CINA

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Korea Times(6.14) published the following report:

Migrant workers struggle for overdue wages

A tranquil afternoon at an industrial district in Anyang, a satellite city on the outskirts of Seoul, was shattered last Monday by a group of protesters demanding the payment of overdue wages for a Bangladeshi worker.

Migrant workers and activists stage a rally in front of a factory accused of frequent delays

in wage payments to its foreign employees in this photo taken by the MTU earlier this month.

"Pay outstanding wages," the protesters yelled in front of a paper-coating factory where the Bangladeshi, surnamed Hussein, worked until recently. Hussein has overstayed his visa so he could be deported if caught by immigration officials.

Despite the risk, the 32-year-old held the rally to receive 4.5 million won ($3,650) in overdue wages, his pay for August to December 2008.

"The employer transferred ownership of the company to his son-in-law and claimed he had no money to pay the unpaid salary," said Chung Yong-sup, a protester and spokesman for the Migrants' Trade Union(MTU).

In April last year, the employer promised to pay the wages by September as ordered by the Ministry of Labor but it was an empty promise, Chung said.

Pressured by the rally and mounting criticism in the neighborhood, the new owner, the son-in-law, promised to settle the problem by November. "We will keep watching how the owner deals with this issue," the activist said.

It was the second rally of this kind by the union this month alone - the first rally held last Saturday in Paju, a city near North Korea where scores of small and mid-sized factories are located.

As the number of migrant laborers has rapidly increased in recent years, so has the number of those struggling with unpaid wages.

There are approximately 500,000 migrant workers here who mostly work in the manufacturing, construction and agriculture industries. Nearly 10 percent of them overstay their visa, thus their presence here is illegal.

Foreign envoys and the international community have urged the Korean government to take tougher action against employers "maliciously" delaying salary payments.

Vulnerable to exploitation

Yet, no significant improvement has been made. In 2008 alone, 6,849 migrant workers filed complaints with the labor ministry over delayed wage payments for unclear reasons, up from 2,249 cases in 2007, statistics show.

By June last year, 4,659 complaints of this kind had been lodged ― from the latest data available ― indicating a worsening situation.

The amount of unpaid salaries has soared - 4.4 billion won in 2006, 17.3 billion in 2008 and 12.1 billion won for the first six months of last year. The vast majority of affected workers are Chinese, followed by Vietnamese and Filipinos, statistics show.

"Migrant workers overstaying visa are particularly vulnerable to this issue because of their illegal status here," said Rep. Park Dae-hae of the ruling Grand National Party, who made public the statistics. "It's urgent to establish an independent body to deal with the issue regardless of the residential status of the affected workers."

With regard to the growing problem, human rights watchdog Amnesty International issued a report last October elaborating working conditions facing migrant workers here, and called on the Seoul government to protect and promote the rights of migrant workers through rigorous labor inspections. In February, envoys from major manpower exporting states to South Korea called for tougher state action for the advancement of the human rights of their citizens here.

Labor officials say they make their utmost efforts to contain the problem, but admitted putting all problematic firms on its watch-list is all but impossible.

"Those delaying wage payments in order to avoid it in the end will face criminal punishment," said Shin Dong-jin, a labor ministry official covering migrant worker-related issues.

The government runs two insurance policies - one by the state and the other by a private insurance firm, Seoul Guarantee Insurance Company - to help migrant workers get full payment before they leave the country. But critics say the compensation guaranteed by the policies is "too small to cover unpaid salary" on average.

The state insurance covers up to 7 million won, while the private one guarantees only 2 million won. In most cases, critics claim, the amount of unpaid salary for each worker is over 10 million won on average.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/06/117_67620.html

Related article:
☞ Filipinos want EPS revamped (K. Times, 6.15)

PS: The article "Filipinos want EPS revamped" says that "Workers are currently paid 856,000 won for 40 hours of work, and 928,000 won for 44 hours of work"...
Of course migrant workers don't get 856,000 won for 40 hours... They get 856,000 won as monthly income if they work 40 hours a week and monthly 928,000 won for a 44-hours week!!

 

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People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy submitted few days ago a letter raising suspicions about the cause of the Cheonan sinking(*) to the UN Security Council and the MB administration and its supporting (conservative/reactionary) media (Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo etc.) reacted - surprise, surprise!! - quite pissed off...

