Second Korean Summit

Kim Dae-jong met Kim Jon-il in June of 2000 in what became the first and only meeting between the leaders of that divided country. Whilst Kim Jong-il promised a reciprocal visit to the South that meeting never took place. Kim's successor Roh Moo-hyun is on the threshold of a second summit a little more than 5 months before he will leave office in February of 2008 by walking across the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea. Becoming the first President of South Korea to do so.

That first meeting came about because of Kim Dae-jong's willingness to view North Korea and its leaders as something more than a pariah state. President Kim sought a new approach one he called the Sunshine Policy. He believed that it was better to engage the North Koreans in ways that would ease tensions between the two Korea's rather than continuing with Cold War policies in place since the end of the Second World War which had resulted in overt and covert confrontations, but in terms of policy lead nowhere. Kim's Sunshine Policy had three tenants

# No armed provocation by the North will be tolerated.
# The South will not attempt to absorb the North in any way.
# The South actively seeks cooperation.

Dealings with North Korea are never straight forward and always difficult especially when armed engagements take place as happened in 2002 when elements from both navies became involved in a shooting incident which left 5 South Korean sailors dead. Or when the Bush administration accused the North of being part of an Axis of Evil which lead the North Koreans to break-off all contact with the South. North Korea's withdrawal Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty resulted in the emergence of the Six Party Talks consisting of North and South Korea, Russia, China, Japan and the United States. The Six Party Talks resulted in little being accomplished until the North Koreans test fired an underground nuclear device October 9, 2006. Talks resumed in December of 2006 with an agreement being reached on February 13, 2007 which on its face brought back the basic tenants of the Agreed Framework which was negotiated by the Clinton administration.

Will this summit result in any tangible agreements between the Korea's? Interactions between the two countries have really been a one way street. Every step forward has resulted from the South's willingness to provide North Korea with huge amounts of economic and humanitarian aide which in actual policy terms has resulted in very little being given back. So is the summit a waste of time?
If one were to look at it from the perspective of a Westerner you would logically conclude that this summit will only result in the South Koreans providing further aide to the North getting nothing in return. Yet a Korean would tell you just the opposite stating that they are one people and one nation and that it is their obligation to help their fellow countrymen as well as to further ease tensions between the two adversaries.

Rocks, Alan Greenspan and the News From Japan

Tuesday September 18

He may be the underdog in the race to become prime minister, but with his love of comic books and streetwise talk of pop culture, Taro Aso has plenty of support among Japan's disillusioned youth.
"Aso understands the youth culture," said 16-year-old Riku Shimoda, one of those who turned out to hear the two candidates vying to replace Shinzo Abe stump for votes in the neon-infested, teeny-bopper haven of Shibuya.

If one were watch the usual campaign rally in Japan 85% of those attending are middle aged or older. So its unusual for a candidate to attract any interest from the younger generation.

WASHINGTON — Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in his new book published Monday, blames the Japanese government for causing a decade-long economic quagmire that followed the burst of an economic bubble in the early 1990s. In "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," he says Tokyo's reluctance to take bold action to resolve the bad-loan problems at Japanese banks, such as liquidating the assets of doomed banks, was more for "cultural" reasons than "economic" ones.

I know many people admire Alan Greenspan. However anyone with a rock rolling around inside their head could have told you that the economic malaise was the fault of Japanese government policy.

Theatrics must exit the political stage
Telegenic, a word often used in the United States to describe politicians, can hardly be used for Yasuo Fukuda and Taro Aso in the election to pick a new Liberal Democratic Party president.

Six years ago, Junichiro Koizumi heightened his popularity by screaming, "I will destroy the LDP."

A year ago, Shinzo Abe used his youth to gain similar popularity.

Who are these people kidding. Japanese politics could use more theatrics not less. Most Japanese politician's have all the charisma of white bread.



Wednesday September 19

Cops to offer ¥100,000 for tips that catch sex traffickers
The National Police Agency will start offering rewards of up to ¥100,000 from Oct. 1 for information leading to the arrest of anyone forcing minors or foreigners to be prostitutes or hostesses, officials said.

The campaign is being carried out in conjunction with Guardian Angels Japan Inc., a nonprofit organization of public security volunteers. The red-capped Guardian Angels will be in charge of accepting tips via a toll-free number, and the police are calling on the public to contribute anonymously, if necessary.

