Text Fwd: N. Korean leader receives Obama's message from Clinton: state media

* Image source:

1. Korea Report
August 4, 2009
Bill Clinton in Pyongyang

2. New York Times
'A photo released by North Korea's news agency Tuesday shows former president Bill Clinton and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang. (KCNA, via Reuters)'


Yonhap News
2009/08/04 22:57 KST
(2nd LD) N. Korean leader receives Obama's message from Clinton: state media

SEOUL, Aug. 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il met with visiting former U.S. President Bill Clinton in Pyongyang on Tuesday and received a "verbal message" from the U.S. president, the North's state media said.

Clinton arrived in North Korea earlier Tuesday in a trip apparently aimed at winning the release of two detained American journalists.

"Bill Clinton courteously conveyed a verbal message of U.S. President Barack Obama to Kim Jong-il," the official Korean Central News Agency said.

"Kim Jong-il expressed thanks for this. He welcomed Clinton's visit to the DPRK (North Korea) and had an exhaustive conversation with him," it said.

The White House, however, denied sending a message through Clinton. "That's not true," its spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.

North Korea's media report said there was "a wide-ranging exchange of views on the matters of common concern" between Kim and Clinton.

North Korean Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju and a Workers' Party department director, Kim Yang-gon, attended the meeting, it said.

The National Defense Commission, which oversees the country's military and is chaired by Kim Jong-il, later hosted a dinner for Clinton and his entourage at the state guest house, according to the media report.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, female reporters from the San Francisco-based media group Current TV, were arrested March 17 near the North Korea-China border while reporting on North Korean defectors. They were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor by the North on charges of illegal entry and hostile acts.

Current TV was co-founded by Al Gore, who was Clinton's vice president.

Clinton's surprise visit raised hopes for renewed momentum for dialogue and a breakthrough in the long-stalled nuclear disarmament talks.

hkim@yna.co.kr

* Related articles

Tongil News(Korean)
Kim Jong Il-Clinton Discuss the Joint Concern
[Alternative] "Delivery of Obama's Spoken Message".. Welcome Dinner at the Baekwhawon
2009. 08. 04

Korea Report
August 4, 2009
Bill Clinton in Pyongyang

Yonhap News
Clinton Discusses 'Issues of Interest' With Kim Jong-il
08-04-2009 19:14

New York Times
North Korea Is Said to Pardon Two American Journalists
By CHOE SANG-HUN, MARK LANDLER and PETER BAKER
Published: August 4, 2009

Washington Post
N. Korea Says Two U.S. Journalists Have Been Pardoned
By Glenn Kessler and Stella Kim
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Washington Post
Clinton's Unwise Trip to North Korea By John R. Bolton
Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Text Fwd: Police Storming Ssangyong Plant

* Image source/ description: Same as below

'A truck is ablaze at Ssangyong Motor plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, as striking unionists are clashing with riot policemen in front of a paint building, Tuesday. / Korea Times Photo by Cho Young-ho'

Korea Times
Police Storming Ssangyong Plant
By Park Si-soo, Staff Reporter

Black smoke poured from Ssangyong Motor plant Tuesday morning as special police units stormed into one of three buildings dismissed workers have been occupying for more than two months.

Dozens of officers jumped onto the building's rooftop at 10:40 a.m. from an aerial ladder as police helicopters sprayed liquid teargas. The workers resisted by throwing petrol bombs and blocks, and using slingshots.

At least 23 people were injured during the clash and taken to hospital, police said.

After successfully landing on the rooftop, the police squad was set to move into the plant, which is packed with flammable material.

Police on the ground removed cars and barricades that have prevented riot police from moving forward, a move signaling that a crackdown on protesters was imminent.

About 300 riot police armed with batons and plastic shields had approached to within five meters of the occupied building.

``Today we will retake as much of the factory as possible,'' a police officer said at the scene. ``But we will be cautious in moving inside the buildings due to strong resistance from the occupiers.''

The prosecution said it will be tough against the workers for their illegal occupation of the plant.

The operation came two days after last-ditch talks between management and laid-off workers broke down, and one day before creditors of the firm were to submit a request for the liquidation of the carmaker which has a 2-percent domestic market share.

Creditors said they have no choice but to seek liquidation unless the plant was normalized by 4 p.m. today.

