For context, China Smack is a website that specializes in translating typical forum posts from Chinese into English.  These are not the views of discontents or intellectuals, but of the same community that is primarily interested in human-issues topics such as a girl pleading for love outside a college dorm, humorous internet memes, Michael Jackson, and other popular stories.

From ChinaSmack:

qhz:

What is America? America is a country formed by a big bunch of the world’s oppressed and bullied people who joined together.

07148:

If you were an employee, would you follow a cowardly boss that makes you slave away but when something happens only knows how to hide in the back and scream a few times? Or would you follow a boss that only asks you to work according to his instructions and, when something happens, will help you deal with the problem when something happens?

奥特MAN:

First you need to understand something, America’s government puts the interests of the American people first.
China’s government puts the interests of China’s Communist Party first.
This is a fundamental difference.
As for Iraq, Africa, Afghanistan? What business is it of mine?!?!

网易浙江绍兴网友:

I do not understand politcs, but I too am “very happy”.

网易辽宁沈阳网友:

Seeing one’s own past president suddenly appearing before you in a hopeless situation, who could accurately describe this feeling?

网易浙江衢州网友:

You will never have the opportunity to understand [that feeling], because this is China, so if you were abducted by someone, I doubt no high-ranking/important person would come get you.

网易陕西西安网友:

Not giving up any citizen, even if they are soldiers who have died in battle in a faraway land are brought home regardless of cost. Great America!!!

Of course, not all believe the news at face value:

网易浙江丽水网友:

The feeling I have is that these two people may be important spies, otherwise, just using your brain a little and you would know, why would they make a big fuss over two journalists?

There were similar reactions after the U.S. Navy saved the first captain abducted by pirates in 200 years.

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As I mentioned on the Open Thread, I recently read On Some Problems of Education in the Juche Ideology by Kimg Jung Il (PDF version). Some Problems was written by Kim, the dictator of North Korea, while his dad was still dictator on July 15, 1986. Some problems is roughly divided intwo two sections. The first of which, which emphasizes the central place of Man and the cultural superorganism that creates him, is surprisingly contemporary Marxism of the sort you would see on college campuses. The second part, however, has the meat of “Juche Ideology,” which was intended to be the guiding philosophy of North Korea. Juche focuses on three major actors

• The People, who has sovereignty over a country
• The Party, who guide the people
• The Leader, who guides the party

On the face of it, Juche’s People / Party / Leader view of the world is similar to the People’s Republic of China, with its emphasis on the Peopls’s Republic, the Communist Party, and Mao Zedong Thought. Indeed, Juche reads like a copycat of the cultural revolution — a plan to repeat what went “right” while avoiding what went wrong. Of course, the difference is that “Mao Zedong Thought” is really just a euphamism for the collective wisdom of the Party, while “the Leader” is a cult-like object of devotion through North Korea.

Ironically, given North Korea’s plan for a People’s Party’s Leader’s country, it didn’t turn out that way.

Kim Jung Il abandoned his original formulation, pushing an “Army First” policy that emphasizes the Korean People’s Army over the Korean Worker’s Party. Then the North Korean economy was destroyed, and the command-and-control system that guided people’s lived devolved into corruption, thievery, and brutality.

Kim Jung Il may or may not be dead. He may or may not have had a stroke, heart attack, or major surgey.

But his Juche idea is buried twice over: The Army Replaced the Party, corruption replaced rule, and the continuing growth of North Korea’s Core neighbors (China, South Korea, and Japan) rendered North Korea’s former economic wealth irrelevent.  Hope of the worker’s paradise that Kim’s dad tried to build was lost long ago.  Even Kim Jung Il’s simpler and more achievable goal of Juche is now out of reach.

Our focus must be on trying to “engage” (in the sense of subverting) the North Korean government, or whatever is left of it. The more corrupt, backchannel, guangxi connections between Pyongyang and Chinese and South Korean businessmen, the more we can first move North Korea from the most eratic country in the world to a worse-than-usual loser Gap state, like Burma. From there, we encourage whatever development we see, trying to lock the now bankrupt (in nearly every possible sense) North Korean state in to the broader world of the Asian New Core.

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The Chosun Shinbo, North Korea’s newspaper in Japan, has endorsed Barack Obama for President.  The best part about this short story is how the realization that Obama stylistically tracks no one so much as George W. Bush is spreading:

DPRK Studies » Blog Archive » North Korea Endorses Barrack Obama
It’s quite understandable that North Korean leadership would prefer Obama over McCain, considering – from statement he has made, data on his website, and information from the CFR – he actually has a grasp of the issues in play over concerning North Korea and will not appease them. This is, ironically, an area where Obama would pretty much continue a Bush policy.