But (also unsurprisingly) today's Honkyoreh reported more affirmative:

Civic group takes unresolved Cheonan issues to UN

 
PSPD says the government should not submit a matter to the international community if there is still no internal consensus

Prior to the joint civilian-military investigation team’s briefing at the UN Security Council on the sinking of the Cheonan on Monday, the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) submitted a letter to the nations of the Security Council highlighting contentious aspects of the investigation’s findings. The Lee Myung-bak government has slammed the move as interference in diplomacy, while the PSPD called it a justified action by a civic group.

PSPD sent the letter on June 10 via email to Mexico, which currently holds the presidency of the Security Council, and the 15 member nations. The opinion statement consisted of an official PSPD letter written in English and a 27-page attachment detailing the problems with the investigation findings.

The letter, signed by PSPD Representative Lim Jong-dae, said the final investigation results into the Cheonan sinking were not announced. It also expressed concern that the response plan announced by the Lee Myung-bak administration could cause serious political and diplomatic controversy. It also conveyed hopes that the UN Security Council would make a rational and fair decision for peace on the Korean Peninsula, taking all matters into account.

The attachment, a translation of the “Cheonan Issue Report 1 and 2” released by PSPD on May 25, asks eight questions about unresolved issues in the investigation results. These included questions about insufficient explanations about the water column and cross section, and six issues regarding the investigation process.

In response to the PSPD letter, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun said in a briefing Monday that he believed that the letter was an extremely regrettable action blocking diplomatic efforts currently being put forth by the government. He also said the government plans to resolutely deal with the issue, including having the joint investigation team faithfully brief the UN Security Council. Some government officials, however, slammed PSPD in more relentless terms, calling the move “traitorous” and “messing things up.”

In response, PSPD said it is a group qualified to convey opinions and statements to the UN Human Rights Committee and UN Economic and Social Council as an NGO in consultative status with the U.N. It said the Lee administration has claimed that the civic organization’s activity seeks to divides public opinion. However, PSPD said the responsibility of the Lee administration, which has taken a matter about which no internal consensus has been reached to the international community, is even greater.

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/425686.html

* PSPD's "Cheonan Warship Reports" you can read here!

Related stuff:
☞ I Suppose It’s Not Treason, But It Still Stinks (Marmot's Hole, 6.15)

☞ No objections from U.N.S.C. members... (Yonhap, 6.15) 

☞ N.Korean culpability or fuzzy politics? (Hankyoreh, 6.15)
☞ NGOs Urge EU to Step Up Efforts (DailyNK, 6.15)

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While the South African (bourgeois) media celebrates the 2010 FIFA World Cup as "Explosions of Happiness", the situation for the workers who are making the World Cup possible is far off 'happiness'!

Today's Reuters reported the following from Durban:

Police clash with World Cup workers

South African police fired teargas and rubber bullets late Sunday/early Monday to chase hundreds of protesting World Cup workers out of the Moses Mabhida stadium in the coastal city of Durban.

Hundreds of riot cops armed with shotguns, tear gas guns, batons and riot shields chased the workers, who were deployed as stewards in the ground and were protesting over wages, out of the stadium where Germany had earlier beaten Australia 4-0 in their opening World Cup game.

Several workers, incl. at least one woman were injured when they were hit by rubber bullets, a witness said.

"We were mounting a peaceful protest because they were not paying us what we expected and we were surprised that the police started charging at us. They fired teargas at us," said one of the workers, Sydney Nzoli.

The around 500 workers later dispersed after police gave them a 10-minute deadline and said their grievances had to be discussed with their employers.

A police spokesman said the disturbance started after workers were paid less than they expected for their work during the match.

One worker said they were paid 190 rand ($24.50) for the day's work, instead of the 425 rand they were supposed to have been paid in terms of their contract.

Related article:
☞ Police clash with workers in first unrest (Mail&Guardian, 6.14)

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Yesterday's 'top story' in the int'l media:

USA

Taiwan

Austria

Related articles:
☞ N. Korea blasts South's loudspeakers (al-Jazeera, 6.12)
☞ N. Korea threatens to turn Seoul into 'sea of flame' (Yonhap, 6.12)


PS: The N. Korean propaganda is always emphatic about the "unique human character" of its "Korean socialism, guided by the Juche Idea and Songun Policy"...

