Wednesday, November 19, 2003
NORTH KOREA TO JAPAN: Stop "terrorizing" ethnic Koreans in Japan.
There's the dreaded "t-word" again. Someone needs to come up with a Godwin's law for the use of the word "terrorism." Having said that, I think it is interesting that the DPRK is trying to stand up for ethnic Koreans in Japan given that most of said ethnic Koreans have explicitly chosen not to become either North or South Korean citizens. Has anyone in Seoul spoken up on behalf of the Korean girls in Japan who have been harassed "because they wear the traditional "Chogori" uniform"? Beyond the obvious point that the treatment of Japanese-Koreans serves North Korea as a useful distraction from other, more uncomfortable, issues as well as a club with which to beat the Japanese, it seems that North Korea is asserting a position of representing ethnic Koreans beyond the DPRK's borders. Interesting.
North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Nations asked Japan on Monday to stop what he termed "terrorist" acts, referring to harassment of pro-Pyongyang Korean residents in Japan.
Deputy Ambassador Kim Chang Guk told a human rights committee meeting at the U.N. General Assembly that Japan must immediately stop "terrorist" behaviors and referred to the harassment of students of pro-Pyongyang schools and recent incidents in which gunshots were fired at facilities of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon).
There's the dreaded "t-word" again. Someone needs to come up with a Godwin's law for the use of the word "terrorism." Having said that, I think it is interesting that the DPRK is trying to stand up for ethnic Koreans in Japan given that most of said ethnic Koreans have explicitly chosen not to become either North or South Korean citizens. Has anyone in Seoul spoken up on behalf of the Korean girls in Japan who have been harassed "because they wear the traditional "Chogori" uniform"? Beyond the obvious point that the treatment of Japanese-Koreans serves North Korea as a useful distraction from other, more uncomfortable, issues as well as a club with which to beat the Japanese, it seems that North Korea is asserting a position of representing ethnic Koreans beyond the DPRK's borders. Interesting.
