CINA

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Last Friday(3.18) the S. Korean Migrants' Trade Union issued the following statement:

The Immigration Service must obey the courts and guarantee MTU President's residence status!

The Seoul Immigration Service has made yet another outrageous move in its campaign against the Migrants Trade Union (MTU) and MTU President Michel Catuira. On March 17, the immigration authorities notified MTU President that his application for the extension of his visa had been denied because he has supposedly used 'dishonest means' to obtain the visa. Further, the immigration authorities ordered President Catuira to leave South Korea by March 31 or face deportation. This move comes in spite of the fact that on March 2, the 12th Seoul Administrative Court issued an injunction against the execution of previously issued immigration measures, including the cancellation of President's visa and an order of departure, until the trial appealing them was completed.

Under South Korea's Employment Permit System, migrant workers' visas are dependent on their being employed. MTU President's original visa was originally valid until March 7 based on his employment contract, but the Labor ministry cancelled his employer's permit to hire migrant workers and then immigration cancelled his visa as well. MTU filed a lawsuit against the cancellation of President's visa with the Seoul Administrative Court which, recognizing their execution would likely hamper a fair trial, issued the injunction against them as stated above. Upon inquiry after this decision, the Immigration Service told MTU President he should apply for an extension of his original visa to cover the period of time granted him to find a new workplace (until April 3). Extension of visas for EPS workers during this sort of job-hunting period is routine. Extensions are usually granted on the day for which they are applied. However, MTU President was forced to wait two weeks after he applied on March 4. Then finally, after this excessive delay, the Immigration Service notified him the extension had been denied.

The Immigration Service's actions are clearly nothing more than a stubborn attempt to deny MTU President's residence status at any costs and, by doing so, attack the Migrants Trade Union and repress migrant workers' labor rights. What is more this attack is in clear violation of a just ruling made in a South Korean court of law. The fact that the Seoul Immigration Service, a government agency under the Ministry of Justice, would do such a thing is not only infuriating, it defies the imagination.

We condemn the Seoul Immigration Service's actions in the strongest of term and demand that the immigration authorities follow the court decision and restore MTU President's residence status immediately. We also proclaim that we will use all means within our powers to fight this attack on President Michel, which is an attack on MTU, on South Korean migrant workers and, finally on all South Korean workers.

http://migrant.nodong.net/?document_srl=105595#0

Related "Appeal for Urgent Action":
☞ S. Korea: Trade unionist at risk of deportation (Amnesty International/UK, 3.19)

 

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As today's "weekend reading" I would like to suggest the following story, published in yesterday's Asia Times(HK)!

Narco-capitalism grips North Korea
By Andrei Lankov

In early March, the United States State Department made a statement that attracted surprisingly little attention worldwide, estimating that government-sponsored narcotic production in North Korea seemed to have decreased considerably. At the same time, the statement made clear that the private production of drugs was on the rise.

This fits with what the present author has heard recently - often from sources inside North Korea; it seems that North Korea's drug industry is changing, and this change might have important consequences for the outside world.

The story of North Korea's involvement with the international narcotics trade began 35 years ago. In 1976, Norwegian police intercepted a large shipment of hashish in the luggage of North Korean diplomats. The same year, another group of North Korean officials was found in possession of the same drug by Egyptian customs; they had 400 kilograms of hashish in their luggage.

In both cases, diplomatic passports saved them from any formal investigation. Next year, North Korean diplomats were caught trying to smuggle drugs into Venezuela and India. In India, quite friendly to North Korea in those days, the 15 kgs of hashish was transported by the ambassador's secretary. After that, such seizures became regular occurrences, usually once every year or two, and usually involving North Korean diplomats.

North Korea's narcotics program has always appeared strange to outside observers - "strange" even if judged by the standards of Pyongyang, whose leaders do not care much about legal niceties and international reputation, and perceive international politics as a cut-throat, zero-sum game. On balance, state-sponsored drug production has done much more harm than good to Pyongyang.

Available estimates agree that the North Korean government didn't earn much from pedaling illicit drugs. It is even possible that these risky operations were largely waged to sustain North Korean missions overseas - from the mid-1970s such missions were required to pay for their own expenses.

At the same time, the existence of this program inflicted serious damage on Pyongyang's international standing, which was at rock-bottom anyway. Despite all denials of official involvement, the program could not really be hidden because seizures of narcotics carried by North Korean diplomats and officials happened far too often and sometimes in countries that were relatively sympathetic to the North.