``Unless police kick all protesters out of the facility by that time, we will submit the request to the Seoul Central District Court,'' Choi Myung-hoon, the representative of the creditors, told The Korea Times.

Police estimate some 550 laid-off Ssangyong workers remain inside the four-story paint shop.

The building is reportedly no better than a ``refugee camp,'' as supplies of water, food and electricity were cut last week.

pss@koreatimes.co.kr


*More photos/ videos in the Korean article

Hankyoreh
2009, 08, 04

*Related articles

Yonhap News
Police, laid-off workers clash at occupied Ssangyong facility
2009/08/04

Hankyoreh
Police resume spraying tear gas on striking workers at Ssangyong Motors:
An estimated 600 workers resolve to remain at the auto plant despite impending police raid and company announcement to employees to prepare to return to work Tuesday
Posted on : Aug.4,2009

Hankyoreh
[Editorial] Caring if people live or die at Ssangyong Motors plant
Posted on : Aug.4,2009 11:51 KST

Text Fwd: Activists nabbed after protesting gov't restrictions on downtown square

* Image source: Same as below

Yonhap News
2009/08/03

SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- Police on Monday took into custody protesters at the newly-opened central Seoul plaza who were denouncing a government ban on rallies at the site the authorities have vowed to keep demonstration-free.

Dozens of opposition party legislators and members of progressive civic groups had gathered at the Gwanghwamun plaza Monday, calling the government ban a repression of democracy and civil liberties.

After 15 months of renovation, the landmark plaza was reopened to visitors over the weekend, featuring new national monuments and pedestrian-friendly boulevards. The plaza, measuring 550 meters in length and 34 meters in width, was visited by more than 370,000 people over the two-day period from Saturday, according to city data.

Police apprehended 10 protesters, charging they were engaged in an illegal rally rather than a news conference.
"Give Gwanghwamun back to citizens," the pickets said. The activists, who had not given prior notice of a rally as required by the law, claimed the gathering was a press conference.

With the opening of the plaza, concerns were raised among authorities that the site could turn into another staging ground for massive anti-government protests. Seoul Plaza in front of the City Hall, which officials said was meant to host citizens' leisure and cultural activities, has been frequently occupied for rallies.

To prevent the Gwanghwamun area from being dominated by protesters, the government said it will only allow "orderly cultural events" that do not cause traffic congestion or disruption.

"The Gwanghwamun plaza has never been properly returned to its rightful owners. With the ban on legal demonstrations and rallies, the plaza is nothing but a garden belonging to the Seoul Metropolitan Government," opposition parties, led by the main opposition Democratic Party, and civic groups said.

"More than 47.5 billion won (US$38 million) was spent out of the people's pocket to create the plaza, but they haven't been allowed the rightful use of the area. We will fight for the right we deserve," the group said.

Progressives claim democracy has been rolled back since President Lee Myung-bak took office in February last year, beefing up police control of the central Seoul area to prevent protests. The conservative administration has been cautious in permitting events that could develop political overtones, especially after the months-long rallies against U.S. beef imports last summer.

hayney@yna.co.kr

* Related Korean articles

Tongil news

Hankyoreh

Specters of liquidation surround Ssangyong Motors as talks break down

*Image source/ description: Same as below

'Family members of striking Ssangyong Motors union members hold a demonstration for a peaceful resolution in Pyeongtaek Station near the Ssangyong Motors plant, August 2.'

Hankyoreh
Specters of liquidation surround Ssangyong Motors as talks break down:
As automaker’s creditors plan proceed for bankruptcy filing on Wednesday, Ssangyong Motors joint receivers and union remain open to rehabilitation alternatives Posted on : Aug.3,2009 12:27 KST

As a result of Ssangyong Motors management‘s announcement of a breakdown in negotiations on Sunday, the fourth day of management and union talks, attention is now turning to the company’s future.

Although the union is criticizing management for the breakdown in negotiations, on Sunday, it said it was “still leaving the window of dialogue open.” Meanwhile, representatives from management’s side said that they would resume their participation in dialogue “if the labor union accepts the last proposal.” However, observers are saying barring the emergence of a new, revised plan, the possibility of a compromise being reached is slight as both sides are currently being forced to make a decision they would interpret as “a surrender.”

