards the North Korea border

I am not sure if this means anything.
This might be some type of exercise but the article reports that witnesses on the ground have never seen this many trucks mobilized before.
Also, there is no mention of tanks, artillery pieces, etc

The area of mobilization is in the North East Jilin province near the Russian/Chinese/North Korean border

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=14923&cataId=nk01500

Also, here is some short footage from 8 months ago relating to the same thing and some of this equipment is heavy duty. not just trucks.

Here is a snippet of the comments under the video.

Recent footage shows a lot of Chinese military vehicles deploying toward North Korea border As tensions climb to historic highs between the US and its allies and North Korea, rumors of massive movements of Chinese troops near North Korea's border keep surfacing. A Pentagon official told Business Insider that the US has heard the reports but had "not seen anything to corroborate it." But Chinese troops are always stationed in the northeast near North Korea, and Yun Sun, a senior associate with the East Asia Program at the Stimson Center told Business Insider that "Chinese troop movements happen often along that border" when North Korean nuclear and missile provocations seem imminent.

Kim Jong Un said North Korea would participate in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Kim Jong Un said North Korea would participate in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

South Korea is willing to pay the participation cost for North Korean participants to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
It is a good message from North Korea. I hope the Winter Olympic games will provide an opportunity to have peace talks between South Korea and North Korea.

www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/2018/01/03/0200000000AKR20180103084600004.HTML?input=1195m

Letter to President Trump from the Border Peace School in Cheorwon, South Korea

I came across this while browsing North Korean related stuff.
Students of the border peace school wrote a letter to trump in anticipation of his visit to South Korea last year.
Little do they know though that President Trump is not really in control of what will happen.
He takes his orders from the banks and the multinationals.

http://www.birdskoreablog.org/?p=20018

Kim Jong Un's New Year speech

People are focusing more on his appearance rather than the speech.

It is interesting that he hasn't been wearing the Kim Il Sung badge for the past two years.

It is pretty obvious that the propaganda group is trying to identify him with his grandfather but actions speak louder than words and the people are not getting any help from the government. It is less and less relevant to them except for the fact that it is a hindrance rather than a help.

it leeches off the people while trying to make itself look important.

All the regime really cares about is its continuing survival

From the video report below, the positive is that Jong Un stated that cooperation with South Korea should be a priority in 2018.

It sounds like they are feeling the squeeze of the sanctions

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=14925&cataId=nk01500

The sanctions are generating more market activity

Here is an article by the DailyNK reporting the side effects that the sanctions are having on the Jangmadang activity.
New businesses and innovations are taking shape as a result, on the other hand, people such as coal workers and surrounding businesses are suffering being out of work because of low demand for coal.
authorities are feeling the squeeze too and are passing it along with demands for larger bribes and the introduction of more fees or unofficial taxes for this or that.

The people are more and more resentful of the authorities and know that they can only rely on themselves.
The North Korean regime is becoming less and less relevant to the average person.

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=14918&cataId=nk01500

Happy New Year to North Korean refugees!