Well, of course the renewed threat with mass murder/genocide is - possibly - a very special form of 'humanism' (^^Juche/Songun style!^^)...

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Enjoy the weekend reading!!
The following strange/interesting story has been published in today's DailyNK...

(N. Korean) Exchange Student Rebels Look Back

In August, 1962, four North Korean students studying in Bulgaria announced in a statement, "The Korean War was a North Korean war of aggression,” and “It is better to read the Bible(*) than the Collected Works of Kim Il Sung.”

The four were immediately taken by North Korean monitors, faced repatriation but barely escaped. Thereafter, they could have acquired Bulgarian citizenship but instead remained stateless. Finally, in 1991, they took South Korean citizenship. Of the four, Lee Sang Jong and Lee Jang Jik recently came to South Korea to participate in a conference held by the National Unification Advisory Council. The Daily NK met them on the 10th.

They were both born in 1936. Lee Jang Jik's father was a member of the anti-Japanese independence movement, while Lee Sang Jong's father was a tenant farmer. Thanks to their good family backgrounds, they were nominated as exchange students by their schools. After detailed inspections by the Provincial and the Central Committees of the Party, they were sent to Bulgaria at the age of 21, in 1956.

Back then, North Korea sent a number of students to the USSR and Eastern Bloc countries such as East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. "At that time, Kim Il Sung sent about 2,000 students abroad per year, including 250 students to Bulgaria," Lee Jang Jik explained. "Eastern Bloc countries also had a policy of accepting North Korean war orphans and university students as their students. I think North Korea wanted to use that policy to train cadres.”

Their less restricted access to information in Sofia allowed them to plan antiestablishment activities. This led to their criticism of North Korea's propaganda. They said they were only able to put their antiestablishment plan into action because North Korea supported the Stalinist line, while Bulgaria supported Khrushchev.

"The reason we said that we supported Bulgaria’s and Khrushchev's line was to earn the support of the Bulgarian government," Lee Sang Jong explained.

"North Korea repatriated its students in the summer of 1959, three years after the start of our studies. They gave us ideological education for a month, and that is when I came to know for certain that North Korea was a controlled society," Lee Jang Jik said.

Only 80 among the 250 students repatriated to North Korea were allowed to go back to Bulgaria. Only four of them signed up to the statement because, they explained, "North Korea's control and supervision were huge at the time. The more people participated in the statement, the bigger the risk of getting caught became."

After the release of the statement, the four of them were caught and were imprisoned in two groups. Lee Sang Jong and Lee Jang Jik succeeded in escaping from the embassy when surveillance grew loose after a month. Four days after their escape, the Bulgarian government notified North Korea that their embassy in Pyongyang would be closed if they could not guarantee freedom to the escaped students.

A month later, embassy staff nevertheless tried to escort the two students back to Pyongyang. However, Lee Sang Jong’s friends from Romania and China, who had been checking the flight to Pyongyang every day, dramatically rescued them. After the incident, official diplomatic relations between North Korea and Bulgaria were severed for eight years.

When asked to tell us about the lives of North Korean overseas diplomats and students today, Lee Jang Jik said in a trembling voice, "I really pity them.”

"It was two years ago,” he explained. “I saw a diplomat who was heading back to North Korea buying flour from a department store. North Korea must be experiencing a bad food shortage. Despite the transport costs, he was taking flour to North Korea."

Lee Sang Jong said, "North Korea has diplomatic relations with other European countries, too. But they don't have enough money, so the Bulgarian embassy acts as the 'headquarters' and manages North Korean embassies in those European countries." He added, "There are about four employees in the South Korean embassy, but North Korea has about 25 employees at its Bulgarian embassy. Including their families, it must be about 100."

About the lives of employees in the embassy, he said, "Judging by the old embassy car, they must be having a difficult time. The embassy is also selling paintings of tigers at university exhibitions."

"Collecting gifts from the Balkans and sending them home on Kim Il Sung's birthday is also an important duty for diplomats,” he added. “In early April, a North Korean plane lands in Sofia and transports the stuff back directly.”

Talking about modern exchange student life, Lee Jang Jik said, "When North Korean students have a drink at home, all they do is watch each other. They don't talk about anything because they don't trust each other.”

“However, there was an incident when two students having a drink together threw their badges of the Kims (Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il) and swore at them," he explained.