The breakdown in negotiations does not mean an immediate end to the automaker’s rehabilitation, commencement of which was permitted by the court in February. The problem lies in the fact that the value of the company drops every day production is halted at the plant, and at this point, it has been shut down for more than 70 days. A study by Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers in May found that the value of an operable Ssangyong Motors plant was 1.3 trillion Won, approximately 390 billion Won greater than its 938.6 billion Won liquidation value. The company states that losses from the strike have exceeded 300 billion won to date, and it is also impossible to calculate indirect damages on the company’s brand image, confidence among consumers, and sales and after-service network.

“To date, Ssangyong Motor’s sentiments have been those of a family hanging their hopes on a patient who is already brain dead,” said Kim Pil-su, a professor of automotive engineering at Daelim University College. “They have barely begun to resolve labor-management issues, and now it seems like even that 1 percent chance has disappeared,” Kim added.

Even if the sit-in strike were forcibly dispersed, the resulting protests and conflict would make it difficult for the company to normalize production right away. It had previously been predicted that it would take anywhere from one week to one month to get the company back to normal production levels if a compromise was struck, but the precise time frame is now more difficult to pin down.

Ssangyong Motors, which sold 90,000 cars last year, registered a loss of 230 billion Won. The initial goal had been to reduce the scale of red ink to 160 billion Won, but that was based on the assumption that restructuring would be finished within June and that the company would receive a loan of 250 billion Won from the Korea Development Bank (KDB) in development funds for its new C200 model. Even if the company forcibly completes restructuring and requests the loan from the KDB, it is impossible to predict whether the loan will actually take place. A government official is reserved about the chances of this and says, “Since so much time has passed, we need to look objectively at whether a loan is really the way to save Ssangyong Motors at this point.”

Ssangyong Motors management expressed the view Sunday that the courts might once again extend the time limit for submission of a rehabilitation plan. During a telephone conversation with the Hankyoreh, Ssangyong Motors joint receiver Park Young-tae said, “I am the man to save this company, and I will try as far as it is in my power.”

Park added, “We have already researched the value of maintaining Ssangyong Motors and could add the losses incurred from the strike in order to submit a rehabilitation plan that assumes immediate liquidation, but I will work through alternatives until the September deadline.”

However, the activity of other interested parties indicates that bankruptcy is already on their minds. The Ssangyong Motors Subcontractors Association, a group that includes the company’s major creditors, announced Sunday that it plans to move ahead as scheduled to file for early bankruptcy in court on Wednesday. “Since labor-management dialogue has now broken down, we think the courts will look carefully at a bankruptcy filing by the automaker’s largest creditors,” said Choi Byung-hoon, the association’s secretary general. If Ssangyong Motors is declared bankrupt, it will not be able to contest Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation’s use of the technology it transferred from Ssangyong, and everything basically will end in a “feast of debts” for creditors.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

* Related
Yonhap News

Korea Report
July 29, 2009
Worsening Labor Situation in South Korea

Text Fwd: Seoul may form attack chopper unit

2009.08.03
By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldm.com)

South Korea may be moving forward with plans to form a separate unit of attack helicopters over the next four years for defense reinforcement purposes, military sources said yesterday.

The absence of two U.S. Apache attack helicopter battalions are seen to have accelerated the move.

Further exacerbating the concerns are predictions that the sole remaining battalion of 24 choppers may depart following the 2012 transfer of wartime operational control.

The Defense Ministry, however, said upgrading the current choppers would come first.

"Our priority lies in upgrading our choppers as they are outdated. We may not actually be seeing the formation of a new division of such choppers," said Col. Lee Bung-woo of the ministry's public relations office.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration is in the midst of a feasibility study for indigenously developing helicopters. It is slated to announce the results by late next year.

Another viable plan is to purchase second-hand Apaches from the United States.

Amid concerns of the defense vacuum, the United States Forces Korea is to deploy a dozen F-15E fighter jets here to replace an equal number of F-16s.

"This would most likely be a move to assure South Korea," one military source said.

Washington will station the dozen F-15E Striking Eagle jets at the Gunsan Air Base by Aug. 20 to replace the 12 F-16 Fighting Falcon jets at the Suwon Air Base, sources said.

The deployment is part of a rotation and will last for six months, including a staff of 400 to support the move.

Washington's decision to pull out a second battalion of attack choppers earlier this year had many worried about the weakened defense posture.

