Free Republic

South Korea's conservative government is expected to drop the Defense Reform 2020, a long-term military project crafted by the previous liberal leadership. In the first meeting of the Commission for National Security Review, organized following the sinking of the warship Cheonan in march, President Lee Myung-Bak ordered his Cabinet to review Defense Reform 2020 to better counter threats from the hostile communist neighbor. Defense Reform 2020 was adopted by former President Roh Moo-Hyun, who pushed for reconciliation with the North. It was designed to make South Korea's military less dependent on the United States and called for a reduction of...

What Hatoyama Has in Common with Roh Moo-hyun The steps the new Japanese government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has been taking are reminiscent of the early days of former President Roh Moo-hyun's administration, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said Sunday. The newspaper pointed out that the two administrations resemble each other most in foreign policy, and particularly in relations with the U.S. The Hatoyama administration has criticized ousted Liberal Democratic governments for being at Washington's beck and call and has been calling for a more equal relationship. That, the paper said, is strikingly similar to the Roh administration's pledge not...

North Korean Defectors Puzzled, Moved by Roh Funeral By Kurt Achin Seoul 29 May 2009 South Korea's emotional farewell to former President Roh Moo-hyun brought much of the country together - including Koreans who were not born in the South. For North Koreans who have defected to South Korea, the outpouring of public emotion brought back memories of an earlier life - and reminders of how different their new life is. North Koreans who have begun a new life in the South were alongside their fellow Koreans in Friday's tearful mass gathering in Seoul. About 15,000 North Koreans now live...

Link to Japanese story. Breaking initially from South Korean news organization Yonhap about 30 minutes ago Said former President died in a "mountain climbing" accident. Also speculating suicide.This was the architect of the "Sunshine Policy" of appeasement toward North Korea. Good friend of Clintons. BREAKING

SEOUL, South Korea — Former President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea, whose reputation as an upstanding political leader had been tarnished recently by a corruption scandal, committed suicide on Saturday by jumping off a cliff near his retirement home, according to his aides and the police. Mr. Roh, 62, died while he was hiking on a hill in Bongha, a village near the southeast corner of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, Mr. Roh’s former presidential chief of staff, said during a news conference. He left a brief will for his family, Mr. Moon said. Mr. Roh suffered fatal head injuries and...

South Korean Scandal Takes New Twist By SUNGHA PARK SEOUL -- A political bribery scandal involving figures from South Korea's two major political parties took a new twist on Tuesday when former President Roh Moo-hyun announced on a Web site that his wife received money from a key figure in the case. View Full Image Associated Press South Korea's Roh Moo-hyun with his wife, Kwon Yang-sook, in February. The development is a surprising turn for Mr. Roh, who until now appeared to be the first South Korean president since the country became a true democracy in the late 1980s not...

Lost in Translation? The problem with the press availability between Presidents Bush and Roh after their meeting in Sydney last week was not a glitch in interpretation that then led to a seemingly awkward moment as Roh asked Bush to clarify his point about ending the Korean war. Nor was the problem that Roh apparently tried to press President Bush for a more conciliatory public message to DPRK leader Kim Jong il in advance of Roh’s trip to Pyongyang next month. The problem is that Roh’s behavior during that press availability demonstrated a total lack of appreciation for how far...

Roh Bent on Last-Minute Inter-Korean Summit President Roh Moo-hyun has reiterated he would want to meet with Kim Jong-il even when Roh has only two or three months left in office. "When the nuclear issue is in the process of resolution, the inter-Korean relationship should develop simultaneously,” Roh said in an interview with the government-friendly Hankyoreh Shinmun on Wednesday. “In that sense, if I turn down North Korea's request for a summit on grounds that I have only a few months in office left, the process of resolving the North Korean nuclear problem would be affected and delayed." He...

CNN Founder Seeks Meetings With Roh, Kim Jong-il The maverick CNN founder Ted Turner is pushing for private meetings with the leaders of North and South Korea. Turner visited both Koreas last year. Now he is reportedly seeking meetings with President Roh Moo-hyun and Kim Jong-il. First visiting North Korea, Turner may carry a message when he subsequently travels south. Last year, Tuner visited with Donald Gregg, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Curt Weldon, vice chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, on a charted plane to both Koreas. At the time, Turner gave...

Background While visiting Finland, Roh Moo-hyun said, "N. Korean missile is too primitive to reach U.S., but too big to be intended for S. Korea." He continued, "Their missile is not a real weapon, but just a prop for political posturing." He basically dismissed any military significance of missile launches, while answering question from local reporters in Finland. Illustration In the following cartoon, there are missiles flying in the sky. Two men on the platform, looking over barbed-wired fence, are named U.S.(left) and Japan(right.) U.S. has a big binocular, Japan a small one. Roh Moo-hyun sitting on the ground, watching...