"After quite a lot of drink, they confessed that they did not believe in North Korean system too. Their biggest dissatisfaction with North Korea was that there is no freedom. They said they themselves were scared to go back."

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02500&num=6489

* Of course, in my opinion, the Bible is no alternative to KIS's 'Collected Works', not at all! It's just the same load of BS...

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One of today's leading stories in the morning edition of the Israeli (bourgeois) newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth:

S. Korean activists protest Peres visit

Demonstrators deface Israeli flag with palm prints stained in color of blood during president's visit to Seoul

Protesters denouncing Israeli President Shimon Peres as a "killer" rallied Thursday in the South Korean capital as Peres held talks with his counterpart Lee Myung-Bak.

 
Some 50 activists gathered outside the Israeli embassy to protest at last week's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Some defaced an Israeli flag with palm prints stained in the color of blood. Four busloads of riot police were on standby, but there were no clashes.

"We are here to denounce the Lee Myung-Bak government for welcoming the internationally criticized president," priest Choi Hun-Kook said beside a banner reading "Shimon Peres the Killer".

 
"Lift the siege on Gaza immediately," read another banner held by Choi and his colleagues...

The visit has become controversial since Israel's raid that killed nine Turkish activists and sparked worldwide condemnation...

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3903081,00.html

Pics from the 'event' you can see here!

Somehow related articles from the German (bourgeois) magazine Der Spiegel:
☞ 'First It Was Piracy, and Then It Was Kidnapping' (6.07) 

☞ A Closer Look at Israel's Terror Accusations (6.09)

Updated (6.11):

☞ IDF-hired driver: 'Why did they kill so few?' (y.net)

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The Indian news magazine N.DTV reported y'day the following:

170 Hyundai workers arrested on Day 2 of strike

Over 170 agitating workers at Hyundai Motor India’s Sriperumbudur plant were arrested on Tuesday, the second day of the strike, after the management deemed the sit-in strike illegal.

The arrests come after a complete breakdown in conciliatory talks between the management and the workers mediated by the state Deputy Commissioner of Labour.

Further talks will continue on Wednesday but the arrest of the striking workers has upped the ante.

 
"The talks are just for namesake. The management can’t be trusted with anything. We are going to intensify our protests. Now we won’t give up at no cost. We also want them to recognise the union," said Sounderarajan, secretary at CITU.

Sources say the eviction of striking workers from the plant was aimed at a possible resumption of production by using contract workers.

There has been no output of cars from the factory since Sunday night which has led to an entire stoppage of production at the 16 captive component suppliers. Those affected include Lumax, Hwashin and Hanil Lear.

The production hit is starting to hurt Hyundai which sees a large part of its output heading overseas.

More than 4,400 cars down on its production means Hyundai may have to shift even more of its i20 production to its Turkey plant. The i20 was initially supposed to have been made only in India.

A further shift may also end up costing Hyundai and reversing the low cost advantage its Indian export base currently offers.

http://beta.profit.ndtv.com/news/show/...workers-arrested-on-day-2-of-strike-72457

Related articles:

☞ Over 200 Hyundai workers arrested on second day of strike (The Hindu, 6.08)
☞ Labor disputes swell at overseas Hyundai Kia plants (Hankyoreh, 6.09)

Updated(6.10) news:
☞ Hyundai Motor India workers call off strike (IANS, 6.09)
But FT.com reported y'day that "Police break up Hyundai strike".

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One of yesterday's 'top stories' in the int'l media: Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) will protect the next 'Peace and Freedom Convoys' to Gaza...

For example The Guardian (UK) reported y'day the following:

Gaza blockade: Iran offers escort to next aid convoy

Iran has warned that it could send Revolutionary Guard naval units to escort humanitarian aid convoys seeking to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza – a move that would certainly be challenged by Israel.

Any such Iranian involvement, raised today by an aide to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would constitute a serious escalation of already high tensions with Israel, which accuses Tehran of seeking to build a nuclear weapon and of backing Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza.