This is a policy which should have been implemented a long time ago. This particular case will show you why. Lucie Blackman disappeared in July of 2000 while working as Bar Hostess in Tokyo. Even though she was reported missing Tokyo Metropolitan Police refused to investigate the case. It wasn't until pressure was applied by the Tony Blair's government that the police started to investigate.

HIRATSUKA, Kanagawa Prefecture--Surfers rescued two boys from drowning but could not save a third at a dangerous spot off a beach in the Shonan area over the long weekend.

The surfers jumped into the water to pull out the kids in two separate incidents at the same place.

On Sunday, Yukio Sakuma, 47, and Hendrik Boschen, 29, a German company employee from Oiso, Kanagawa Prefecture, pulled two elementary school boys from the surf at a beach in the Togahara part of Hiratsuka near the mouth of the Hanamizugawa river.

3 newspapers ordered to pay libel damages

Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 07:12 EDT

TOKYO — The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday ordered three vernacular newspaper publishers to pay libel damages of up to 1.65 million yen to a physician for publishing a story distributed in July 2002 by Kyodo News but the court rejected the doctor's demand for damages from the news agency, citing "considerable reasons for misreporting the facts."

TV Timer: TV commentators declare open season on ailing prime minister

Thursday September 20

Ratio for education spending dismal
Government spending in Japan on education was about 3.5 percent of the nation's gross domestic

product in 2004, the secondlowest ratio among advanced nations next to Greece, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

When spending by parents and students was included, Japan's ratio was the fifth lowest.

NOVA looks to shut down schools amid financial crisis

Major English language teaching chain NOVA is considering shutting down a large number of schools, it emerged on Thursday.

NOVA's income from lesson fees has decreased since the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry issued the language school a partial business suspension order over its practices. Because of this, the school is apparently pushing for a turnaround, hoping to cut costs by trimming and merging unprofitable schools.

They conveniently left out the reason why NOVA was nailed in the first place. Prospective students are asked to fill out an introduction card. Unbeknown-est to the students NOVA was using these cards as signed contracts.

Niigata nuke plant rooftop catches fire

Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 15:26 EDT

NIIGATA — A small fire broke out Thursday morning from a power cable of a makeshift air conditioner on the roof of the quake-hit Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, Tokyo Electric Power Co said. It said no one was injured and there were no radiation leaks.

Another sign of safety first

Friday September 21

The Social Insurance Agency has revealed more embezzlement cases of pension funds--and more cases of the perpetrators being let off the hook.

The agency said Wednesday its investigation uncovered 47 new cases of pension premiums embezzled by municipal government employees, bringing the number to 95 from 48 reported earlier this month.

The total amount of money embezzled by municipal workers increased by about 27 million yen to about 228 million yen, the agency said.

All the crime and very little punishment

Game makers in marketing joust at Chiba expo

By SHINICHI TERADA
Staff writer

CHIBA — Tokyo Game Show, one of the world's largest gaming events, opened Thursday with the participation of a record number of Japanese and overseas firms — an indication that the industry is ready to take advantage of a brisk market boosted by the popularity of Nintendo Co.'s Wii console and dual touch-screen DS portable machine.

Sexperts tout erotic image training as the secret to a beautiful mind
Sex advisors for women have recently changed tack, going from counseling about detailed techniques such as how to achieve orgasm, to recommending they carry out some erotic image training, according to Spa! (9/25).

Advisors in publications like the recently released sex manual "Girl's Side Book" by the intriguingly-monikered "Pink Sensei" are offering detailed advice on the steps women need to take to imagine what a romp would be like before it happens, then how to make that fantasy materialize.

One from China

Nearly 500 school children in Fugong, Yunnan Province, China have to cross the often raging Nujiang River each day to get to school. The only problem is that there is no bridge.

And you thought your trip to school was an adventure.

Cartoons aid US lynch mob mentality of Iran

The following commentary was published in todays Asia Times.

Here is a clue why, despite billions spent by Washington on its global public relations campaign, the image of "ugly Americans" still persists in many part of the world, particularly the Muslim world. Just look at the vicious demonization of Iran and everything Iranian in Hollywood, the US media and, of course, the political rhetoric of American politicians.

A distasteful odor of hate ideology, repelling rational thought, is discernible everywhere, with Iran-bashing in vogue and evincing the darker side of US political culture, ie, the imperialist, xenophobic, intolerant and repressive sentiment of politicians and media pundits toward Iran.