So, if analysts at the State Department are to be believed, North Korea seems to have come to its senses and stopped or, more likely, significantly reduced its narcotics production. Indeed, this program seems to belong to the strange and slightly bizarre world of the foreign policy of North Korea in the 1970s. After all, those were the times when North Korean agents were busy kidnapping Japanese teenagers to become living tools for the training of agents (and when US$200 million was spent propagating the juche(self-reliance) ideology in the Third World).

However, this doesn't mean the world should heave a collective sigh of relief and write off North Korea as a potential source of dangerous narcotics. If anything, the situation has become worse over the past five to six years. But this time, the North Korean regime seems to have little or no responsibility for the new boom in drug production.

The change in the North Korean drug industry essentially mirrors the wider changes that in the past two decades have occurred in the North Korean economy and society at large. The state-run economy essentially collapsed whilst private business took over - usually unrecognized by the state, technically illegal in most cases, completely absent from official statistics, but powerful nonetheless. This happened in all industries, and drugs production was not an exception.

The author interacts with North Koreans quite frequently and most of my contacts are people from the northernmost part of the country, from areas adjacent to the Chinese border. They are unanimous: around 2005 to 2006, these areas experienced a sudden and dramatic upsurge in drug usage, hitherto almost unknown to the common public.

It's true that some opium productive capacity existed in the northeastern parts of Korea since the early 1900s. This is also the region where secret state-run plantations were rumored to be located in the 1980s or early 1990s. However, in the North Korea of the Kim Il-sung era, surveillance was tight and exceptionally efficient, so drug problems were for all practical purposes non-existent within the country. The drugs were produced for export and medical purposes only.

Things began to change around 2005; by that time North Korea had undergone what is usually described as "grassroots capitalism" or "marketization from below". The old state-run economy had come to a complete standstill, so most North Koreans started to make a living through all sorts of private economic activities - from cultivating private fields and working at private workshops to smuggling.

Official corruption became endemic, so officials became more than willing to turn a blind eye to all sorts of illegal activities as long as they received their cut. Arguably, North Korea nowadays might be described as the most corrupt country of East Asia: every interaction with authorities requires payment, and if the payment is sufficient, almost everything is possible.

This social and economic situation has made the large-scale private production of drugs possible. The new North Korean drug scene is dominated by "Ice" (crystal meth), a synthetic substance produced in numerous small workshops. It is frequently mentioned by defectors, while references to other drugs are quite rare.

Most of my North Korean interlocutors, some former Korean People's Army officers, believe that methamphetamines were initially produced officially, but not so much as a drug in the strict sense, rather as a stimulant for elite military units. This seems to be plausible - after all, it was used as such during World War II by both the Axis and the Allies.

However, after around 2005 private production of Ice began and soon became large-scale. There are rumors about occasional state involvement with illicit production of drugs for export, but even if those rumors are true, the state-sponsored labs clearly produce only a small fraction of the total. Most of the labs are private nowadays.

Raw materials are often imported from China, and China has also become a major market for North Korean drug manufacturers. Since law-enforcement in North Korea is so lax (at least when no political issues are involved), it is easier and safer to run a drug workshop there, on the southern banks of the Tumen River.

The Ice-producing labs are difficult to hide since the production is smelly. Usually, such labs operate at some distance from living quarters, somewhere in the mountains or at a non-operational factory. (Admittedly, such factories are not in short supply in post-crisis North Korea).

In many cases, there are joint operations of Chinese and North Korean criminal groups: the Chinese provide the necessary supplies while the North Koreans use their territory as a safe haven to process drugs that are later shipped to China.

However, some narcotics remain in North Korea, where drug usage has increased dramatically. My interviewees say that at least in the cities of the borderlands a significant proportion of younger people have had some experience with Ice. A schoolteacher from a borderland city of Musan recently told me that in 2008-09 most of the students in their final years of high school tried Ice.

But the problem is not limited to the borderlands. A few months ago, a colleague of mine whilst visiting a prestigious college in Pyongyang spotted a poster that warned Pyongyang students about the dangers of drug use. Merely a few years ago, such a poster would be both unthinkable and unnecessary.

It seems this development has begun to worry the Chinese. In the past few years, Chinese media occasionally write about crackdowns on drug dealers in China's northeast, often explicitly mentioning their Korean connection. Last summer, Chinese media reported that a fleet of high-speed boats, operated by the Chinese police, had begun to patrol the rivers on the border with North Korea. The task of this squad is specifically to fight drug smuggling.

The "new" North Korean drug problem is relatively local and small in scale, although it might have sufficiently grave consequences for North Korea itself, as well as for some adjacent areas of China and Russia. It also might be seen as an indication of a new type of problem that North Korea might create.