Of course, as Bush II’s policy on North Korea has been unstable, there’s no reason to think Bush III will hold any firmer a line.  More probably, John McCain’s embrace of westernizing countries (Vietnam, etc.) and antagonism to tired dictatorships (Iran, etc.) rightfully spooks Pyongyang.

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Spike Jonze makes great music videos. He also deserves props for launching VBS.tv, whch just produced a 14-part series on travel in North Korea:

Hat-tip to DPRK Studies, One Free Korea, ROK Drop, and Zen Kimichi.

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Stanton, J. 2007. Thailand and laos planning mass repatriation of N. Korean refugees. One Free Korea. April 4, 2007. Available online: http://freekorea.us/2007/04/04/thailand-and-laos-planning-mass-repatriations-of-n-korean-refugees/.

Two e-mail messages in as many days convey some very bad news about North Korean refugees in two Southeast Asian nations, Thailand and Laos. Both nations, apparently seeing no U.S. objection and a new U.S. disinterest in the subject of human rights for North Koreans generally, are catching refugees and are planning to send them to their deaths, or a fate worse than. A reader writes:

Just caught this story on naver – It seems about 52 defectors have been apprehended by Thai authorities and if convicted of entering the country illegally are expected to be sent back to North Korea.

That would be the first mass repatriation of North Koreans by Thailand, and a grave development indeed.

If you have an account, please digg this.

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Two recent events, within twenty-four hours of each other, give hope to us all. First, India and the United States signed a nuclear accord which will allow that Republic to develop technology to deter deter an unseemly neighbor (Pakistan) and a neighbor that should be deterred from war as much as possible (China). Meanwhile, North Korea continues to show obstinance in her nuclear talks, which encourage Japan’s nuclearization. This encourages Tokyo to develop technology to deter an unseemly neighbor (North Korea) and a neighbor that should be deterd from war as much as possible (China).

Sometimes, proliferation is grand.

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“Bitterness in Beijing over North Korea’s betrayal may mean war,” by Rowan Callick, The Australian, 18 December 2006, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20943831-2703,00.html

Very hopeful, if true:

The dynamics have shifted dramatically since the last talks. When Pyongyang tested its first nuclear bomb two months ago, defying pleas from Beijing, it alienated itself from its only ally.

The extent of that alienation has been revealed in essays by China’s leading strategic thinkers. The bitter sense of betrayal felt in China about its communist neighbour, on whose behalf 360,000 soldiers, mainly volunteers, died during the Korean war 53 years ago, sets the tone for the extraordinarily frank essays in China Security.

…

He sees the biggest winner, after the North Korean regime, as Japan – unless China acts firmly against Pyongyang. “If China continues its ambiguous policies on the North Korean nuclear issue, the US will encourage Japan to become nuclearised.”

…

Zhu Feng, director of the international security program at Beijing University, says a recent opinion poll shows 44per cent of Chinese people dislike North Korea more than any other nation. “The Chinese leadership now understands it may have deluded itself about the Kim Jong-il Government pursuing a good-neighbourly policy that Pyongyang would gradually be won over by China’s kindness,” he says.

Mr Zhu says that while Beijing’s support of UN resolutions against Pyongyang’s nuclear testing is seen in North Korea as “an act of treachery by its socialist big brother”, when the test happened, “in Beijing, ire turned into fury. It was no less than a slap in China’s face”.

The important meeting of the central committee of the Communist Party three months ago proclaimed that a nuclear North Korea was a formidable challenge to China’s “core interests” – a phrase previously used only about Taiwan independence.

Chinese help would be need to kill Kim.

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“Korean War Criminals Cleared,” by Robert J. Koehler, The Marmot’s Hole, 13 November 2006, http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/11/13/korean-war-criminals-cleared/ (from Coming Anarchy).

“Panel issues list of pro-Japan collaborators,” Yonhap News, 6 December 2006, http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Engnews/20061206/610000000020061206210859E2.html (from One Free Korea).

South Korea is an immature state whose power should be limited to the extent possible. South Korea is not an ally, but merely a state that must be “engaged.”

American policy in the Korean peninsula should be aimed at moving North Korea closer into the orbit of the People’s Republic of China. The only valid alternative is the total collapse of the North Korean regime and the return of immediate & full citizenship of all north Koreans in the Republic of Korea.

South Korea should not be allowed to extend its position and power by administering North Korea as a colony. South Korea is too volatile a state — too obsessed by Arabesque conspiracies and fetishism for revenge — to be trusted as a regional power

Some evidence:

Don’t Blame actual War Criminals:

A Korean government commission cleared 83 of 148 Koreans convicted by the Allies of war crimes during World War II.

The commission ruled that the Koreans, who were categorized as Class B and Class C war criminals, were in fact victims of Japanese imperialism.

Of the 148 Koreans convicted of war crimes, some 23 would eventually be executed.

