The Truth and Reconciliation Commission says South Korean authorities massacred at least 4,934 civilians suspected of being North Korean sympathizers.
By John M. Glionna
November 27, 2009
Reporting from Seoul
Shedding new light on a long-suppressed chapter of the Korean War, a government commission acknowledged Thursday that South Korean soldiers and police executed about 5,000 suspected North Korean sympathizers during the early months of the conflict.
In the first acknowledgment of the death toll, the so-called Truth and Reconciliation Commission said South Korean authorities rounded up and massacred at least 4,934 civilians during the summer of 1950.
Evidence of the atrocities was hidden for decades under the military-backed authoritarian regimes that ruled South Korea until the nation embraced democracy in the 1980s.
The commission in 2005 began investigating the civilian executions, interviewing several people who took part in the killings during the first phase of the 1950-53 war. It also reviewed photographs of mass, makeshift graves.
News of the commission's finding was treated almost nonchalantly in South Korea, carried as an inside story by several of the nation's major newspapers.
"The country should have paid attention to this case consistently, but so far it has not," said Kim Jeong-ho, 62, whose father was among the victims.
Still, historians here said they believed the findings would have a cathartic effect on the nation.
"One hidden piece of our tragic history in the 1950s was revealed. We should not repeat this miserable history, and this case will do good for the unity and integrity of the society," said Park Sun-joo, a history professor at Chungbuk National University who heads the excavation project of the commission.
He said he hopes the government will build a memorial to the victims.
Many victims were reportedly associated with the National Guidance League, created by the South Korean government to re-educate suspected communist sympathizers.
To meet strictly enforced membership quotas, officials often pressured apolitical farmers into joining the group, using promises of rice rations or other benefits, the commission said.
The panel also found that the executions were carried out based on "decisions and orders" from the "highest level" of government.
Kim said that family members of the victims faced discrimination for decades after the war.
"It is beyond description -- the social prejudice and mental anguish that we have been through," he said.
Commissioners also included several recommendations, including that the government offer an official apology as well as pass legislation to compensate victims' families.
Park, the historian, said the government should also pursue prosecutions.
"A high court has said the statute of limitations on this killing case has passed," he said.
"But personally, I don't think the judiciary should view this case that way: It is a crime against humanity."
But Kim disagreed.
"Even if there are some offenders still alive, I simply do not want to see them punished," he said.
"Not only is it legally tough to prosecute them, but it is more appropriate that families of victims and offenders meet . . . and reconcile with each other.
"For the sake of social unity, it is right to make a reconciliation."
john.glionna@latimes.com
Ju-min Park of The Times' Seoul Bureau contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
Monday, November 30, 2009
China's climate pledge raises expectations for Copenhagen summit
Although China's announcement that it will reduce the intensity of its greenhouse gas emissions does not mean a reduction in total emissions, environmentalists now see more promise for climate summit.
By David Pierson and Jim Tankersley
5:16 PM PST, November 27, 2009
Reporting from Washington and Beijing
China vowed Thursday to steeply reduce the intensity of its greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade, a move that environmentalists and the Obama administration hailed as a major, and perhaps decisive, development toward agreement on a comprehensive climate treaty.
The announcement came a day after President Obama unveiled a provisional target to reduce carbon emissions in the United States, and said he would attend climate negotiations in Copenhagen next month.
The promises by the two largest emitters of the gases that scientists blame for global warming dramatically raised expectations for the Copenhagen summit. Until this week, many climate activists considered the prospects for the Dec. 7-18 conference bleak.
The U.S. and Chinese announcements offer a "very much needed boost going into the final steps before Copenhagen," said Jake Schmidt, international climate policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The Chinese announcement "is a pretty strong signal that China is ready to move forward aggressively on clean energy and global warming," he added.
China's State Council said that by 2020 the country would reduce its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 40% to 45% compared with levels in 2005.
This is "a voluntary action based on our own national conditions" and "is a major contribution to the global effort in tackling climate change," the State Council said.
Although the cuts were welcomed, Greenpeace China said the targets did not go far enough, considering the Asian nation's emissions are expected to continue rising. A pledge in the 45% to 50% range would have been better, it said.
And China's gross domestic product is expected to grow, so its total emissions might not drop.
China's pledge was met enthusiastically by leaders in Europe and at the United Nations, where climate chief Yvo de Boer said the vows of emission reductions by China and the United States could help "unlock" an international treaty to curb climate change.
The White House also praised the move by Beijing.
"We welcome China's intention to cut the growth of their emissions by reducing the carbon intensity of their economy," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.
"Building on the president's productive talks in Beijing, the United States will continue to engage constructively with China on this and other elements of the negotiations going into Copenhagen."
Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute, noted that the two countries will need to go further in their pledges to reach the levels of commitment of some other nations.
"But the road to an international agreement is now open more than ever," he said.
Still, there were signs Thursday that negotiators have more work to do before completing even a preliminary climate deal in Copenhagen -- and that some countries, particularly those that scientists call most vulnerable to climate change, were unimpressed with this week's announcements.
A group of small island nations Thursday criticized what it called a "lack of ambition" on the part of the United States and other wealthy nations, saying the world's most developed countries must curb emissions more than they've pledged and offer billions of dollars in financial assistance to the developing world. Those island nations wield considerable power in international climate talks.
"These proposals are missing critical elements," Grenada's foreign affairs minister, Peter David, who chairs the 43-member Alliance of Small Island States, said in a statement. But he later added: "With clear, ambitious commitments and actions from the developed countries, individually and collectively, we know that we can succeed."
Schmidt, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, predicted that the negotiators would eventually rally around the "critical" engagement of the United States and China during the conference in Denmark.
In the meantime, he said, "I'm sure there'll be some grumbling in the first week, first week and a half at Copenhagen."
In making its announcement about emission cuts, the Chinese government also said Premier Wen Jiabao would attend the Copenhagen summit.
"Wen's presence at the meeting fully embodies the Chinese government's great attention to the issue and its political willingness to address the issue with international cooperation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a news conference in Beijing.
Despite Greenpeace China's disappointment that Beijing had not gone farther in its pledge, the group's climate campaign manager said that the recent moves by China and the U.S. show a willingness to lead the globe toward a climate solution.
"They're definitely feeling the heat from Copenhagen," said manager Yang Ailun. "The two big countries are setting up a good foundation. China will have to be more energy efficient, which means more renewable energy. They'll have to tackle their over-dependency on coal."
China and the U.S. have sparred over emission reduction commitments.
Beijing is reluctant to agree to any cuts that would jeopardize its economic growth and believes that developed nations, as the biggest polluters historically, should assume a larger share of overall reductions.
Washington has asserted that global warming cannot be stemmed unless China agrees to ambitious cuts. Some lawmakers are reluctant to enter binding agreements unless China and India do too, for fear it will make the U.S. less economically competitive.
On Wednesday, the White House said the U.S. would "put on the table" a commitment to reduce overall emissions by around 17% below 2005 levels by 2020, and 83% by 2050.
The pledge is consistent with language in a climate bill stalled in the Senate, but it is also different from the Chinese plan because it aims to lower total emissions from 2005 levels.