Top defense experts are now predicting that the United States may decide to withdraw the remaining 24 Apaches to reinforce its anti-terrorism efforts in the Middle East.

The Apache choppers constitute a powerful combat deterrent as they are designed for anti-armor purposes, meaning their main mission is deterring North Korea's armored division.

The United States afterwards deployed a dozen F-16s, a multirole fighter jet, in the place of the Apaches amid criticism and concerns.

This is because the F-16s, despite thier capacity for conducting varied missions and precision strikes, are void of anti-armor features.

The F-15Es, meanwhile, are said to have superior all-weather ground attack capabilities compared with the F-16s and a greater operational range.

The jets also carry a wide range of munitions including anti-armor and precision guided bombs.

But experts said the distinction was not too significant, as they both are unable to sufficiently replace the Apaches.

The USFK maintains that the multirole jets would adequately fill the gap left by the Apaches.

* Realted
Yonhap News
2009/08/03 16:19 KST
U.S. says no plan to withdraw Apaches in foreseeable future
By Sam Kim

Text Fwd: Former "Comfort Women" Demand Japan's Apology

Korea Report,
Aug. 3, 08

Kil Won-ok (age 81) is former "comfort woman"-turned-activist calling for the Japanese government's formal apology for the sexual enslavement of girls and women (taken mostly from colonial Korea) during the World War II. She was only 13 years old when she was forcefully taken to the war fronts to "serve" Japanese soldiers. Battered and ashamed, she could not return to her home in northern Korea when the war ended and lived alone and poor in the south, keeping her silence until she joined a group advocating for the rights of former "comfort women."

She and representatives of the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan came to the U.S. recently on the occasion of the second anniversary of the passing of the US House Resolution 121 that called for Japan's formal apology. Even with this passage and others in Canada and European assemblies, Japanese government is not coming forward with an apology -- in a stark contrast to postwar Germany's handling of the holocaust. The photo shows Ms. Kil during the "Wednesday Demonstration" in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, Korea. The women have staged the weekly demonstrations every Wednesday continuously for the past 17 years, yet not a single Japanese official has come out and acknowledged the women's presence.

Text Fwd: N. Korea eases paperwork for South Koreans traveling to Kaesong park

Yonhap News
2009/08/02 18:29 KST
N. Korea eases paperwork for South Koreans traveling to Kaesong park

SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) -- In a small, attention-getting move, North Korea decided to make it easier for South Koreans to travel to a joint industrial park on its soil by car beginning this week, Seoul officials said Sunday.

The North's move comes as the fate of the inter-Korean factory park remains uncertain, with the communist country pressing for steep wage and rent hikes. The North has even hinted at closing the five-year-old venture unless its demands are met.

* Related

Yonhap
2009/08/02 11:26 KST
N. Korea bashes South for blocking cross-border NGO meeting

Chosun (most Conservative right wing newspaper)
China Declines to Discuss U.S. Scenario for N.Korea
August 3, 2009

Text Fwd: “Christening” the DDG-109 Jason Dunham

* Informed in Bruce Gagnon blog

“Christening” the DDG-109 Jason Dunham
BIW [Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, United States of America]
August 1, 2009
By Mary Beth Sullivan

Two Days Ago, aegis destroyers were used in a “Missile Defense” test off the shores of Hawaii.

Here is how a group called the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance describes it:

“…on a breezy warm afternoon, the USS Hopper (DDG 70) destroyer…successfully tracked, discriminated and intercepted a… ballistic missile target in its ascent phase. Time of interception was… 3 minutes after the target missile was launched… “

The press release continues: “The ascent phase intercept is a concept of striking a missile after its initial boost phase as it continues to climb to its apogee, and that is what the current [Obama] administration… [is] emphasizing as one of the [Missile Defense Agency’s] future growth areas.”

The press release then goes on to tell us that we need to be afraid of Iran and North Korea. It does not tell us how expensive this test cost. The last figure I heard for similar tests was about $100 million. Nor does it identify the companies that will reap the financial profits from this test.

Let me translate this important event.

Imagine, if you will, a sword and a shield. Imagine that the United States decides it wants the resources of a given country somewhere in the world –– a country that might be rich in natural gas, or oil for example…. Let’s say that the U.S. once again implements its First Strike Policy and begins a “shock and awe” campaign upon that other country. The U.S., with its Aegis Destroyers, is building the capacity to not only use the sword of the first strike, but also to put up the shield of missile defense – shooting out of the sky any retaliatory strike a nation might be foolish enough to attempt.