Blame the Children of Political Enemies:

The panel, launched in May last year, was formed under a special law enacted in 2004 to seek out collaborators who endorsed Japan’s colonization of the peninsula.

Another 104-member presidential committee was launched in August with the mission of seizing assets owned by the descendants of the pro-Japan collaborators.

For what it’s worth, I hereby endorse Japanese colonization of the Korean pennensyla.

Like the Europeans in Africa, Japan’s sin in Korea is this: they left too soon.

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“When North Korea Falls,” by Robert Kaplan, Atlantic Monthly, October 2006, http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200610/kaplan-korea (see commentary on Coming Anarchy, DPRK Studies, Left Flank, and ruNK, full text at Marmot’s Hole).

When I led recitations for International Relations last year, I gave a brief lecture to my class

“You will care about your neighbors as long as you live by them
You will care about anyone else until they get bored.

Countries will care about their neighbors forever.
Countries will care about other countries until they get bored.”

On that theme, I am very greatful to Eddie of Live from the FDNF for mailing me (and Mark, I suspect) the complete text of Robert Kaplan’s article on the fall of Pyongyang:

The concluding paragraphs are the most relevant

But South Korea also provides a lesson in what can be accomplished with patience and dogged persistence. The drive from the airport at Inchon to downtown Seoul goes through the heart of a former urban war zone. South Korea’s capital was taken and retaken four times in some of the most intense fighting of the Korean War. Korean men and women who lived through that time will always be grateful for what retired U.S. Army Colonel Robert Killebrew has called American “stick-to-itiveness,” without which we would have little hope of remaining a great power.

In the heart of Seoul lies Yongsan Garrison, a leafy, fortified Little America, guarded and surrounded by high walls. Inside these 630 acres, which closely resemble the Panama Canal Zone before the Americans gave it up, are 8,000 American military and diplomatic personnel in manicured suburban homes surrounded by neatly clipped hedges and backyard barbecue grills. I drove by a high school, baseball and football fields, a driving range, a hospital, a massive commissary, a bowling alley, and restaurants. U.S. Forces Korea and its attendant bureaucracies are located in redbrick buildings that the Americans inherited in 1945 from the Japanese occupiers. Korea is so substantial a military commitment for us that it merits its own, semiautonomous subcommand of PACOM—just as Iraq, unofficially anyway, merits its own four-star subcommand of CENTCOM.

The United States hopes to complete a troop drawdown in South Korea in 2008. Having moved into Yongsan Garrison when Korea’s future seemed highly uncertain, American troops plan to give up this prime downtown real estate and relocate to Camp Humphreys, in Pyongtaek, thirty miles to the south. The number of ground troops will drop to 25,000, and will essentially comprise a skeleton of logistical support shops, which would be able to acquire muscles and tendons in the form of a large invasion force in the event of a war or a regime collapse that necessitated a military intervention.

Patience and dogged persistence are heroic attributes. But while military units can be expected to be heroic, one should not expect a home front to be forever so. And while in the fullness of time patience and dogged persistence can breed success, it is the kind of success that does not necessarily reward the victor but, rather, the player best able to take advantage of the new situation. It is far too early to tell who ultimately will benefit from a stable and prosperous Mesopotamia, if one should ever emerge. But in the case of Korea, it looks like it will be the Chinese.

We will not care about Korea forever. Pretending we will sets us up for a big mistake. Not only are Americans not imperialists (thank heaven!), we are far away.

North Korea’s neighbors will care about northern Korea forever. Beijing and Seoul will care about northern Korea forever.

To the Chinese People’s Collective or the Greater Korean Republic?

So, should we build a future worth creating for northern Koreans by changing facts that will will build either a Chinese Korea or a Greater Korean Republic? How do we choose between a Zhongua Hanguo and a Daihan Minguk?

With news that North Korea has become a South Korean satellite, it looks like “Greater Korea” is already here. It’s in part a Stalinist dictatorship. It is going the wrong way.

America should support Chinese designs in North Korea, and the overthrow of the “Kim Family Regime” by a pro-Beijing government. It may be better than a Untied Nuclear Leftist Korea any day.

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Courtesy of Mutant Frog (now based on Bangkok) and the ever-Canadian Younghusband of Coming Anarchy, three photos of girls Mel Brooks-ing the evil of the past by robbing it of its terror (through cosplay — at least they aren’t furries).

But this post has a serious message:

Actually, the North Korean one isn’t in jest, at all. North Korea is still owned by terror. North Korea detained an American for decades and kidnapped his Japanese wife. North Korea is a nightmare-state.

The men and women, boys and girls, of North Korea will not be free until the Pyongyang government is deposed, either be a coup, a Chinese invasion, or American regime change.

The men of North Korea will not be free to be men, and the women of North Korea will not be free to be women, until liberty comes to that half of the Republic of Korea. Let’s hope it comes soon.

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