China's total emissions could still go up compared with 2005 because its economic output is expected to climb. However, with the new pledge, China would do so at a slower rate.
david.pierson@latimes.com
jtankersley@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
By David Pierson and Jim Tankersley
5:16 PM PST, November 27, 2009
Reporting from Washington and Beijing
China vowed Thursday to steeply reduce the intensity of its greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade, a move that environmentalists and the Obama administration hailed as a major, and perhaps decisive, development toward agreement on a comprehensive climate treaty.
The announcement came a day after President Obama unveiled a provisional target to reduce carbon emissions in the United States, and said he would attend climate negotiations in Copenhagen next month.
The promises by the two largest emitters of the gases that scientists blame for global warming dramatically raised expectations for the Copenhagen summit. Until this week, many climate activists considered the prospects for the Dec. 7-18 conference bleak.
The U.S. and Chinese announcements offer a "very much needed boost going into the final steps before Copenhagen," said Jake Schmidt, international climate policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The Chinese announcement "is a pretty strong signal that China is ready to move forward aggressively on clean energy and global warming," he added.
China's State Council said that by 2020 the country would reduce its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 40% to 45% compared with levels in 2005.
This is "a voluntary action based on our own national conditions" and "is a major contribution to the global effort in tackling climate change," the State Council said.
Although the cuts were welcomed, Greenpeace China said the targets did not go far enough, considering the Asian nation's emissions are expected to continue rising. A pledge in the 45% to 50% range would have been better, it said.
And China's gross domestic product is expected to grow, so its total emissions might not drop.
China's pledge was met enthusiastically by leaders in Europe and at the United Nations, where climate chief Yvo de Boer said the vows of emission reductions by China and the United States could help "unlock" an international treaty to curb climate change.
The White House also praised the move by Beijing.
"We welcome China's intention to cut the growth of their emissions by reducing the carbon intensity of their economy," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.
"Building on the president's productive talks in Beijing, the United States will continue to engage constructively with China on this and other elements of the negotiations going into Copenhagen."
Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute, noted that the two countries will need to go further in their pledges to reach the levels of commitment of some other nations.
"But the road to an international agreement is now open more than ever," he said.
Still, there were signs Thursday that negotiators have more work to do before completing even a preliminary climate deal in Copenhagen -- and that some countries, particularly those that scientists call most vulnerable to climate change, were unimpressed with this week's announcements.
A group of small island nations Thursday criticized what it called a "lack of ambition" on the part of the United States and other wealthy nations, saying the world's most developed countries must curb emissions more than they've pledged and offer billions of dollars in financial assistance to the developing world. Those island nations wield considerable power in international climate talks.
"These proposals are missing critical elements," Grenada's foreign affairs minister, Peter David, who chairs the 43-member Alliance of Small Island States, said in a statement. But he later added: "With clear, ambitious commitments and actions from the developed countries, individually and collectively, we know that we can succeed."
Schmidt, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, predicted that the negotiators would eventually rally around the "critical" engagement of the United States and China during the conference in Denmark.
In the meantime, he said, "I'm sure there'll be some grumbling in the first week, first week and a half at Copenhagen."
In making its announcement about emission cuts, the Chinese government also said Premier Wen Jiabao would attend the Copenhagen summit.
"Wen's presence at the meeting fully embodies the Chinese government's great attention to the issue and its political willingness to address the issue with international cooperation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a news conference in Beijing.
Despite Greenpeace China's disappointment that Beijing had not gone farther in its pledge, the group's climate campaign manager said that the recent moves by China and the U.S. show a willingness to lead the globe toward a climate solution.
"They're definitely feeling the heat from Copenhagen," said manager Yang Ailun. "The two big countries are setting up a good foundation. China will have to be more energy efficient, which means more renewable energy. They'll have to tackle their over-dependency on coal."
China and the U.S. have sparred over emission reduction commitments.
Beijing is reluctant to agree to any cuts that would jeopardize its economic growth and believes that developed nations, as the biggest polluters historically, should assume a larger share of overall reductions.
Washington has asserted that global warming cannot be stemmed unless China agrees to ambitious cuts. Some lawmakers are reluctant to enter binding agreements unless China and India do too, for fear it will make the U.S. less economically competitive.
On Wednesday, the White House said the U.S. would "put on the table" a commitment to reduce overall emissions by around 17% below 2005 levels by 2020, and 83% by 2050.
The pledge is consistent with language in a climate bill stalled in the Senate, but it is also different from the Chinese plan because it aims to lower total emissions from 2005 levels.
China's total emissions could still go up compared with 2005 because its economic output is expected to climb. However, with the new pledge, China would do so at a slower rate.
david.pierson@latimes.com
jtankersley@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
China makes a pledge on greenhouse gas emissions
The promise, along with a target announced by Obama the day before, raises expectations for the Copenhagen climate summit next month.
By David Pierson and Jim Tankersley
5:18 PM PST, November 27, 2009
Reporting from Washington and Beijing
China vowed Thursday to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half over the next decade, a move that environmentalists and the Obama administration hailed as a major, and perhaps decisive, development toward agreement on a comprehensive climate treaty.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR THE RECORD
China's climate promise: An article in Friday's Section A incorrectly stated that China had agreed to reduce its overall carbon dioxide emissions by 40% to 45% from 2005 levels by 2020. China actually promised Thursday to reduce its "carbon intensity," a measure of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product, by 40% to 45% by 2020, compared with 2005 levels. Also, an earlier headline on this online version of the story incorrectly said "China vows to cut greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2020."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The announcement came a day after President Obama unveiled a provisional target to reduce carbon emissions in the United States, and said he would attend climate negotiations in Copenhagen next month.
The promises by the two largest emitters of the gases that scientists blame for global warming dramatically raised expectations for the Copenhagen summit. Until this week, many climate activists considered the prospects for the Dec. 7-18 conference bleak.
The U.S. and Chinese announcements offer a "very much needed boost going into the final steps before Copenhagen," said Jake Schmidt, international climate policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The Chinese announcement "is a pretty strong signal that China is ready to move forward aggressively on clean energy and global warming," he added.
China's pledge was met enthusiastically by leaders in Europe and at the United Nations, where climate chief Yvo de Boer said the vows of emission reductions by China and the United States could help "unlock" an international treaty to curb climate change.
The White House also praised the move by Beijing.
"We welcome China's intention to cut the growth of their emissions by reducing the carbon intensity of their economy," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.
"Building on the president's productive talks in Beijing, the United States will continue to engage constructively with China on this and other elements of the negotiations going into Copenhagen."
Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute, noted that the two countries will need to go further in their pledges to reach the levels of commitment of some other nations.
"But the road to an international agreement is now open more than ever," he said.
Still, there were signs Thursday that negotiators still have work to do before completing even a preliminary climate deal in Copenhagen -- and that some countries, particularly those that scientists call most vulnerable to climate change, were unimpressed with this week's announcements.
A group of small island nations Thursday criticized what it called a "lack of ambition" on the part of the United States and other wealthy nations, saying the world's most developed countries must curb emissions more than they've pledged and offer billions of dollars in financial assistance to the developing world. Those island nations wield considerable power in international climate talks.