This gives us the capacity for Total Control and Domination. There is no nation state, anywhere in the world, which can compete with that level of military power.

To build this military empire, America has given over our tax dollars, and our industrial base. Every state in the nation and most Congressional Districts in the nation have citizens employed building something to contribute to this military empire. In fact, the US industrial base has become devoted to build the weapons and all the accoutrements of a military empire. Tell me, what other industrial products do we make in this country anymore?

And our military empire has spread its wings to impose a military presence in – oh – something like 1,000 military bases in foreign countries around the world.

So let’s look at this nation – our home – that has built and spread its military power throughout the world. What is the moral compass we use to judge the worthiness of such a nation to control and dominate the world’s resources?

Yes, this is the nation that pulverized and then invaded Iraq. That war was sold to the American people based on a lie. The US military, then and now, insists it does not count civilian casualties who die by the machines that are the fruits of the labor of American citizens. So we are left with estimates of Iraqi deaths that range from 600,000 to 1.3 million. The 5 million Iraqi refugees and displaced persons are not ever mentioned.

And still, America goes shopping.

We invade Afghanistan; we escalate the war; we build machines that require humans in American desserts to control the joy-sticks that control the weapons discharged by what we call “unmanned aerial vehicles.” Americans are relieved that US pilots are not at risk of being shot down. We take no notice of the young people who spend an 8 hour day wreaking havoc and destruction of another people, another country. We expect them to go home to their children at night unaffected by the consequences of the damage they have done.

Some years ago now, Dexter and Gretchen Kamilewicz organized the viewing of a video in the basement of the Brunswick UU Church one Sunday morning. We watched in horror as the images of the total destruction of the town of Fallujah in Iraq were revealed to us. So you can imagine my shock to hear a friendly reporter on National Public Radio this week tell the story of the new video game that is about to be released. Yes, it’s true – The Battle of Fallujah will soon be played by the young people in our country – the sounds, the fury, the killing, the civilian deaths, the total destruction of a once rich and vibrant town can be enjoyed in every American living room, over and over again, just for the thrill of it. KACHING! Mayhem continues making profit while recruiting our young to sociopathic killing.

This is the nation that should have total control and domination of the world and it’s resources??

My friends, we are here holding signs because we know we are better than all this. We have a vision of the way life must become that is full of light and love and healing. We feel the pain of a mother earth that is crying out for our focused attention. We know we must address climate change. We are still in the first decade of this new Century, and we know that the work going on out there in communities around the world to change the direction of our planet is absolutely thrilling.

When we turn our attention to 2050, we are not imagining how wars will be fought – not at all! Rather, we see with clarity that if we don’t figure out how to cooperate on this planet, humans may not survive to see the end of this century!

We must commit our life energy to building the new – building the alternative – right here in the shadow of the fading empire.

We must communicate quite boldly to our entire Congressional Delegation that we DO NOT WANT any more DOD money in this state. We DO NOT want our neighbors building the machinery of the military empire. We INSIST that we replace those jobs with the building of the renewable energy infrastructure that is ESSENTIAL if we are to maintain life on this planet for the next 100 years.

Let me say this again: we need to articulate clearly to our congressional delegation that we want an END to DOD contracts in Maine. No more resources to support the building of naval destroyers; rifles; bullets; tanks. We don’t want to test DRONES in our neighborhoods.
And we don’t want to manufacture even those benign sounding fancy military TENTS that Rep. Michaud is proud of building in the second district. The military tents built in Maine today will be used in Afghanistan tomorrow, and Africa in twenty years for the next Military Empire Enterprise. The young people these tents purport to “protect” will suffer for life from doing battle in a foreign country. There has to be another way.

Let’s be clear: Any penny spent on researching, building, maintaining the mechanics of the military empire is a penny taken from the visionaries we need to create a sustainable future.

Convert the military industrial complex. Use the talent and skill of American workers in every local community in this country to build the infrastructure we need in every neighborhood to curtail the catastrophe of global climate change.

Thank you for listening.