/begin my translation N. Korea: 'Missile Vehicle' Movements Spotted in Kittaeryong "Watching out for a possibility of launch in mid-September" (Seoul=Yonhap News) Kim Kwi-keun = Recently, S. Korea and U.S. intelligence agencies are  watching out for the possibility of more missile launches in N. Korea, after spotting large vehicles at Kittaeryong, Anbyun County, where N. Korea's missile training base are located. The sources revealed on Sept. 3, "The agencies spotted movements of many large vehicles recently, at Kittaeryong, N. Korea. We do not rule out the possibility that they are preparing for another launch of Rodong and Scud missiles." On...

Roh Predicts Tough Talks With Bush By Ryu Jin Staff Reporter President Roh Moo-hyun has expressed his frustration about the deadlocked ties between North Korea and the United States, saying that he feels it is almost impossible to persuade President George W. Bush to mend fences. ``I don’t think I can persuade the United States any more. I expect it would also be tough for me to persuade Bush to normalize relations with Pyongyang in the next month’s summit,’’ he was quoted as telling senior journalists in a meeting at Chong Wa Dae last Sunday. ``But President Bush likes me...

Roh Under Fire Over Wartime Command Withdrawal Korea Could Take Back Wartime Troop Control in Five Years: MinisterPillar of Korea-U.S. Military Alliance 'for the Scrapheap' Look Around Before Dismantling the Pillar of Our Security U.S. 'Wants Shot of Wartime Command Sooner' Korea, U.S. in War of Nerves Over Troop ControlU.S. Flags More Troop Cuts in Korea Staking National Security on Semantics Roh Says Korea Could Handle Wartime Control 'Now'Roh Turns Deaf Ear to 16 Former Defense Chiefs Sixteen former defense ministers and nine retired generals on Thursday expressed dismay at President Roh Moo-hyun’s remarks in an interview Wednesday that...

Korea-US Alliance Cracking By Ryu Jin Staff Reporter South Korea finds itself increasingly at odds with the United States over how to deal with the adamant North Korea as Pyongyang adopts a more hardline policy in the face of growing pressures from the outside. North Korea’s missile tests on July 5 initially brought the allies to a united front. But there is now a widening rift over decisions regarding sanctions on North Korea since the United Nations Security Council resolution on July 15. Hardliners in Washington and Tokyo proposed stronger measures to tame the Stalinist North but President Roh Moo-hyun...

Now Who Is Outside Air Force One?

The worst scum in S. Korea No.1 voted for Roh Moo-hyun and emigrated (to some other country to escape the mess Roh created) No.2 voted for Roh, and still votes for Uri Party (Uri Party is a ruling party Roh heads) No.3 voted for Roh, and still hope he may come around (to his senses)

Updated Jun.27,2005 22:00 KST Korea Stops Funding for Neocon Think TankThe Korea Foundation has ended its support for the American Enterprise Institute, a rightwing U.S. think tank credited with being the brains behind the war on Iraq, Foreign Minster Ban Ki-moon told the National Assembly's Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee on Monday. It reportedly did so at the ruling party’s request. The AEI is the leading neoconservative think tank with close links to the Bush administration. Its brain children include the invasion of Iraq, tax cuts and planned redeployments of U.S. forces around the world. Vice President Dick Cheney,...

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20050617/610000000020050617142114E2.html(5th LD) Kim Jong-il meets visiting South Korean officialPYONGYANG, June 17 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il held a rare meeting with a South Korean official Friday but there was no indication that their discussions included the ongoing tension over the communist country's nuclear program. South Korean officials in Pyongyang, the North's capital, confirmed the luncheon meeting between their unification minister, Chung Dong-young and Kim but provided few other details. Also invited to the luncheon were several former South Korean officials whom the North Korean leader had met. They included Lim Dong-won and Park Jae-kyu who served as unification...

Beijing THERE are hopes that President Bush's meeting tomorrow with President Roh Moo Hyun of South Korea, coming on the heels of the latest North Korean overture on restarting nuclear-weapons negotiations, may lead to a breakthrough. However, anyone who expects the South to help us put pressure on the North hasn't been paying much attention to what has happened between the two countries over the last five years. Since South Korea's president at the time, Kim Dae Jung, met with North Korea's Kim Jong Il in 2000 (and pocketed a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts), Seoul has gone to...

They Will Say They Did Not Know by OneFreeKorea a/k/a WonsanGhetto (comment added by TigerLikesRooster: German civilians under U.S. military escort are forced to see a wagon loaded with corpses in Buchenwald. Photo credit: National Archives, courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives )As it did in 2004, the Korean government will abstain from this year's U.N. Resolution condemning the deplorable state of human rights in North Korea. South Korea failed to vote on a similar resolution in 2003. This year’s resolution will express concern about abuses such as concentration camps for political prisoners. Among the resolution’s points which are apparently unworthy...