Thursday, January 16, 2003
THE SINGLE MARITIME LINK BETWEEN NORTH KOREA AND JAPAN IS UNDER SCRUTINY
I rather like the capitalistic solution to the dilemma:
With the red star of North Korea emblazoned on its funnel, a 300-passenger ferry from North Korea eased into the port of Niigata today, dropping anchor in the midst of Japan's debate over imposing economic sanctions on North Korea.
To conservatives, the ship is an unwarranted lifeline for North Korea's recalcitrant Communist government, illicitly ferrying to Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, tens of millions of dollars raked off a vast empire of pinball and gambling operations operated in Japan by ethnic Koreans loyal to North Korea.
To liberals, the ship, the Mangyongbong-92, built with donations from ethnic Koreans, is a human rights issue, providing the lone passenger link between the roughly 150,000 pro-Pyongyang Koreans living in Japan and their relatives in North Korea.
More than that, at a time when Japan is alone among Asian nations in seriously debating economic sanctions against North Korea if it does not drop its nuclear weapons programs, the ship has emerged as a lightning rod of sorts.
I rather like the capitalistic solution to the dilemma:
Perhaps being shut down might be the best for all concerned. Two weeks ago, the Hyundai business group of South Korea proposed to North Korea that the 9,672-ton Mangyongbong-92 be docked as a semipermanent hotel at a pier near Mount Kumgang, a tourist resort that Hyundai runs about 100 miles south of Wonsan.