Text Fwd: BEWARE OF THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

* Bruce Gagnon blog
Saturday, August 01, 2009
BEWARE OF THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

My talk yesterday went well at the International Symposium for Peace. There were about 300 people there including a slew of folks who work for the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. Following my speech I sat on a panel discussion that included Frank von Hippel, a Princeton University physicist who served as Bill Clinton's science advisor and had to give the final go-ahead for NASA to launch the Cassini space probe in 1997 that carried 72 pounds of plutonium-238 on-board.

I had a chance to talk with Frank about our campaign to oppose Cassini and found him to be a very nice and thoughtful man. He has already emailed me several documents that he thought might be of use to us.

Another person serving on the panel was a former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland who also worked at the UN. He began by touting Henry Kissinger's recent anti-nuclear weapons position and then said that Japan "should not be criticized for working on missile defense with the US." We need to be "more realistic" he suggested.

Frank von Hippel was solid on the need to reduce nuclear weapons but never mentioned US plans for missile defense as a serious obstacle to nuclear abolition. (No one else did besides me for that matter.) He did offer an interesting story though by recalling a public poll a few years ago that asked the American people how many nuclear weapons we have today. The majority replied 200 nukes. And how many do we actually need to protect ourselves? One hundred they responded. The fact is that the US today has several thousand nukes.

A Japanese professor of international relations was also on the panel and he recounted that while living in the US his child attended public school where the teacher told the class that the US had to drop the bomb on Japan in order to end the war. Noted historian Gar Alperovitz has this to say about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

The use of the atomic bomb, most experts now believe, was totally unnecessary. Even people who support the decision for various reasons acknowledge that almost certainly the Japanese would have surrendered before the initial invasion planned for November. The U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey stated that officially in 1946.

Hiroshima was selected because it was a significant, unblemished, mainly civilian target, available for the psychological effect of terror bombing. That's very explicit in the documents; it's not controversial. That's what they were doing. And ultimately some 300,000 civilians were killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Nuclear weapons now need to be put beyond the moral pale, to be made illegitimate throughout the world, and that will not happen until people speak up and cause a shift in the cultural base. That's not impossible. Now is the time to begin-particularly when many Cold Warriors see them as no longer useful. The silence is thundering among people who seem to care about these things but don't talk about them.

The way you change things is by slowly beginning to push forward. Over time something begins to happen. It happened in the feminist movement, the anti-war movement, the civil rights movement. All of those movements were totally dominated by a conservative culture that didn't seem to allow any progress until people of goodwill began to build and slowly, patiently, changed the culture. I believe it's possible to do that with regard to nuclear weapons.

In my closing remarks on the panel I quoted from two recent news articles that clearly showed the US, Japan, and South Korea are intentionally over-estimating the North Korean nuclear threat. Because of economic and technological challenges the North Korea launch infrastructure is 10-20 times below the level that was once estimated. North Korea's recent missile tests revealed to the US military that they have an outdated radar system and the Pentagon came away from that experience pounding their chest in joy saying that the US, with its massive technological superiority, was able to see things that were happening during the test that North Korea could not see.

This means that the US knows they could easily "take out" North Korea's missile launch system but there is a major public relations benefit to overrating the threat. The US embellishes the threat in order to create fear in the public which then translates to justification and support for a new arms race - the space variety.

I ended by telling the story about former president Dwight Eisenhower's warning to the American people as he left office that included the words "beware of the military industrial complex." I told the audience to beware of the growing Japanese military industrial complex that has recently successfully pushed through changes in their national space policy. Their "peaceful uses of space" language is now giving way to the militarization of their space program.

My greatest delight though was that an older Japanese woman, a medical doctor who has worked against nuclear weapons for many years, followed me with concluding remarks on the panel. She picked right up on the North Korea question and sternly stated that they were not a threat to Japan and that her country needed to step back, calm down, and resist making aggressive moves. It was the perfect ending and the first time during the panel discussion that anyone addressed any of the points I was making.

Today I move to a different hotel in Hiroshima as I will now be staying here another four days to speak at various conferences that will be held before and during the annual August 6 remembrance days.