"Iran's Revolutionary Guard naval forces are prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys that carry humanitarian assistance for the defenceless and oppressed people of Gaza with all their strength," pledged Hojjatoleslam Ali Shirazi, Khamenei's personal representative to the guards corps.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/06/gaza-blockade-iran-aid-convoy

Well, sounds like a f*cking good idea!!^^

And, as the following suggests, in about two weeks a first 'match' IRGC vs. Israeli Navy Special Forces might take place in the Mediterranean Sea near the Gaza Strip:

The Iranian Red Crescent (IRC) has decided to send two aid ships to Gaza this week and has called for volunteers to act as relief workers and accompany the vessels, the state IRNA news agency reported y'day.

"One ship will carry donations made by the people and the other will carry relief workers. The ships will be sent to Gaza by end of this week," IRC director Adibzadeh said.

And according to several Iranian sources it could be the first 'aid' convoy, trying to break Israel's Gaza blockade, 'protected' by IRGC 'volunteers'...

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Granma, the official newspaper of the Cuban 'Communist' Party, publishes since three years the so-called Reflections of Fidel Castro (Reflexiones de Fidel)... Here's his latest column, published last Friday (6.04):

The Empire and Lies

I was left with no alternative other than to write two "Reflections" on Iran and Korea, which explain the imminent danger of war with the use of nuclear weapons. I have also expressed the opinion that one of them could be overcome if China decided to veto the resolution that the United States is promoting in the United Nations Security Council. The other is dependent on factors that escape any possibility of control, due to the fanatical conduct of the state of Israel, converted by the United States into its current condition as a strong nuclear power, which does not accept any control whatsoever on the part of the superpower.

In June 1953, when the first United States intervention to crush the Islamic Revolution in defense of its own interests and those of its close ally the United Kingdom took place, which resulted in Mohammed Reza Pahlevi assuming power, Israel was a small state that had not yet seized almost all of Palestinian territory, part of Syria and more than a small part of neighboring Jordan, defended up until then by the Arab Legion, of which not a trace remained.

Today the hundreds of rockets with nuclear warheads, supported by the most modern aircraft supplied by the United States, are threatening the security of all the states of the region, Arab and non-Arab, Muslim and non-Muslim, that are in the reach of the wide radius of action of Israeli missiles, which could fall within a few meters of their objectives.

Last Sunday, May 30, when I wrote the Reflection "The Empire and drugs," the brutal attack on the flotilla transporting provisions, medicines and other items for the one and a half million Palestinians besieged in a small fragment of what was their own homeland for thousands of years, had not yet taken place.

The vast majority of people invest their time in and struggle to confront the necessities that life imposes upon them, including food, the right to recreation and study, and other vital problems of their closest family members; they do not have time to search for information about what is happening on the planet. They can be found anywhere, with noble expressions on their face, trusting that others will take charge of finding solutions to the problems overwhelming them. They are capable of rejoicing and laughing. Thus, they bring happiness to those of us who have the privilege of observing with equanimity the realities threatening us all.

The extremely strange fabrication that North Korea had sunk the South Korean Cheonan corvette – designed with cutting-edge technology, endowed with a wide-ranging sonar system and underwater acoustic sensors – in waters opposite its coast, blamed North Korea for the appalling act that cost the lives of 40 South Korean marines and inflicted dozens of injuries.

It was not easy for me to unravel the problem. On the one hand, there was no explanation as to how it was possible for any government, however much authority it enjoys, to utilize command mechanisms to give orders to torpedo an ensign ship. On the other hand, I did not believe for one second the version that it was Kim Jong II who gave that order.

I lacked the elements needed to reach a conclusion, but I was sure that China would veto a draft resolution in the Security Council to sanction North Korea. On the other hand, I was in no doubt whatsoever that the United States is unable to avoid the use of nuclear weapons on the part of the incontrollable government of Israel.

Late in the evening of June 1 the veil over what really happened began to lift.

At 10:30 p.m. I listened to the content of an acute analysis by the journalist Walter Martínez, who produces the sterling "Dossier" program on Venezuelan television. He came to the conclusion that the United States had made each part of Korea believe what each side was affirming about the other, with the objective of solving the problem of the return of the territory occupied by the Okinawa base, as demanded by the new Japanese leader, reflecting the wishes of the country. His party gained enormous backing in the elections due to that promise of his to secure the [U.S.] withdrawal from the military base installed there which, for more than 65 years, has been a dagger thrust in the heart of Japan, now a developed and rich country.

