Text Fwd: [Wooksik Cheong] Cheonan sinking and New Cold War in Asia

Peace Network
Cheonan sinking and New Cold War in Asia
2010. 06. 30
Wooksik Cheong, the Representative of Peace Network.
En Hye Lee, Peace Network Intern, contributed to translation Korean into English.

While there was a huge impact on Cheonan ship sinking on March 26th, there is also a significant impact on Northeast Asia as well. “The flapping of butterfly’s wing in Brazil can bring about a disastrous tornado in Texas.” Like the butterfly effect, the Cheonan incident has the danger to trigger the new cold war in Northeast Asia.

The relations between the North and South which returned to the Cold War era after President Lee took office are getting towards a fierce confrontation after the Cheonan incident. South Korean allies, the US and Japan, are actively supporting Lee administration and trying to raise the level of pressures and sanctions on North Korea. However, North Korea’s long-time friends, China and Russia which also took equal distance diplomacy towards both North and South Korea after the Cold War, have quite different responses. They raise questions on Lee administration’s results of Cheonan investigation, expressing awareness to South Korea, US, Japan which are attempting to push North Korea into the corner on account of the Cheonan incident. Ostensibly, it can be said that the confrontational structure is reemerging.

Unbalance in six party talks can be explained with different perspectives of geopolitics in Northeast Asia. The Obama administration’s ambition of making allies with Northeast Asian countries in order to restrain and contain China was capitalized on the Cheonan accident and succeeded in restoring US-Japan alliance. The US has realized the original bill of Futenma’s relocation, which was the ‘hot potato’ between the US and Japan. Though Japanese Prime minister Hatoyama resigned, the Cheonan incident was used as a method to calm down the oppositions in Japan caused by accepting US demands. Also, the US has got the “bond” and this will lead US-South Korea alliance to the way the US wants.

In addition, South Korea-US joint naval exercise, which is expected to kick off in West Sea, is seen as military restraint against China as well as armed protest toward North Korea. So China is seriously responding to this issue. One of the Chinese national newspaper editorials, titled “Yellow Sea no place for US carrier” mentions that “the deployment of a carrier off of China’s coast is a provocation that will generate hostility among the Chinese public toward the US.” China’s perspective is well presented in this part. It is a warning sign toward the US-led Northeast Asia alliance system, which seem to become strong and rigid on account of the Cheonan incident.

The fundamental problem is that even if the six parties say they want “peace and stability in Northeast Asia”, there is a huge difference in ways and methods. US, Japan, and South Korea which are the 3 nations that concluded North Korea as a suspect of the Cheonan incident claim that taking strong actions to North Korea will help both Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia have peace and stability. On the other hand, China and Russia, nations having huge doubts on the results of the investigation, are demanding “calmness and restraint” mentioning that retaliation against the North will cause the increasing tension including military confrontation. These responses from China and Russia, adjacent to North Korean border, are based on the concerns that the imminent state in Korean peninsula could lead to the damage of their critical interests. Unlike Japan, which is between the Korean peninsula and East sea, or the US near the Pacific, China and Russia are considering geopolitically factors. This is why China and Russia are keeping eye on the conflict in Korean peninsula. Surprisingly, however, South Korean government, which is right next to the demarcation line close to the North, does not care about this imminent situation much more than the US and Japan do and it is getting ready to fight against North Korea. This attitude is based on a significantly dangerous ‘strategic miscalculation’ that is recognized as the ‘reunification through absorption’.

US is on two tracks, South Korea is on one track?

Cheonan accident has a critical impact on the six party talks as well. First, North Korea, China and Russia are generally positive with the earliest resumption of six party talks, however, South Korea, US, and Japan are taking passive attitude relating six party talks to the Cheonan incident. Of course there is a difference. South Korea is going towards one track of Cheonan diplomacy, which is under the strong basis of ‘No need to resume six party talks without solving the Cheonan incident’. On the other hand, the US is trying to approach this with two tracks. It is trying to reach the conclusion that the North is guilty and to push forward with denouncement and sanctions against North Korea. Furthermore it is expecting denuclearization on Korean peninsula through six party talks. The US’ diplomatic dogma against hostile nations, dealing with both ‘sanctions and dialogues’, can be confirmed in the Cheonan incident.