* Related blog

http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2009/07/remembering-past-looking-ahead.html
Friday, July 31, 2009
REMEMBERING THE PAST - LOOKING AHEAD


위의 원문 번역
2009년 8월 1일, 토
군산복합체를 경계하라

어제[2009년 8월 1일] 저의 연설은 평화를 위한 [히로시마]국제 심포지움에서 잘 진행되었읍니다. 아사히 신문을 위해 일하는 다수를 포함한 300여명 가량이 있었읍니다. 제 연설에 이어 프랑크 본 히펠을 포함한 판넬 토론이 있었읍니다. 그는 프린스턴 대학 물리학자인데 빌 클린턴의 과학 자문의원으로 일하던 중 1997년, 72 파운드 가량의 플루토늄-238을 실었던 카시니 우주 탐색기를 발사하기 위한 미 우주 항공국을 위해 최종 명령을 내려야 했던 사람이기도 합니다.

저는 프랭크와 함께 우리의 *카시니 반대 캠페인을 말할 기회를 가졌는데 그가 매우 사람좋고 사려깊은 사람이란 것을 알게 되었읍니다. 그는 이미 저에게 우리에게 쓸모있을 거라 생각되는 몇 가지 서류들을 보낸 바 있읍니다.

판넬에 앉았던 또 다른 사람은 스위스에서 전직 대사를 지낸 일본인이었는데 그는 또한 유엔에서 일하기도 했읍니다. 그는 헨리 키산저의 최근 반 핵무기 입장을 칭찬하고 나서 일본은 “미국과 함께 미사일 방어망을 위해 일하는 것에 비판받아서는 안됩니다. “라고 말했읍니다. 우리는 “더 현실적” 이어야 된다고 그는 제안했읍니다.

프랑크 본 히펠은 핵무기를 축소하는 필요성에 대해 견고한 입장을 가지고 있었으나 핵무기를 폐지하는데 있어 심각한 위협인 미국 미사일 방어망계획을 결코 언급하지 않았읍니다. (저를 제외하곤 그 이슈에 대해 아무도 말하지 않았읍니다.) 그는 몇 년전 있었던, 미국인들에게 오늘날 우리가 얼마나 많은 핵무기를 갖고 있다고 생각하는지 물어보는 대중 설문 조사를 회상함으로써 흥미로운 이야기를 전해주었읍니다. 대부분이 200개라고 답했답니다. 그러면 우리 자신을 보호하기 위해 실제로 얼마만큼 핵무기를 갖고 있어야 하는 질문에 그들은 100개라고 대답했답니다. 사실 미국은 오늘날 수천개의 핵무기를 갖고 있읍니다,

국제 관계 전문 일본 교수 역시 판넬에 앉아 있었고 그는 미국에 살 동안 자녀가 공립학교에 다녔었는데 선생이 수업에서 미국은 전쟁을 끝내기 위해 일본에 폭탄을 떨어뜨려야 했다고 말했답니다. 저명한 역사 학자 *갈 알퍼로비츠는 히로시마와 나가사키 폭탄 투하에 대해 다음과 같이 말해야 했읍니다:

현재 대부분의 전문가가 믿는 것처럼 원자 폭탄의 사용은 완전히 불필요한 것이었읍니다. 다양한 이유로 찬성 결정을 지지했던 사람들조차도 11월에 계획된 침공 초반기 전에 일본인들은 거의 확실히 항복했으리라 생각합니다. 1946년, 미국 전략적 폭탄 투하 조사는 공식적으로 그렇게 발표했읍니다.

히로시마는 선택되었는데 왜냐하면 중요하고 흠이 없고 주로 시민이 목표물이었기 때문으로 테러 폭탄 투하의 심리적 효과를 위해 이용가능 했기 때문입니다. 그것은 서류들에 매우 노골적으로 나타납니다: 그것은 논쟁거리가 아닙니다. 그것이 바로 그들이 행했던 것입니다. 그리고 최종적으로 약 30여만의 시민이 히로시마와 나가사키에서 살해되었읍니다.

핵무기는 현재 도덕적 범위 한도를 벗어난 것으로, 전 세계를 통하여 비합법적인 것으로 취급되어야 합니다. 그리고 그것은 사람들이 말하고 문화적 기초에서 요동을 일으키기 전까지 일어나지 않을 것입니다. 불가능 할 것입니다.. 특별히 많은 냉전 투사들이 자신들을 더 이상 쓸모있는 것으로 보지 않는 지금이 시작할 때입니다. 언급한 것들에 대해 걱정하나 말하지 않는 사람들 사이에 침묵이 천둥치고 있읍니다.