In the past, most troubles related to North Korea were caused by the North Korean government that demonstrated an inclination to flout international laws and conventions (sometimes this inclination was strengthened by remarkable adventurism). Nowadays, problems are increasingly caused by the inability of this government to control what is happening in the country - at least outside of Pyongyang and some major cities. In the long run, the lawlessness of uncontrolled private profiteers might prove more dangerous than the Machiavellian adventurism of dictators.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/MC18Dg02.html

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After one month of fierce battles between the pro-democratic movement and forces - Libyan Air Force, several elite units of the Libyan Armed Forces and foreign mercenaries - loyal to Muammar "The Butcher" Gaddafi, it's almost certain that the counter-revolution is winning!

Here just two leading headlines in today's European press:

Guardian(UK): "Benghazi braces for battle as Libya endgame nears"
Spiegel(Germany): "The Last Days of Benghazi"

About one hour ago the following comment was posted on CNN:

"If we sit quite watching this and Gaddafi kill all rebels and win, we would be sending a message to all middle east dictators to use power and violence against protesters. Its seems to work for Gaddafi. if we do not stop Gaddafi now and he wins, it is gonna be the end of revolutions in the Arab world..."

Yep. But it wasn't a "mistake" by the so-called "int'l community", i.e. the "rulers" of the U.S.A., E.U., the Middle and Far East!!!

They only did a "good job" to use the already assumed and accepted bloody counterinsurgency in Libya as a cautionary tale against potential "copycat criminals", especially on the Arabian Peninsula - just like the current pro-democratic movement in Bahrain.

And finally the likely defeat of the Libyan anti-Gaddafi movement - incl. its presumed literal annihilation (i.e. mass murder) - will be the result of the complete fault by the int'l "solidarity" movement/the int'l civil and human right organizations!!!

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Latest news (01:30pm CET):

'Security' forces (riot police and army units) in Bahrain stormed the main hospital, beating doctors, after they attacked demonstrators in Manama's "Pearl Square" on Wednesday morning, according to witnesses in the Bahraini capital.

Demonstrators reported hearing a steady rounds of automatic gun fire while thick smoke rose from the area.
 

Several attack helicopters whirred above the historic landmark, which has been a rallying spot for anti-gov't/pro-democracy demonstrators in recent weeks.

Cell phone networks in several areas were disrupted. Security forced blocked highways leading to the capital, and formed a ring around the country's main hospital, Salmaniya Medical Complex - not letting people enter or leave.

A short while later riot cops stormed the hospital and beat staffers, several doctors and nurses there testified...

"The King declared war against us!!"
 

Related news reports:
☞ New clashes in Bahrain (CNN TV report, 3.16)
☞ Bahrain forces attack protesters (Al-Jazeera, 3.16)
☞ Bahrain unleashes forces on protesters' camp (Guardian, 3.16)

 

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Imperialist Invasion vs. Democratic Popular Uprising
 

Breaking news (01:22pm CET) by Al-Jazeera:
The King of Bahrain has declared a state of emergency for three months on the island following weeks of anti-government protests, state television said.

An order by the king "authorised the commander of Bahrain's defence forces to take all necessary measures to protect the safety of the country and its citizens," a statement read out on television on Tuesday said.

The development comes a day after a Saudi-led military forces arrived to help prop up the government, which is facing pressure from the Shia majority to implement reforms.

Related reports:
☞ Saudi Arabian troops enter Bahrain... (Guardian, 3.14)
☞ Saudi soldiers sent into Bahrain (Al-Jazeera, 3.15)
☞ King imposes 3-month state of emergency (CNN, 3.15)
☞ King of Bahrain declares state of emergency  (The Telegraph, 3.15)

MUST READ(!!):

☞ House of Saud 'liberates' Bahrain  (Asia Times, 3.15)


 

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Since almost one month the spirit of the popular, pro-democratic uprising in North Africa is spreading onto the Arab Peninsula (Yemen, Oman and Bahrain)!

But for the so-called "international community" it will be the worst-case scenario if the less privileged are taking the streets to fight for democratic reforms: economic, social, political and gender equality... just to demand their basic rights as human beings!

So, just forget about "democracy" or "human rights". Enter the brand new Barack Obama administration "regime alteration" doctrine, where popular aspirations in the Gulf - from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain and Oman - are ditched to the benefit of the "stability" afforded by "key allies", swing producers House of Saud and hosts of the 5th Fleet the al-Khalifa dynasty in Bahrain. Moreover, the House of Saud has told the al-Khalifa that if they do not crush their own Shi'ite-majority revolt, Saudi forces will. And Washington won't bat an eyelid. As it won't bat an eyelid if it turns into a bloodbath.

And I'm afraid that it could happen any time soon!!