However, it can be said that not only South Korea’s one track but also US’ two tracks cannot be successful. The two tracks which are referred to the theory of ‘carrot and stick’ and ‘sanctions and dialogues’ will definitely cause the similar reactions from the North. North Korea has been steadily dealt South Korea, US, Japan with the slogan of “Confrontation as confrontation, dialogue as dialogue”. Moreover, North Korea has been demanding for lifting sanctions on condition of resumption of six party talks. In this situation, if there are some additional sanctions on the North, which argues its innocence, or if a statement denouncing North Korea is adopted from the UN Security Council, we can hardly expect the possibility of resuming six party talks. Once the UN Security Council adopts the statement of denouncing North Korea again, it is likely for North Korea, which gave us a warning of ‘ultra hard line actions’, to counter with launching long range rockets or with the third nuclear test.

The concerns that the Cheonan tragedy might lead to new cold war in Northeast Asia is just an idle fear, and it is better to remain as an idle fear. There are 3 things that need to be resolved. First is to reinvestigate the cause of the Cheonan sinking. Not only North Korea but also China and Russia are raising questions on the results of the Lee administration’s investigation. In this situation, the matter will get worse if the US, South Korea and Japan force North Korea with denouncements and stringent sanctions against the North. Some say that it is more realistic if there is a joint investigation team among North and South Korea, US, and China. Second is normalizing inter-Korean relations as soon as possible. Demarcation line is the ‘divided line’ of Korean peninsula and ‘the line of the balance power in Northeast Asia’. In this sense, it is geopolitically impossible to say that peace and stability in Northeast Asia can be maintained without getting rid of unstable inter-Korean relations. Third is the resumption of six party talks within the earliest possible time. There has to be continuous investigation for the truth of the Cheonan incident, and it is obvious that it will take a huge amount of time to get the true result even though the joint investigation team of 4 nations works together. In this sense, dealing investigation of Cheonan first and six party talks afterwards is not an appropriate approach.

There has to be new ways of thinking that the Cheonan sinking is emphasizing the necessity of constructing peace regime and denuclearization on Korean peninsula with the earliest resumption of six party talks. Now is the time to find the way to prevent the confrontation on Korean peninsula and the new cold war in Northeast Asia.

Photo Fwd:[SPARK] Press interview against the 26th Security Policy Initiative (SPI)

Stop the discussion on the follow-up measures on the delay of the transfer of the [wartime] operational control right!

* All the image source: Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea

'Press interview against the 26th Security Policy Initiative(SPI)
Do not discuss the measure for the delay of the wartime operational control right and properly transfer it right now!
:We oppose the USFK relocation that strengthens the invasive ROK-US alliance and ROK-US, ‘2+2 meeting.’

10am, July 9, 2010
In front of the Ministry of National Defense
Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea'

국문 성명은 여기를 클릭
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* Related blog

http://nobasestorieskorea.blogspot.com/2010/06/text-fwd-skorea-may-shoulder-expenses.html

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Text Fwd: S.Korea may shoulder expenses for USFK Yongsan Garrison relocation

________________________________________________________
* Related article

Yonhap News
S. Korea, U.S. discuss follow-up measures on delay of wartime command transfer
2010/07/10

Text Fwd: Prosecution raids PM’s office

* Image source: Hankyoreh (Korean), July 9, 2010

Korea Times

Prosecution raids PM’s office

By Bae Ji-sook
Staff reporter

July 9, 2010

Prosecutors raided the Office of the Prime Minister Friday as part of its investigation of officials who allegedly conducted illegal surveillance on a businessman, who posted an anti-government clip on his blog. This is the first time that the premier's office has been raided by the prosecution.

About 10 investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office seized computer servers, hard discs, email correspondence records and documents from the civil service ethics division.

Among the documents were reports and journals of Lee In-kyu, head of the division, who allegedly orchestrated the operation.

Prosecutors are also studying whether monitoring a citizen's political activities was part of Lee and his division's duties, and whether other high-ranking officials were involved.