당신이 세상을 변화시키는 것은 밀어붙이는 것을 천천히 시작함으로서 입니다. 시간이 지나며 무언가 일어나기 시작합니다. 그것은 여성 운동에서, 반전 운동에서, 시민권 운동에서 일어났던 것입니다. 그 모든 운동들은 선한 의지를 지닌 사람들이 천천히, 참을성있게, 문화를 변화시키기 전까지는 어떠한 진보도 허락하지 않는 것처럼 보이는 보수적인 문화에 의해 완전히 지배되었읍니다. 저는 핵무기에 관한 것도 그렇게 가능하리라 생각합니다.

판넬의 끝맺는 말에서 저는 미국, 일본, 그리고 한국이 의도적으로 북한 핵 위협을 과장하는 것을 보여주는 최근의 두 소식을 인용했읍니다. 경제적, 기술적 도전들로 인해 북한의 시설 구조는 언젠가 평가되었던 것보다 10배~20배 밑입니다. 북한의 최근 미사일 실험들은 그들이 오래된 레이다 시스템을 가진 것으로 미국 군대에 드러났으며 미국방부는 기쁨에 차서 자신들의 가슴을 두드리며 자신들의 엄청난 기술적 우월성으로 북한은 볼 수 없었던 것을 자신들은 실험 중에 볼 수 있었다 말합니다.

이것은 미국이 북한의 미사일 발사 시스템을 쉽게 “없앨” 수 있으나 위협을 과장하는 것이 주요한 대중 선전 이득이 됨을 의미합니다. 미국은 대중의 두려움을 자아내기 위해 위협을 윤색하나 이것은 새 무기 경쟁 – 다양한 우주 무기 생산-을 위한 정당화와 지지를 끌어내기 위한 것으로 헤석해야 할 것입니다.

저는 전 대통령 드와이트 아이젠하워가 그의 관저를 떠나면서 미국민에게 “군산 복합체를 경계하라” 라는 말들을 포함한 경고를 했던 것을 말하고 제 말을 매듭지었읍니다. 저는 청중들에게 증가하는 일본 군산 복합체를 경계하라고 말했는데 군산 복합체는 그들의 국가 우주 정책들을 변화시키면서 최근에 성공적으로 그것들을 밀어붙였읍니다. 그들의 “우주의 평화적 이용” 언어는 그들 우주 프로그램의 군사화에 무릎꿇고 있읍니다.

그럼에도 불구, 나의 가장 큰 기쁨은 저보다 연세많은 한 일본 여자분, 여러해동안 핵 무기에 반대해서 싸운 의학 박사께서 저에 동의해 판넬에 대해 결론짓는 언급을 해주셨던 것입니다. 그녀는 북한 질문에 관한 한 핵심을 명확하게 집었는데 엄격하게 진술하길, 북한은 일본에게 위협이 아니며 그녀의 조국은 뒤로 물러나 침착해야 하고 공격적인 움직임을 보이는 것을 자제해야 햔다 말했읍니다. 그것은 완벽한 맺음이었으며 판넬 토론 내내 내가 지적했던 점들중의 하나가 누군가에 의해 언급되는 첫 순간이었읍니다.

[종략]


*카시니 반대 캠페인:
위선의 무기 한국어 동영상 참조
(번역 파트 5, 2분30초~4분30초 사이)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n06dmfSXOM&feature=channel_page


*갈 알퍼로비츠
‘The Fire Still Burns
An interview with historian Gar Alperovitz.
by Sojourners ‘ 의 저자
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj9507&article=950711
(원문 링크)

Text Fwd: Strong message necessary to resolve N. Korean nuclear issue: Bush

Yonhap News
2009/08/01 13:04 KST
Strong message necessary to resolve N. Korean nuclear issue: Bush

SEOGWIPO, South Korea, Aug. 1 (Yonhap) -- Former U.S. President George W. Bush on Saturday urged member nations to the six-party disarmament talks to send a strong and clear message to North Korea to persuade it to give up its nuclear weapons program.

Bush made the remark at an economic forum organized by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) on the southern island of Jeju during his five-day visit to South Korea.

Unless North Korea clearly and transparently ends its nuclear weapons drive, the U.S., South Korea, China, Japan and Russia should let North Korea know that it will face economic and other consequences, Bush said.