"These proposals are missing critical elements," Grenada's foreign affairs minister, Peter David, who chairs the 43-member Alliance of Small Island States, said in a statement. But he later added: "With clear, ambitious commitments and actions from the developed countries, individually and collectively, we know that we can succeed."
Schmidt, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, predicted that the negotiators would eventually rally around the "critical" engagement of the United States and China during the conference in Denmark.
In the meantime, he said, "I'm sure there'll be some grumbling in the first week, first week and a half at Copenhagen."
In making its announcement about emission cuts, the Chinese government also said Premier Wen Jiabao would attend the Copenhagen summit.
"Wen's presence at the meeting fully embodies the Chinese government's great attention to the issue and its political willingness to address the issue with international cooperation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a news conference in Beijing.
China's State Council said that by 2020, the country would reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 40% to 45% compared with levels in 2005.
This is "a voluntary action based on our own national conditions" and "is a major contribution to the global effort in tackling climate change," the State Council said.
Although the cuts were welcomed, Greenpeace China said the targets did not go far enough, considering the Asian nation's emissions are expected to continue rising. A pledge in the 45% to 50% range would have been better, it said.
And China's gross domestic product is expected to grow, so its total emissions might not drop.
Despite this, the recent moves by China and the U.S. show a willingness to lead the globe toward a climate solution, said Yang Ailun, climate campaign manager for Greenpeace China.
"They're definitely feeling the heat from Copenhagen," Yang said. "The two big countries are setting up a good foundation. China will have to be more energy efficient, which means more renewable energy. They'll have to tackle their over-dependency on coal."
China and the U.S. have sparred over emission reduction commitments.
Beijing is reluctant to agree to any cuts that would jeopardize its economic growth and believes that developed nations, as the biggest polluters historically, should assume a larger share of overall reductions.
Washington has asserted that global warming cannot be stemmed unless China agrees to ambitious cuts. Some lawmakers are reluctant to enter binding agreements unless China and India do too, for fear it will make the U.S. less economically competitive.
On Wednesday, the White House said the U.S. would "put on the table" a commitment to reduce emissions by around 17% below 2005 levels by 2020, and 83% by 2050.
The pledge is consistent with language in a climate bill stalled in the Senate, but it is also different from the Chinese plan because it aims to lower total emissions from 2005 levels.
China's total emissions could still go up compared with 2005 because its economic output is expected to climb. However, with the new pledge, China would do so at a slower rate.
david.pierson@latimes.com
jtankersley@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
By David Pierson and Jim Tankersley
5:18 PM PST, November 27, 2009
Reporting from Washington and Beijing
China vowed Thursday to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half over the next decade, a move that environmentalists and the Obama administration hailed as a major, and perhaps decisive, development toward agreement on a comprehensive climate treaty.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR THE RECORD
China's climate promise: An article in Friday's Section A incorrectly stated that China had agreed to reduce its overall carbon dioxide emissions by 40% to 45% from 2005 levels by 2020. China actually promised Thursday to reduce its "carbon intensity," a measure of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product, by 40% to 45% by 2020, compared with 2005 levels. Also, an earlier headline on this online version of the story incorrectly said "China vows to cut greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2020."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The announcement came a day after President Obama unveiled a provisional target to reduce carbon emissions in the United States, and said he would attend climate negotiations in Copenhagen next month.
The promises by the two largest emitters of the gases that scientists blame for global warming dramatically raised expectations for the Copenhagen summit. Until this week, many climate activists considered the prospects for the Dec. 7-18 conference bleak.
The U.S. and Chinese announcements offer a "very much needed boost going into the final steps before Copenhagen," said Jake Schmidt, international climate policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The Chinese announcement "is a pretty strong signal that China is ready to move forward aggressively on clean energy and global warming," he added.
China's pledge was met enthusiastically by leaders in Europe and at the United Nations, where climate chief Yvo de Boer said the vows of emission reductions by China and the United States could help "unlock" an international treaty to curb climate change.
The White House also praised the move by Beijing.
"We welcome China's intention to cut the growth of their emissions by reducing the carbon intensity of their economy," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.
"Building on the president's productive talks in Beijing, the United States will continue to engage constructively with China on this and other elements of the negotiations going into Copenhagen."
Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute, noted that the two countries will need to go further in their pledges to reach the levels of commitment of some other nations.
"But the road to an international agreement is now open more than ever," he said.
Still, there were signs Thursday that negotiators still have work to do before completing even a preliminary climate deal in Copenhagen -- and that some countries, particularly those that scientists call most vulnerable to climate change, were unimpressed with this week's announcements.
A group of small island nations Thursday criticized what it called a "lack of ambition" on the part of the United States and other wealthy nations, saying the world's most developed countries must curb emissions more than they've pledged and offer billions of dollars in financial assistance to the developing world. Those island nations wield considerable power in international climate talks.
"These proposals are missing critical elements," Grenada's foreign affairs minister, Peter David, who chairs the 43-member Alliance of Small Island States, said in a statement. But he later added: "With clear, ambitious commitments and actions from the developed countries, individually and collectively, we know that we can succeed."
Schmidt, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, predicted that the negotiators would eventually rally around the "critical" engagement of the United States and China during the conference in Denmark.
In the meantime, he said, "I'm sure there'll be some grumbling in the first week, first week and a half at Copenhagen."
In making its announcement about emission cuts, the Chinese government also said Premier Wen Jiabao would attend the Copenhagen summit.
"Wen's presence at the meeting fully embodies the Chinese government's great attention to the issue and its political willingness to address the issue with international cooperation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a news conference in Beijing.
China's State Council said that by 2020, the country would reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 40% to 45% compared with levels in 2005.
This is "a voluntary action based on our own national conditions" and "is a major contribution to the global effort in tackling climate change," the State Council said.
Although the cuts were welcomed, Greenpeace China said the targets did not go far enough, considering the Asian nation's emissions are expected to continue rising. A pledge in the 45% to 50% range would have been better, it said.
And China's gross domestic product is expected to grow, so its total emissions might not drop.
Despite this, the recent moves by China and the U.S. show a willingness to lead the globe toward a climate solution, said Yang Ailun, climate campaign manager for Greenpeace China.
"They're definitely feeling the heat from Copenhagen," Yang said. "The two big countries are setting up a good foundation. China will have to be more energy efficient, which means more renewable energy. They'll have to tackle their over-dependency on coal."
China and the U.S. have sparred over emission reduction commitments.
Beijing is reluctant to agree to any cuts that would jeopardize its economic growth and believes that developed nations, as the biggest polluters historically, should assume a larger share of overall reductions.
Washington has asserted that global warming cannot be stemmed unless China agrees to ambitious cuts. Some lawmakers are reluctant to enter binding agreements unless China and India do too, for fear it will make the U.S. less economically competitive.
On Wednesday, the White House said the U.S. would "put on the table" a commitment to reduce emissions by around 17% below 2005 levels by 2020, and 83% by 2050.
The pledge is consistent with language in a climate bill stalled in the Senate, but it is also different from the Chinese plan because it aims to lower total emissions from 2005 levels.