The unprecedented raid indicates that the office is no exception in investigations into wrongdoings. It is unknown whether Prime Minister Chung Un-chan was notified of the search in advance.

The move came after the case was referred to the prosecution last week when an internal inquiry team found four officials, including Lee, had violated the office's code of conduct and monitored the businessman Kim Jong-ik after he posted the video clip criticizing the administration's resumption of U.S. beef imports in 2008.

The announcement caused a stir since their mandate was only to investigate civil servants.

The case surfaced after MBC's investigative program "PD Notebook" reported earlier this month that Lee and three others ransacked Kim's company to confiscate financial records and forced KB Bank, a key client of KB4 Hanmaumthen headed by Kim, to end all of its business contracts with him.

President Lee Myung-bak ordered a thorough investigation into the case, stressing that no abuse of power will be tolerated.

A travel ban was imposed on the four involved and the prosecutors are set to summon Lee In-kyu this weekend to question him on whether the orders came from higher ranking officials, and if surveillance of any kind was conducted on other people.

Kim, the victim of the surveillance, was questioned Thursday and Friday.

The scandal may be a huge blow to the governing party, which is vying to win more seats in the July 28 by-elections.

The opposition Democratic Party raised the question of possible cronyism among public officials from Yeongil and Pohang, where President Lee spent his childhood years, and their organization "Yeongpo."

The DP is demanding a thorough investigation of the case, calling it "Yeongpogate" which it says showcases the abuse of power by the Lee administration.

However, Grand National Party floor leader Kim Moo-sung said, "It is natural to raise suspicions but developing it into a political conspiracy theory is inappropriate."

An official at the Prime Minister's Office, Kwon Tae-shin, told reporters that the scandal was strictly limited to Lee In-kyu on a personal level.
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* Below is from the forwarded site.

검찰, 총리실 압수수색

국무총리실 산하 공직윤리지원관실의 '민간인 불법사찰' 의혹을 수사하고 있는 검찰이 9일 전격적으로 국무총리실 압수수색을 실시했다. 검찰이 총리실을 압수수색한 것은 이번이 처음이다.

서울중앙지검 은 이날 공직윤리지원관실에 10여명의 검사와 수사관을 보내 이인규 공직윤리지원관과 점검1팀장, 조사관 2명의 사무실에서 컴퓨터 서버ㆍ하드 디스크 등 전산자료를 압수했다.

검찰의 총리실 압수수색은 검찰이 총리실로부터 수사 의뢰를 받은 지 나흘 만이며 피해자인 김종익(56) 전 NS한마음 대표를 소환 조사한 지 이틀 만에 이뤄졌다.
검찰은 이 지원관 등 4명의 사찰활동 과정에 상급자가 관여ㆍ개입했을 가능성을 확인하기 위해 사찰 전후 시기와 최근의 전화 통화, e메일 송ㆍ수신 내역 등을 확보해 분석하고 있다.

검찰이 총리실 압수 수색이라는 초강수를 꺼내든 것은 참고인 조사 등을 통해 이번 의혹의 실체가 이미 상당히 드러난데다 참고인 조사를 통해 의혹의 신빙성이 상당 부분 확인됐기 때문인 것으로 분석된다.

검찰은 이날 국민은행의 모 간부를 불러 조사하는 등 이번 의혹과 관련한 참고인 조사도 이어갔다. 이르면 주말에는 이 지원관과 점검1팀장, 조사관 2명 등 4명을 피의자 신분으로 불러 조사할 방침이다.

검찰은 특히 민간인 사찰에 이른바 '비선라인'이 개입했다는 의혹에 대해서도 수사 가능성을 열어놓고 있는 것으로 전해졌다. 검찰은 수사 대상이 총리실이 수사 의뢰한 이 지원관 등 4명이라고 선을 긋고 있지만 비선 개입 등의 정황이 확인되면 수사가 확대될 것으로 전망된다.

Text Fwd: U.S. likely to push amendments to KORUS FTA auto provisions

'President Lee Myung-bak, left, meets with U.S. President Barack Obama at the Intercontinental Hotel in Toronto, Canada, June 28.'