Around noon (CET) Reuters reported that "Bahrain has asked for help from neighbouring Gulf Arab countries after protesters overwhelmed police and cut off roads, and an adviser to the royal court said the forces were already on the strategic island kingdom."

Two hours later Al-Jazeera reported that "Saudi military forces entered Bahrain 'to help protect government facilities there'"

Related articles:
☞ Bahrain trade union calls for strike (TradeArabiaNS, 3.14)
☞ Saudi Arabian forces prepare to enter Bahrain... (Guardian, 3.14)

 

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Today in Seoul's "Little Manila" (the weekly venue for the migrant worker community from the Philippines): MTU's agit-prop campaign...

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As today's "weekend reading" I would like to suggest the following two pieces, published in yesterday's Asia Times(HK)!

☞ Why the Kim regime will falter (by A. Lankov)
☞ Why the Kim regime will never die (by Kim Myeong-cheol)

Here some "highlights" from Kim Myeong-cheol's lousy job:

"What the West has yet to appreciate is that North Korea under Kim Jong-il is so resilient that it will last hundreds of years and enjoy a millennium prosperity, as indisputably shown in his first-class statesmanlike stewardship of North Korea's emergence into two elite clubs - that of space and nuclear powers - nullifying the United States-initiated sanctions..."

"The North Koreans see a heaven-sent peerless national hero and great patriot in the father image Kim Jong-il and identify him with the proud Korean nation, its future and destiny..."

"The most striking thing about North Korea is that its whole population of 24 million people make up an awesome corps of highly motivated and well-disciplined candidate suicide bombers, dedicated to their supreme leader-cum father figure Kim Jong-il in a highly nationalistic society with traditional values..."

PS: Today's Hankyoreh published the following article (somehow related to A. Lankov's piece): ☞ NGO reports escalating food crisis in N.Korea
 

Have a nice weekend (if you're not located in Libya or Japan)!!

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A Palestinian source reported y'day the following about the ongoing and increasing TERROR CAMPAIGN led by the dictator Muammar "The Butcher" Gaddafi against his own people:

As many as six thousand Libyans, mostly innocent civilians, are believed to have been murdered and many other thousands wounded in killings perpetrated by the regime's thugs, mercenaries and henchmen.

 
Men were summarily executed in their homes, in  full  view of their wives and children, worshipers killed in their mosques and innocent, peaceful protesters were riddled with bullets rather indiscriminately.
 

Soldiers refusing to obey orders to kill innocent civilians were summarily executed.
 

Raving and ranting as usual,  Qaddafi calls all opponents rodents, stray-dogs and al-Qaeda terrorists who he said ought to be exterminated. His words are simply a call for genocide...

And today's Guardian(UK) published the following (sort of) depressing frontline coverage:

Libyan rebels' mood darkens amid fears revolution has stalled

Hopes that Gaddafi would be deposed quickly have been replaced by fears of a drawn-out military conflict

When the shooting died down in Benghazi and Zenab Gebril took to the streets to join the revolution, she looked to Libya's neighbours as examples.

"We all saw Egypt and Tunisia and we thought it was going to be a piece of cake," said Gebril, a student who joined the hordes of volunteers around the revolutionary administration in Benghazi. "It's not so easy."

Nearly three weeks after Libyans surprised themselves by revolting against Muammar Gaddafi's brutal 42-year rule, euphoria at the prospect of swiftly deposing the dictator has given way in the rebel capital, Benghazi, to the grim prospect of a popular uprising evolving into a drawn-out military conflict.

That is stoking fears about the consequences of losing, as Gaddafi's forces use tanks and artillery to crush the revolutionaries' takeover of the city of Zawiyah, near Tripoli, and stall the rebel advance from Benghazi hundreds of miles short of the Libyan capital.

Concern at the shaky military situation is in turn contributing to frustration in Benghazi at the lack of a visible leadership to give direction to the revolution and take proper control of a city where gun-toting young men contribute to the air of insecurity by firing weapons at random through the night.

On Wednesday, Gaddafi's forces bombed the rebel frontline in the east, at Ras Lanuf. In hours of rocket fire between the two sides and raids by Gaddafi's air force, oil tanks at nearby Es Sider were hit, causing a large explosion and sending towering plumes of smoke into the air as the fuel burned through the day.

Fears are growing that if Gaddafi wins in Zawiyah, he will then redirect the scores of tanks and armoured vehicles used there against the rebels in the east.

Some in Benghazi have fallen back on a grim fatalism. Gebril, whose parents have both served time in Gaddafi's prisons for opposing his regime, says that excitement at the prospect of the dictator's downfall has given way to a realisation that she may be forced to flee the country.