China's total emissions could still go up compared with 2005 because its economic output is expected to climb. However, with the new pledge, China would do so at a slower rate.
david.pierson@latimes.com
jtankersley@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
Aiding North Korea defectors: A high-stakes spy mission
A recent operation offers a peek inside the 'underground railroad,' a network of safe houses and secret border crossings that assists in the escape of North Korean refugees.
By John M. Glionna
November 25, 2009
Reporting from Seoul
As he cased the security at the foreign embassies in Hanoi, the 78-year-old retiree was seized with sudden self-doubt. He was certainly no John le Carre. Who was he to play spy?
But this wasn't a game. Waiting in nearby safe houses were nine North Korean defectors whom Kim Sang-hun had helped spirit into Vietnam from China -- among them a young doctor and his wife, a mother and daughter, and a woman who'd been sold as a sex slave in Beijing.
"I thought, 'What am I doing here? I'm not a spy. Espionage takes resources and support,' " recalled the activist, who has devoted his retirement to helping refugees escape the repressive Stalinist regime. " 'I have no training. Is the mere will to succeed enough?' "
Days earlier, Kim had received devastating news. Five other defectors, including a woman and her 6-year-old son, had been captured at the Chinese border en route to joining the other nine in Hanoi.
"They were almost there, and now they were gone, being sent back to North Korea to prison and perhaps death," he said. "I remember saying to someone, 'I wish I was dead.' "
He thought about the defectors under his care: For months, they had lived under the constant threat of being caught by Chinese officials and returned to North Korea. Now in Hanoi, the activists' goal was to find the right embassy -- one away from a busy street and out of the steely gaze of Vietnamese secret police -- and then shepherd the defectors inside.
Once within the embassy compound, the refugees could request sanctuary, taking another step toward freedom in South Korea.
The plan was all set. Then Kim and other activists learned about the capture of the five. The three activists -- Kim, another South Korean and an American missionary -- gathered to discuss their options. Should they press forward with the nine remaining defectors, or was the embassy gambit now too risky?
"We were all so tormented," Kim recalled. "At the same time we had to be reasonable. We had nine lives under our custody, people for whom we had assumed total responsibility."
The activists finally posed their dilemma to the defectors themselves. "We told them, 'This is our plan,' " Kim said. " 'Do you want to go forward? It's all up to you.' "
Operation's details
The gripping details of the September operation offer a rare peek inside the covert workings of the "underground railroad," a network of safe houses and secret border crossings that assists in the escape of North Korean refugees.
The activists spoke out to bring attention to the plight of the detained defectors. They have received conflicting reports as to whether the five were still being held in China or had been sent back to North Korea, where they could face severe punishment as an example to other would-be runaways.
At a news conference Nov. 18 near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, they read an open letter to President Obama, who was visiting on a diplomatic swing through Asia. Protesters wanted Obama to challenge the Chinese policy of "forced repatriation" of North Korean refugees, which they say violates China's obligations under the 1951 United Nations convention on the protection of refugees.
Most defectors from North Korea steal into China across the porous border between the two nations. But their journey to freedom is far from over. In China, the women risk being sold into sex rings. Chinese secret police are always set to pounce, prepared to usher the unlucky back to North Korea. So many lie low and wait. They live in safe houses, often working illegally.
They scrape by, waiting for a chance to leave China, knowing the tap on the shoulder from Chinese authorities could come at any time.
"They're afraid of being stopped by some official, asked a question in Chinese they cannot answer," said Tim Peters, the American missionary who took part in the September operation.
"The collar could come on trains, on the street, en route between safe houses. Many North Koreans are physically shorter than Chinese. And the police can smell fear," said Peters, founder of Helping Hands Korea.
No one knows for sure how many people try to escape from North Korea each year, or how many are caught in the attempt. But they do know this: The number of escape attempts is tied to a roulette wheel of economic and political factors, including widespread famine and brutal government crackdowns.
Officials in South Korea estimate that nearly 20,000 North Koreans have relocated here since the 1950s, most within the last decade.
Documents obtained from Chinese border police three years ago suggest that officials in one province alone deported 100 people per month back to North Korea, activists say.
"But nobody knows if that is still the case," said Joanna Hosaniak, a senior program officer with the Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human Rights.
North Korea recently launched a crackdown, expanding the notorious Chongori concentration camp -- known for its brutal conditions and high death rates -- to handle defectors, the Seoul-based newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported.
Meanwhile, activists try to expand escape routes for refugees.
"It's strategically important to find new pathways," Peters said. "Not just new routes across borders, but safe houses and countries where they can be moved along the way."
Vietnam, activists charge, has recently turned a deaf ear to the plight of defectors. After South Korea's 2004 airlift of 468 refugees from its embassy in Hanoi, embarrassed Vietnamese officials have tried to mend relations with North Korea, activists allege.
The South Korean Embassy in Hanoi has also quietly refused to accept defectors since the incident, Kim says. South Korean officials declined to comment. A Vietnamese Embassy spokesman in Seoul denied that his country rejected defectors.
Activists sought a well-publicized defector case to highlight what they termed the political recalcitrance of both nations.
For months, they scoured China for the right defectors. Finally, they identified 14 refugees willing to take the risk.
A poor beginning
In Hanoi, things went wrong at the start.
The activists had chosen the Danish Embassy, a building without high fences or gates and a security guard who often became distracted while assisting visitors.
They ruled out simply storming the door, a tactic Kim has used before, deciding to sneak the defectors inside disguised as tourists.
Moments after Peters entered the lobby as a lookout, activist Peter Chung, director of the group Justice for North Korea, posed as a guide and quickly ushered the group inside.
According to the plan, Chung would then leave the embassy. To linger would risk being detained by Vietnamese officials on possible charges of human trafficking and assisting illegal immigrants.
The physician in the group was chosen to approach embassy employees behind a glass security window and present a letter expressing the group's plea for asylum.
"We are now at the point of such desperation and live in such fear of persecution within North Korea that we have come to the decision to risk our lives for freedom rather than passively await our doom," the note read in English. "The only power we have left is to appeal to you on our knees and with tears."
But suddenly, the doctor lost his nerve. Chung had to act.
"I was stressed," recalled the 42-year-old, who had been detained in China for more than a year in 2003-04 for assisting North Korean defectors.
He called South Korean Embassy officials, who promised to assist, as long as the activists did not make the incident public. Then he approached Danish officials, who he said at first refused to aid the group. Chung persisted. "These are refugees," he said. "They have a right to be protected."
Hours later, with the South Koreans a no-show, the Danish relented, demanding that Chung hand over his passport information as part of the negotiations. The Danish ambassador in Hanoi was not available to comment on the episode.
Chung then left for the airport, where he was detained by Vietnamese police and held for two weeks. No charges were filed.
After nearly a month of living in tents on the Danish Embassy grounds, the nine defectors are in South Korea. But activists still worry about the fate of the captured five.