Via Global Research the really amazing details of what happened have come out, thanks to an article by Wayne Madsen, an investigative journalist working in Washington DC, who circulated information from intelligence sources on the Wayne Madsen Report website.

Those sources, he affirmed, "…suspect that the March attack on the South Korean Navy anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvette, the Cheonan, was a false flag attack designed to appear as coming from North Korea."

"One of the main purposes for increasing tensions on the Korean peninsula was to apply pressure on Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to reverse course on moving the U.S. Marine Corps base off Okinawa. Hatoyama has admitted that the tensions over the sinking of the Cheonan played a large part in his decision to allow the U.S. Marines to remain on Okinawa. Hatoyama's decision has resulted in a split in the ruling center-left coalition government, a development welcome in Washington, with Mizuho Fukushima, the Social Democratic Party leader threatening to bolt the coalition over the Okinawa reversal.

"The Cheonan was sunk near Baengnyeong Island, a westernmost spot that is far from the South Korean coast, but opposite the North Korean coast. The island is heavily militarized and within artillery fire range of North Korean coastal defenses, which lie across a narrow channel.

"The Cheonan, an ASW corvette, was decked out with state-of-the-art sonar, plus it was operating in waters with extensive hydrophone sonar arrays and acoustic underwater sensors. There is no South Korean sonar or audio evidence of a torpedo, submarine or mini-sub in the area. Since there is next to no shipping in the channel, the sea was silent at the time of the sinking.

"However, Baengnyeong Island hosts a joint U.S-South Korea military intelligence base and the U.S. Navy SEALS operate out of the base. In addition, four U.S. Navy ships were in the area, part of the joint U.S-South Korean Exercise Foal Eagle, during the sinking of the Cheonan. An investigation of the suspect torpedo's metallic and chemical fingerprints show it to be of German manufacture. There are suspicions that the U.S. Navy SEALS maintains a sampling of European torpedoes for sake of plausible deniability for false flag attacks. Also, Berlin does not sell torpedoes to North Korea, however, Germany does maintain a close joint submarine and submarine weapons development program with Israel.

"The presence of the USNS Salvor, one of the participants in Foal Eagle, so close to Baengnyeong Island during the sinking of the South Korean corvette also raises questions.

"The Salvor, a civilian Navy salvage ship, which participated in mine laying activities for the Thai Marines in the Gulf of Thailand in 2006, was present near the time of the blast with a complement of 12 deep sea divers.

"Beijing, satisfied with North Korea's Kim Jong Il's claim of innocence after a hurried train trip from Pyongyang to Beijing, suspects the U.S. Navy's role in the Cheonan's sinking, with particular suspicion on the role of the Salvor. The suspicions are as follows:

"1. The Salvor engaged in a seabed mine-installation operation, in other words, attaching horizontally fired anti-submarine mines on the sea floor in the channel.

"2. The Salvor was doing routine inspection and maintenance on seabed mines, and put them into an electronic active mode (hair trigger release) as part of the inspection program.

"3. A SEALS diver attached a magnetic mine to the Cheonan, as part of a covert program aimed at influencing public opinion in South Korea, Japan and China.

"The Korean peninsula tensions have conveniently overshadowed all other agenda items on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visits to Beijing and Seoul."

Thus, in an amazingly easy way, the United States managed to solve an important problem: to liquidate the National Unity government of the Democratic Party of Yukio Hatoyama, but at an extremely high cost:

1- It deeply offended its South Korea allies.

2- It highlighted the skill and rapidity with which its adversary Kim Jong Il acted.

3- It emphasized the prestige of the Chinese power, whose president, with full moral authority, moved personally and sent China’s principal leaders to converse with Emperor Akihito, the Prime Minister and other eminent Japanese figures.

Political leaders and world opinion have proof of the cynicism and total lack of scruples that characterize the imperial policy of the United States.

Fidel Castro Ruz
Junio 3 de 2010
11 y 16 a.m.

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/reflections-i/23reflex1-junio.html

Related stuff:
☞ Pyongyang: Cheonan was false-flag sinking (Asia Times, 6.04)
☞ Cheonan Conspiracy Theories (Marmot's Hole, 6.03)
☞ 'There was no Explosion. There was No Torpedo' (IMC S.K., 5.30)

And - last but not least - please keep in mind(^^) that...
☞ Police (will) hunt for Cheonan rumors (K. Times, 6.01)