Hankyoreh
U.S. likely to push amendments to KORUS FTA auto provisions S.Korea has publicly stated their opposition to altering the KORUS FTA, but now seems open to additional talks
July 9, 2010
By Kwon Tae-ho

After announcing plans to pursue Congressional ratification of the South Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), the United States strongly hinted that it would be asking for amendments to the automobile provisions in the existing agreement.

“We have concerns about some of the auto provisions in the South Korean free trade agreement that was submitted by the Bush administration” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs during a briefing Wednesday (local time). “One of the reasons we still see outstanding issues is because of some of the auto provisions.”

Gibbs added that the U.S. discussed the issue with South Korea at the G-20 summit in Toronto and said that President Barack Obama hopes it will be resolved prior to his trip to Seoul to attend the G-20 summit in November.

Analysts have interpreted this as an outward expression of the Obama administration’s desire to engage in additional KORUS FTA discussions with South Korea to extract amendments in the area of automobiles that can be used for the November mid-term elections. In his briefing Wednesday, Gibbs did not conceal the fact that a Congressional ratification would be unlikely without amendments in the automobile sector.

“The process cannot play itself out until outstanding issues are resolved.” Said Gibbs.

Gibbs did not make any particular reference to the beef issue Wednesday.

It was also reported that in a White House speech the same day, President Obama said that the KORUS FTA would create new jobs and opportunities for citizens of both countries. Obama also ordered the beginning of negotiations to address unresolved points with the agreement prior to his November visit to South Korea.

The problem lies with the vagueness of the concept of “non-tariff barriers,” which the U.S. frequently cites as a problem with the South Korean automobile market. The U.S. industry is well aware that there are several factors behind the failure of U.S. cars to sell well in South Korea, and that the present situation is unlikely to change a great deal simply through amendments to the agreement. The fact that the United States did not state any specific demands also appears to be connected with this.

Meanwhile, the Lee Myung-bak administration, despite having repeatedly stressed its position that there will be “no additional negotiations,” has begun showing signs that it may engage in additional discussions if the U.S. requests them.

“There was no specific reference from the U.S. as to what area of the KORUS FTA provisions contained problems,” said an official with the Ministry of Trade. “If an opinion is communicated from the U.S., we could engage in discussions.” However, the official said, “Our basic position is that there are no problems with the automobile provisions.”

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

Video Fwd: Voices from Israel: Daughter of Mossad Chief

Bruce Gagnon blog on July 7, 2010
Voices from Israel



"I refuse to take part in the war crimes committed by my country. Violence will not bring any kind of solution, and I shall not commit violence, come what may."

Omer Goldman, age 19, Tel Aviv

First Prison Sentence: 22nd Sept. - 10th Oct. 2008 (18 days)
Second Prison Sentence: 12th - 24th Oct. 2008 (10 days)

Omer Goldman, has had to confront the values of her own family. She is the daughter of the former deputy head of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service and who is still considered one of the most powerful men in the Israeli security system. Omer, without her fathers permission visited a Palestinian town in the West Bank and at a check-point, alongside Palestinians, her supposed enemies, was fired upon by Israeli soldiers'

Text Fwd: Managed News: Inside The US/NATO Military Industrial Media Empire

* Text sent from M. S. on July 7, 2010

_______________________________________________________________________________
'The US, in cooperation with NATO, is building global occupation forces for the control of international resources in support of Trilaterialist—US, Europe, Japan— corporate profits.

....................................

I didn't know anything about 'Trilaterialist' so I checked, and found out the list of Asian members, including Korean ones.

I guess this list may ring a bell to you in some way or other.

http://benjaminfulford.com/meibo.html

Below is the relating wiki with a very thorough explanation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilateral_Commission'
( M. S. on July 7, 2010)
_______________________________________________________________________________

Global Research

Managed News: Inside The US/NATO Military Industrial Media Empire

By Prof. Peter Phillips and Prof. Mickey Huff

Global Research, July 3, 2010
Project Censored

“There is nothing so strong or safe in an emergency of life as the simple truth.” –– Charles Dickens

We face what appears to be a military industrial media empire so powerful and complex that truth is mostly absent or reported in disconnected segments with little historical context. A case in point: The London Times reported on June 5, 2010, that American troops are now operating in 75 countries. Has President Obama secretly sanctioned a huge increase in the number of US Special Forces carrying out search-and-destroy missions against al-Qaeda around the world? If so, this increase is far in excess of special-forces operations under the Bush administration and reflects how aggressively Obama is pursuing al-Qaeda behind his public rhetoric of global engagement and diplomacy. Somehow this information didn’t make it into the US media.