For Kim, the episode demonstrates the roller-coaster highs and lows of his work: "You lose so much the very moment you thought you were going to achieve something great."
john.glionna@latimes.com
Ju-min Park of The Times' Seoul Bureau contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
By John M. Glionna
November 25, 2009
Reporting from Seoul
As he cased the security at the foreign embassies in Hanoi, the 78-year-old retiree was seized with sudden self-doubt. He was certainly no John le Carre. Who was he to play spy?
But this wasn't a game. Waiting in nearby safe houses were nine North Korean defectors whom Kim Sang-hun had helped spirit into Vietnam from China -- among them a young doctor and his wife, a mother and daughter, and a woman who'd been sold as a sex slave in Beijing.
"I thought, 'What am I doing here? I'm not a spy. Espionage takes resources and support,' " recalled the activist, who has devoted his retirement to helping refugees escape the repressive Stalinist regime. " 'I have no training. Is the mere will to succeed enough?' "
Days earlier, Kim had received devastating news. Five other defectors, including a woman and her 6-year-old son, had been captured at the Chinese border en route to joining the other nine in Hanoi.
"They were almost there, and now they were gone, being sent back to North Korea to prison and perhaps death," he said. "I remember saying to someone, 'I wish I was dead.' "
He thought about the defectors under his care: For months, they had lived under the constant threat of being caught by Chinese officials and returned to North Korea. Now in Hanoi, the activists' goal was to find the right embassy -- one away from a busy street and out of the steely gaze of Vietnamese secret police -- and then shepherd the defectors inside.
Once within the embassy compound, the refugees could request sanctuary, taking another step toward freedom in South Korea.
The plan was all set. Then Kim and other activists learned about the capture of the five. The three activists -- Kim, another South Korean and an American missionary -- gathered to discuss their options. Should they press forward with the nine remaining defectors, or was the embassy gambit now too risky?
"We were all so tormented," Kim recalled. "At the same time we had to be reasonable. We had nine lives under our custody, people for whom we had assumed total responsibility."
The activists finally posed their dilemma to the defectors themselves. "We told them, 'This is our plan,' " Kim said. " 'Do you want to go forward? It's all up to you.' "
Operation's details
The gripping details of the September operation offer a rare peek inside the covert workings of the "underground railroad," a network of safe houses and secret border crossings that assists in the escape of North Korean refugees.
The activists spoke out to bring attention to the plight of the detained defectors. They have received conflicting reports as to whether the five were still being held in China or had been sent back to North Korea, where they could face severe punishment as an example to other would-be runaways.
At a news conference Nov. 18 near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, they read an open letter to President Obama, who was visiting on a diplomatic swing through Asia. Protesters wanted Obama to challenge the Chinese policy of "forced repatriation" of North Korean refugees, which they say violates China's obligations under the 1951 United Nations convention on the protection of refugees.
Most defectors from North Korea steal into China across the porous border between the two nations. But their journey to freedom is far from over. In China, the women risk being sold into sex rings. Chinese secret police are always set to pounce, prepared to usher the unlucky back to North Korea. So many lie low and wait. They live in safe houses, often working illegally.
They scrape by, waiting for a chance to leave China, knowing the tap on the shoulder from Chinese authorities could come at any time.
"They're afraid of being stopped by some official, asked a question in Chinese they cannot answer," said Tim Peters, the American missionary who took part in the September operation.
"The collar could come on trains, on the street, en route between safe houses. Many North Koreans are physically shorter than Chinese. And the police can smell fear," said Peters, founder of Helping Hands Korea.
No one knows for sure how many people try to escape from North Korea each year, or how many are caught in the attempt. But they do know this: The number of escape attempts is tied to a roulette wheel of economic and political factors, including widespread famine and brutal government crackdowns.
Officials in South Korea estimate that nearly 20,000 North Koreans have relocated here since the 1950s, most within the last decade.
Documents obtained from Chinese border police three years ago suggest that officials in one province alone deported 100 people per month back to North Korea, activists say.
"But nobody knows if that is still the case," said Joanna Hosaniak, a senior program officer with the Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human Rights.
North Korea recently launched a crackdown, expanding the notorious Chongori concentration camp -- known for its brutal conditions and high death rates -- to handle defectors, the Seoul-based newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported.
Meanwhile, activists try to expand escape routes for refugees.
"It's strategically important to find new pathways," Peters said. "Not just new routes across borders, but safe houses and countries where they can be moved along the way."
Vietnam, activists charge, has recently turned a deaf ear to the plight of defectors. After South Korea's 2004 airlift of 468 refugees from its embassy in Hanoi, embarrassed Vietnamese officials have tried to mend relations with North Korea, activists allege.
The South Korean Embassy in Hanoi has also quietly refused to accept defectors since the incident, Kim says. South Korean officials declined to comment. A Vietnamese Embassy spokesman in Seoul denied that his country rejected defectors.
Activists sought a well-publicized defector case to highlight what they termed the political recalcitrance of both nations.
For months, they scoured China for the right defectors. Finally, they identified 14 refugees willing to take the risk.
A poor beginning
In Hanoi, things went wrong at the start.
The activists had chosen the Danish Embassy, a building without high fences or gates and a security guard who often became distracted while assisting visitors.
They ruled out simply storming the door, a tactic Kim has used before, deciding to sneak the defectors inside disguised as tourists.
Moments after Peters entered the lobby as a lookout, activist Peter Chung, director of the group Justice for North Korea, posed as a guide and quickly ushered the group inside.
According to the plan, Chung would then leave the embassy. To linger would risk being detained by Vietnamese officials on possible charges of human trafficking and assisting illegal immigrants.
The physician in the group was chosen to approach embassy employees behind a glass security window and present a letter expressing the group's plea for asylum.
"We are now at the point of such desperation and live in such fear of persecution within North Korea that we have come to the decision to risk our lives for freedom rather than passively await our doom," the note read in English. "The only power we have left is to appeal to you on our knees and with tears."
But suddenly, the doctor lost his nerve. Chung had to act.
"I was stressed," recalled the 42-year-old, who had been detained in China for more than a year in 2003-04 for assisting North Korean defectors.
He called South Korean Embassy officials, who promised to assist, as long as the activists did not make the incident public. Then he approached Danish officials, who he said at first refused to aid the group. Chung persisted. "These are refugees," he said. "They have a right to be protected."
Hours later, with the South Koreans a no-show, the Danish relented, demanding that Chung hand over his passport information as part of the negotiations. The Danish ambassador in Hanoi was not available to comment on the episode.
Chung then left for the airport, where he was detained by Vietnamese police and held for two weeks. No charges were filed.
After nearly a month of living in tents on the Danish Embassy grounds, the nine defectors are in South Korea. But activists still worry about the fate of the captured five.
For Kim, the episode demonstrates the roller-coaster highs and lows of his work: "You lose so much the very moment you thought you were going to achieve something great."
john.glionna@latimes.com
Ju-min Park of The Times' Seoul Bureau contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
China sentences activist to 3 years
Huang Qi was investigating the role shoddy school construction may have played in the deaths of thousands of children in the Sichuan quake last year.
By Barbara Demick
November 24, 2009
Reporting from Beijing
An activist who was investigating the role shoddy school construction played in the deaths of more than 5,000 children in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake was given a three-year prison sentence Monday on charges of possessing state secrets.