"If he wins, we're dead. He will kill us. Before is nothing compared to what he would do now. The whole of the east side of the country is dead. I would get out. I'm still young. I've got to live."

The fear of losing has strengthened the determination of others to fight on.

"It's him or us," said Tahar Salen, a Benghazian who has taken up arms against Gaddafi. "By supporting the revolution we have signed our own death warrants, so now we have no choice but to fight until it is over."

Gaddafi is still a long way from winning back control of his country. But that this is now considered a possibility has caused Gebril, like many young Libyans, to direct some of her frustration at the nearly invisible revolutionary council installed to run the liberated areas. "People are getting more angry because there's no one in charge," she said. "The people in the committee are acting like they're in charge, but they're not. We know more about what's going on than they do."

Part of the strength of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions was that they were popular uprisings, not dominated by individual leaders. That was an attraction in countries so long controlled by one man, and the same approach appealed to Libyans keen to rid themselves of a leader who had regarded himself as a cult figure for the past 42 years.

But as Libya's uprising has evolved into what looks like civil war, many in Benghazi see an urgent need for someone to take charge. The revolutionary leadership is made up of 30 representatives headed by Gaddafi's former justice minister, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil. He is perhaps the only member with nationwide recognition. The others represent areas under rebel control as well as the military and youth. There are also lawyers and long-standing opposition activists. But almost no one has any political or government administrative experience.

The revolutionary council continues to proclaim that victory is certain, on the grounds that almost every Libyan wants rid of Gaddafi. But Iman Bugaighis, a member of the revolutionary administration, acknowledges that as the conflict grows, the prospect of a popular uprising in Tripoli overthrowing Gaddafi is dimming.

"Do people in Tripoli want him? No. But it's very, very hard for them. People are afraid," she said.

"We know we face a very big challenge. I'm not denying that. We are not organised. Our fighters are not trained. It's hard to find someone who has authority from the people. It's not enough, but it's only three weeks."

However, Bugaighis said there was no possibility of failure: "Never. When you've seen what's happened here, how can anyone think we will fail? We started with nothing. In three weeks we have all this," she said. "I don't say we won't pay a very high price with the blood of our youth. That's why we have to have international intervention."

The revolutionary council is looking for foreign help. It has called for the imposition of a no-fly zone to give protection against air attacks. Bugaighis said that diplomatic approaches "include requests for everything", including a plea for weapons supplies. But the council does not want a foreign army on its soil.

"The youth don't want military intervention. The revolutionary council took that on board. As Arabs, we have a very bad history of enduring foreign military intervention," she said. "People think of it as an invasion. So we want a no-fly zone and air strikes against Gaddafi under the UN."

In an attempt to improve the military situation, the revolutionary council has appointed a former officer in Gaddafi's army who took part in the 1969 coup that brought him to power, Omar Hariri, as commander of the rebel forces. It is also trying to stop young men with guns but no training from pouring towards the front line.

"We pleaded with the youth not to go because it may be a plot by Gaddafi to empty Benghazi of its youth. They don't have any experience of fighting. We have called on them to come back," said Bugaighis. "We don't know how long it will last but we don't have any choice but to continue. I'm determined to win. I don't intend to die but if this is the price ... "

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/09/libyan-rebels-mood-darkens

Latest updated "frontline" news:
☞ Libya Live Blog - March 10 (Al-Jazeera)
☞ Libya uprising - live updates (Guardian)

Related article:
☞ Why no-fly won't fly (Asia Times, 3.10)

 

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About 860 unionized cleaning personnel and janitors at Seoul's Korea, Yonsei and Ewha Womans universities began a (sit-in)strike at 6 a.m. yesterday after they failed to reach an agreement with the schools over the justified(!!) raising their pay Monday.
 

The workers, all of whom are "irregular" workers hired by out-sourced companies, have demanded 5,180 won ($4.63) per hour since October 2010, whereas the universities have offered only 4,320 won, which is the minimum wage in S. Korea.

According to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU), which all the striking workers belong to, they asked for arbitration from the National Labor Relations Commission, a state-run arbitration organization, on Feb. 21.

On Feb. 24-26, KCTU said, 86.5 percent of the workers voted in favor of a strike if the commission failed to mediate the dispute by Monday.

Here some impressions from yesterday's first solidarity rally(by more than 800 workers and their supporters) inside Yonsei University:

Related reports:
☞ Campus cleaners strike over pay (K. Herald, 3.08)
☞ Cleaners' strike hits more universities (K. Times, 3.08)
☞ "장미대신 빨간 풍선을"...청소노동자 파업 결의대회 (NewsCham, 3.08)