The US, in cooperation with NATO, is building global occupation forces for the control of international resources in support of Trilaterialist—US, Europe, Japan— corporate profits. A New York Times report on the availability of a trillion dollars in mineral wealth in Afghanistan, on top of the need for an oil/gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea, suggests other reasons for U.S objectives in the region.

Jim Lobe of Inter Press Service writes on June 15, 2010, “The timing of the publication of a major New York Times story on the vast untapped mineral wealth that lies beneath Afghanistan's soil is raising major questions about the intent of the Pentagon…Blake Hounshell, managing editor at Foreign Policy magazine, says that the US Geological Service (USGS) already published a comprehensive inventory of Afghanistan's non-oil mineral resources on the Internet in 2007, as did the British Geological Survey. Much of their work was based on explorations and surveys undertaken by the Soviet Union during its occupation of Afghanistan during the 1980s.”

Given the previous reports, there is nothing new about resources in Afghanistan that the Pentagon and US multinational corporations didn’t already know. On the contrary, the public should consider whether the surfacing of this resource story is a managed-news press release being done at a time of sensitive concerns regarding NATO’s mission in Afghanistan. A deliberate news insertion such as the mineral wealth story is designed to create support for a US/NATO global empire agenda.

Managed news includes both the release of specific stories intended to build public support as well as the deliberate non-coverage of news stories that may undermine US goals. Have you been told about the continuing privatization of this global war? Independent journalist Jeremy Scahill, wrote in The Nation magazine November 23, 2009, how Blackwater (Xe) operatives in the Pakistani port city of Karachi are gathering intelligence and helping to direct a secret US military drone bombing campaign in that country.

There has not been much coverage of the report in Global Research, May 27, 2010, regarding new US capabilities for cyber warfare, announced recently by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as the activation of the Pentagon's first computer command and the world's first comprehensive, multi-service military cyber operation. CYBERCOM is based at Fort Meade, Maryland, which also is home to the National Security Agency (NSA).

The US’s Israeli partner in the Middle East demonstrated a skilled manipulation of the global media’s coverage of the May 31 attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Israel controlled the news and images that emerged from the attack on the ships, asserting that the invading Israeli paratroopers were viciously attacked by crewmembers—resulting in the killing of several in “self defense.” Israel sought to divert the focus of public discussion away from the illegitimate use of excessive force against a group of humanitarians– of diverse religious and national affiliations– to the blaming of the victims for causing their own deaths.

Managed news creates a Truth Emergency for the public inside the US/NATO Military Industrial Media Empire. Deliberate news management undermines the freedom of information on the doings of the powerful military/corporate entities though overt censorship, mass distractions, and artificial news— including stories timed for release to influence public opinion (i.e., propaganda).

A Truth Emergency is the lack of purity in news brought about by this propaganda and distraction. It is the state in which people, despite potentially being awash in a sea of information, lack the power of discernment resulting in a knowinglessness about what is going on in the world. In short, we are living in a time where people do not know whom to trust for accurate information and yearn for the truth.

One antidote to the ongoing Truth Emergency is the creation of validated independent news by colleges and universities around the globe where students and professors use research skills and databases to fact check and verify information that is reported to the public. For more about this, and what we can all do to counter managed news, see Project Censored International's new website at http://www.mediafreedominternational.org. Together, we can build accountability in our media and breathe life back into our withering republic.

Peter Phillips is professor of sociology at Sonoma State University, President of Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored, former director of Project Censored, and co-editor of Censored 2010.

Mickey Huff is associate professor of history at Diablo Valley College, Director of Project Censored/Media Freedom Foundation, and co-editor of Censored 2010.


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