Huang Qi, 46, a veteran activist and blogger, is the most prominent of more than a dozen people who were arrested for demanding investigations into construction standards after the magnitude 7.9 temblor. Others included prominent artists, former teachers and parents who lost their only children in the earthquake.
Huang is a veteran activist who had long irritated Chinese authorities by writing about taboo subjects, such as the 1989 crackdown at Tiananmen Square and the persecution of practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement. He'd previously served time in prison.
After the May 12 earthquake, Huang rented a truck and distributed water and instant noodles to people left homeless. He also organized bereaved parents who were questioning why so many schools collapsed when Communist Party and government buildings nearby remained intact. He was arrested less than a month after the quake -- a week after posting an article on his website about school construction standards.
Huang's wife, Zeng Li, told reporters Monday in the Sichuan capital, Chengdu, where the sentencing took place, that her husband was convicted of illegal possession of municipal documents, but that she wasn't told what the papers were or even which municipality they were from.
U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. spoke to Chinese officials about Huang's case during the run-up to President Obama's visit to China last week, according to embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson. It was unclear whether the president himself brought up the subject.
Some Chinese human rights activists have criticized Obama for not being more forceful on their behalf.
"Since the beginning of the financial crisis, the world has been intimidated by China, whether it is about economics, culture or human rights. This is a sad situation that I saw during Obama's visit," said Yang Licai, who volunteered to tally the number of children killed in collapsing schools. Yang said that he and others involved with the quake "were merely people with a conscience trying to find out the truth of what happened and help China avoid the same mistakes."
Amnesty International said in a statement Monday that the Chinese government prohibited witnesses from testifying at Huang's trial and restricted his access to a lawyer under the grounds that "state secrets" were involved.
"China's state secrets legislation needs to urgently be reviewed. These laws are used extensively to retroactively penalize lawful human rights activities and restrict freedom of expression," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director.
barbara.demick@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
By Barbara Demick
November 24, 2009
Reporting from Beijing
An activist who was investigating the role shoddy school construction played in the deaths of more than 5,000 children in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake was given a three-year prison sentence Monday on charges of possessing state secrets.
Huang Qi, 46, a veteran activist and blogger, is the most prominent of more than a dozen people who were arrested for demanding investigations into construction standards after the magnitude 7.9 temblor. Others included prominent artists, former teachers and parents who lost their only children in the earthquake.
Huang is a veteran activist who had long irritated Chinese authorities by writing about taboo subjects, such as the 1989 crackdown at Tiananmen Square and the persecution of practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement. He'd previously served time in prison.
After the May 12 earthquake, Huang rented a truck and distributed water and instant noodles to people left homeless. He also organized bereaved parents who were questioning why so many schools collapsed when Communist Party and government buildings nearby remained intact. He was arrested less than a month after the quake -- a week after posting an article on his website about school construction standards.
Huang's wife, Zeng Li, told reporters Monday in the Sichuan capital, Chengdu, where the sentencing took place, that her husband was convicted of illegal possession of municipal documents, but that she wasn't told what the papers were or even which municipality they were from.
U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. spoke to Chinese officials about Huang's case during the run-up to President Obama's visit to China last week, according to embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson. It was unclear whether the president himself brought up the subject.
Some Chinese human rights activists have criticized Obama for not being more forceful on their behalf.
"Since the beginning of the financial crisis, the world has been intimidated by China, whether it is about economics, culture or human rights. This is a sad situation that I saw during Obama's visit," said Yang Licai, who volunteered to tally the number of children killed in collapsing schools. Yang said that he and others involved with the quake "were merely people with a conscience trying to find out the truth of what happened and help China avoid the same mistakes."
Amnesty International said in a statement Monday that the Chinese government prohibited witnesses from testifying at Huang's trial and restricted his access to a lawyer under the grounds that "state secrets" were involved.
"China's state secrets legislation needs to urgently be reviewed. These laws are used extensively to retroactively penalize lawful human rights activities and restrict freedom of expression," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director.
barbara.demick@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
U.S.-South Korea free-trade pact stalls over politics
The U.S. could use a boost in exports, some analysts say, but a deal with South Korea isn't likely any time soon.
By Don Lee
November 28, 2009
Reporting from Washington
At a time when the United States desperately needs to boost exports and create jobs, America's free-trade pact with South Korea offers the promise of doing both, say many analysts and businesses especially on the West Coast.
But the long-stalled agreement isn't likely to get ratified any time soon -- despite renewed hopes from President Obama's trip to Asia this month and the threat that South Korea's pending trade deal with the European Union could soon put U.S. exporters at a competitive disadvantage.
In Seoul, Obama pledged to move the U.S.-South Korea agreement forward, but he offered no timetable for when that might happen. And although South Korean President Lee Myung-bak expressed a willingness to reopen talks on granting the U.S. wider access to his country's auto market, a crucial sticking point, Korean officials have since backed away. "We are not going to offer anything to the U.S. side," said a South Korean Embassy official in Washington.
Strong opposition to the accord in the U.S. has come from organized labor. AFL-CIO policy director Thea Lee contends that the deal will end up costing American jobs and that there aren't enough protections for South Korean workers' rights. Ford Motor Co. has been a vocal critic as well. But what's really holding up the agreement is politics.
In Michigan, Ohio and other big industrial states, politicians face a strong backlash against trade accords that are seen as symbols of the problems afflicting the U.S. manufacturing sector. For Obama, it's all the more difficult to push harder on the South Korea agreement given his tough talk on trade during the campaign trail -- he promised to reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement -- and the risks of alienating labor unions and Democratic lawmakers while he has unfinished business trying to overhaul healthcare.
Obama has come under fire from abroad and at home for protectionist moves such as slapping heavy tariffs on cheap Chinese tires, even though trade has not been a major part of his agenda in his first year as president. Besides the South Korea trade accord, which was signed in June 2007, similar pacts with Panama and Colombia have languished as well.
At the same time, Obama administration officials have repeatedly stated that the president wants to build a more export-oriented economy in the wake of the financial crisis, and a senior aide said Obama's trip to Asia was aimed in good part at doing just that.
But Obama faces an uphill challenge within his own party.
"I don't know why the president would want to continue [George W.] Bush's trade policy," said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), calling for a fresh start on South Korea-U.S. trade talks.
"Look at what's happened with the numbers," he said, referring to America's persistently large trade deficit, which was running at $360 billion through September of this year. "Our trade policy hasn't worked, and we ought to try something else."
South Korea is the United States' seventh-largest trading partner, with Americans importing $48.1 billion and exporting $34.7 billion to South Korea last year. That amounted to a $13.4-billion shortfall.
The agreement would probably boost U.S. exports to South Korea by $10 billion to $11 billion, particularly of farm goods, machinery and electronics; Korean shipments of textiles, shoes and possibly cars, among other products, would increase by $6 billion to $7 billion, according to projections by the U.S. International Trade Commission.
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk calls the ITC analysis "the gold standard for weighing the economic benefits and costs of an agreement." Yet Kirk also told the U.S.-Korea Business Council this month that the administration was undertaking a fresh review of the pact and gathering public comments, even though the nearly 400-page ITC report contained views from dozens of parties in varying industries.
The report foresees small job gains in the meat industry and some other sectors, while losses are expected to be negligible, in part because South Korea's import growth would probably displace shipments from other foreign suppliers.
On cars, Kirk said: "Our market is open to Korean autos. All we are asking for is for our own auto companies to be able to compete on a level playing field in the Korean market."
General Motors Co., Ford and Chrysler shipped about 7,000 vehicles to South Korea last year, a little more than 1% of the number of cars that Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. sent to the U.S. That difference accounts for most of the U.S. trade gap with South Korea.
South Korea's car market has a legacy of being closed, but the agreement would require Seoul to drop its 8% auto tariff immediately. Meanwhile, the 2.5% duty on small-engine Korean cars to the U.S. would disappear right away, and the 25% levy on pickup trucks would phase out over 10 years.
Critics said the accord didn't adequately address South Korea's nontariff barriers. But many doubt that American automakers could make big gains anyway. U.S. car brands don't rate highly among Korean consumers. Under similar market conditions, Japanese cars outsell American models in South Korea by 3 to 1, and German automakers have a nearly 4-to-1 edge over U.S. rivals.
"It's a bit exaggerated to say the U.S. could export a lot of cars even if the market was completely open and you had no restriction," said Jeffrey Schott, a trade policy expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
Similarly, he doesn't see the elimination of the 2.5% tariff in the U.S. as making a whole lot of difference for Korean automakers. Hyundai and Kia have a combined market share in the U.S. of about 7% through October of this year.
"Overall, the U.S. economy is a big winner from the U.S.-Korea trade agreement," Schott said, although he warned that time was running out. He expects the South Korea-EU pact to take effect next year, and "there would be trade diversion."
Joseph Rollo, head of the international department at the Wine Institute in San Francisco, remembers how California's share of South Korea's wine market slipped after Seoul struck a free-trade deal with Chile a few years ago. It's almost certain to fall further once the 15% tariff on foreign wines is lifted for Europe, he said.
"We would like to see it get through," Rollo said of the South Korea-U.S. agreement. But after more than two years in limbo, he said, he isn't holding his breath.
don.lee@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
By Don Lee
November 28, 2009
Reporting from Washington
At a time when the United States desperately needs to boost exports and create jobs, America's free-trade pact with South Korea offers the promise of doing both, say many analysts and businesses especially on the West Coast.
But the long-stalled agreement isn't likely to get ratified any time soon -- despite renewed hopes from President Obama's trip to Asia this month and the threat that South Korea's pending trade deal with the European Union could soon put U.S. exporters at a competitive disadvantage.
In Seoul, Obama pledged to move the U.S.-South Korea agreement forward, but he offered no timetable for when that might happen. And although South Korean President Lee Myung-bak expressed a willingness to reopen talks on granting the U.S. wider access to his country's auto market, a crucial sticking point, Korean officials have since backed away. "We are not going to offer anything to the U.S. side," said a South Korean Embassy official in Washington.
Strong opposition to the accord in the U.S. has come from organized labor. AFL-CIO policy director Thea Lee contends that the deal will end up costing American jobs and that there aren't enough protections for South Korean workers' rights. Ford Motor Co. has been a vocal critic as well. But what's really holding up the agreement is politics.
In Michigan, Ohio and other big industrial states, politicians face a strong backlash against trade accords that are seen as symbols of the problems afflicting the U.S. manufacturing sector. For Obama, it's all the more difficult to push harder on the South Korea agreement given his tough talk on trade during the campaign trail -- he promised to reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement -- and the risks of alienating labor unions and Democratic lawmakers while he has unfinished business trying to overhaul healthcare.
Obama has come under fire from abroad and at home for protectionist moves such as slapping heavy tariffs on cheap Chinese tires, even though trade has not been a major part of his agenda in his first year as president. Besides the South Korea trade accord, which was signed in June 2007, similar pacts with Panama and Colombia have languished as well.
At the same time, Obama administration officials have repeatedly stated that the president wants to build a more export-oriented economy in the wake of the financial crisis, and a senior aide said Obama's trip to Asia was aimed in good part at doing just that.
But Obama faces an uphill challenge within his own party.
"I don't know why the president would want to continue [George W.] Bush's trade policy," said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), calling for a fresh start on South Korea-U.S. trade talks.
"Look at what's happened with the numbers," he said, referring to America's persistently large trade deficit, which was running at $360 billion through September of this year. "Our trade policy hasn't worked, and we ought to try something else."
South Korea is the United States' seventh-largest trading partner, with Americans importing $48.1 billion and exporting $34.7 billion to South Korea last year. That amounted to a $13.4-billion shortfall.
The agreement would probably boost U.S. exports to South Korea by $10 billion to $11 billion, particularly of farm goods, machinery and electronics; Korean shipments of textiles, shoes and possibly cars, among other products, would increase by $6 billion to $7 billion, according to projections by the U.S. International Trade Commission.
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk calls the ITC analysis "the gold standard for weighing the economic benefits and costs of an agreement." Yet Kirk also told the U.S.-Korea Business Council this month that the administration was undertaking a fresh review of the pact and gathering public comments, even though the nearly 400-page ITC report contained views from dozens of parties in varying industries.
The report foresees small job gains in the meat industry and some other sectors, while losses are expected to be negligible, in part because South Korea's import growth would probably displace shipments from other foreign suppliers.
On cars, Kirk said: "Our market is open to Korean autos. All we are asking for is for our own auto companies to be able to compete on a level playing field in the Korean market."
General Motors Co., Ford and Chrysler shipped about 7,000 vehicles to South Korea last year, a little more than 1% of the number of cars that Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. sent to the U.S. That difference accounts for most of the U.S. trade gap with South Korea.
South Korea's car market has a legacy of being closed, but the agreement would require Seoul to drop its 8% auto tariff immediately. Meanwhile, the 2.5% duty on small-engine Korean cars to the U.S. would disappear right away, and the 25% levy on pickup trucks would phase out over 10 years.
Critics said the accord didn't adequately address South Korea's nontariff barriers. But many doubt that American automakers could make big gains anyway. U.S. car brands don't rate highly among Korean consumers. Under similar market conditions, Japanese cars outsell American models in South Korea by 3 to 1, and German automakers have a nearly 4-to-1 edge over U.S. rivals.
"It's a bit exaggerated to say the U.S. could export a lot of cars even if the market was completely open and you had no restriction," said Jeffrey Schott, a trade policy expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
Similarly, he doesn't see the elimination of the 2.5% tariff in the U.S. as making a whole lot of difference for Korean automakers. Hyundai and Kia have a combined market share in the U.S. of about 7% through October of this year.
"Overall, the U.S. economy is a big winner from the U.S.-Korea trade agreement," Schott said, although he warned that time was running out. He expects the South Korea-EU pact to take effect next year, and "there would be trade diversion."
Joseph Rollo, head of the international department at the Wine Institute in San Francisco, remembers how California's share of South Korea's wine market slipped after Seoul struck a free-trade deal with Chile a few years ago. It's almost certain to fall further once the 15% tariff on foreign wines is lifted for Europe, he said.
"We would like to see it get through," Rollo said of the South Korea-U.S. agreement. But after more than two years in limbo, he said, he isn't holding his breath.
don.lee@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
Manga's story starts with kamishibai
Part street theater and paper artistry, the Japanese art form would go on to influence modern-day comics. In 'Manga Kamishibai,' writer Eric P. Nash unveils its little-known history.
By Liesl Bradner
November 29, 2009
It was the simple clacking of two wooden sticks on a street corner that signaled to children the start of kamishibai, a popular pastime during Depression-era Japan. Kamishibai means "street theater using painted illustrations." Author Eric P. Nash examines the little-known art form and predecessor to modern-day anime and manga in his recent book "Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater," published by Abrams ComicArts.
Storytellers would travel from town to town with their butai (miniature stage) on the back of a bike. The set-up was reminiscent of a "Punch and Judy" show, but instead of puppets the narrator would slide a series of poster boards with water color illustrations in and out of the box. He would act out the script, which was written on cards placed on the back of a board.
Each show consisted of three stories of about 10 minutes each: an adventure for boys, a domestic drama for girls and then a simple comic story. The majority of performances ended in a cliffhanger, forcing eager audiences to return the next day.
Nash, a New York Times writer and research editor and author of several books on architecture, has always been a fan of comics. It was while reading the book "Getting it Wrong in Japan" that he came across "kamishibai," a word he had never seen before, and decided to dig further. Unable to find any book on the topic in English, he traveled to Japan two years ago to investigate and found more than 300 images in two children's libraries in Osaka and Tokyo and discovered countless contributions that kamishibai had made to the comics genre.
"A lot of attributes seen in anime are present," Nash said, "such as Giant Robots and monsters from outer space." He also mentions the "manga-sized eyes," wide and oversized, meant to convey emotion found in popular characters such as Jungle Boy.
Golden Bat, created in 1931, was considered to be the world's first true comic superhero. Although visually resembling Captain America's nemesis Red Skull, Golden Bat and Superman share more commonalities: the red cape, skill of flight, superhuman strength and a fortress of solitude, albeit in the Japanese Alps.
Kamishibai artists departed from traditional Japanese line art drawing by creating a cartoon-like style and applying chiaroscuro, the Western style of contrasting light and dark, providing depth and mass.
During World War II, the Japanese government used kamishibai for propaganda, as did Americans during the occupation with stories centered on democratic values such as baseball.
The demise of kamishibai coincided with the end of the occupation and introduction of television in 1952.
Many of the form's writers and artists then migrated into manga in the '50s such as Astro Boy creator Osamu Tezuka.
In "Manga Kamishibai," Golden Bat creator Takeo Nagamatsu summed up his feelings on kamishibai's role in Japanese society: "Pictures that look nice in someone's house are great . . . but kamishibai are loved by many children and cheer them up. When I think of these children later growing up to be honorable Japanese adults, it makes me realize the significance of creating kamishibai."
liesl.bradner@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
By Liesl Bradner
November 29, 2009
It was the simple clacking of two wooden sticks on a street corner that signaled to children the start of kamishibai, a popular pastime during Depression-era Japan. Kamishibai means "street theater using painted illustrations." Author Eric P. Nash examines the little-known art form and predecessor to modern-day anime and manga in his recent book "Manga Kamishibai: The Art of Japanese Paper Theater," published by Abrams ComicArts.
Storytellers would travel from town to town with their butai (miniature stage) on the back of a bike. The set-up was reminiscent of a "Punch and Judy" show, but instead of puppets the narrator would slide a series of poster boards with water color illustrations in and out of the box. He would act out the script, which was written on cards placed on the back of a board.
Each show consisted of three stories of about 10 minutes each: an adventure for boys, a domestic drama for girls and then a simple comic story. The majority of performances ended in a cliffhanger, forcing eager audiences to return the next day.
Nash, a New York Times writer and research editor and author of several books on architecture, has always been a fan of comics. It was while reading the book "Getting it Wrong in Japan" that he came across "kamishibai," a word he had never seen before, and decided to dig further. Unable to find any book on the topic in English, he traveled to Japan two years ago to investigate and found more than 300 images in two children's libraries in Osaka and Tokyo and discovered countless contributions that kamishibai had made to the comics genre.
"A lot of attributes seen in anime are present," Nash said, "such as Giant Robots and monsters from outer space." He also mentions the "manga-sized eyes," wide and oversized, meant to convey emotion found in popular characters such as Jungle Boy.
Golden Bat, created in 1931, was considered to be the world's first true comic superhero. Although visually resembling Captain America's nemesis Red Skull, Golden Bat and Superman share more commonalities: the red cape, skill of flight, superhuman strength and a fortress of solitude, albeit in the Japanese Alps.
Kamishibai artists departed from traditional Japanese line art drawing by creating a cartoon-like style and applying chiaroscuro, the Western style of contrasting light and dark, providing depth and mass.
During World War II, the Japanese government used kamishibai for propaganda, as did Americans during the occupation with stories centered on democratic values such as baseball.
The demise of kamishibai coincided with the end of the occupation and introduction of television in 1952.
Many of the form's writers and artists then migrated into manga in the '50s such as Astro Boy creator Osamu Tezuka.
In "Manga Kamishibai," Golden Bat creator Takeo Nagamatsu summed up his feelings on kamishibai's role in Japanese society: "Pictures that look nice in someone's house are great . . . but kamishibai are loved by many children and cheer them up. When I think of these children later growing up to be honorable Japanese adults, it makes me realize the significance of creating kamishibai."
liesl.bradner@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
In South Korea, abortion foes gain ground
Though they're technically illegal, abortions are prevalent and rarely discussed in the political sphere. One doctor has become the face of a movement to change that.
By John M. Glionna
November 29, 2009
Reporting from Seoul
For nearly two decades, obstetrician Shim Sang-duk aborted as many babies as he delivered -- on average, one a day, month after month.
"Over time, I became emotionless," the physician said. "I came to see the results of my work as just a chunk of blood. During the operation, I felt the same as though I was treating scars or curing diseases."
Shim, 42, eventually came to despise himself, despite the money he earned from the procedures. So, two months ago, he founded an activist group of physicians who refuse to perform abortions and advocate prosecution for doctors who continue to do so.
The group's stand has brought a tidal wave of criticism from the Korean Assn. of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which represents more than 4,000 physicians in this country where abortions, although technically illegal, are so prevalent it has been tagged as "the Abortion Republic."
Unlike in America, where doctors have been threatened and even killed for performing abortions, Shim says he's received death threats for deciding to stop performing them.
The controversy illustrates the stark differences between South Korea's attitude toward abortion and that of many Western nations. While often couched elsewhere as a battle between religious activists and those defending a woman's right to choose, the issue here carries no such emotional freight.
"Western societies see abortion as one of benchmark battles between conservatives and liberals -- while here there has not been even any academic discussion," said Lee Na-young, a sociology professor at Seoul's Chung-Ang University.
In South Korea, religious groups and women's rights advocates have remained largely silent on the issue, analysts say.
"During church sermons, we barely talk about abortion, which is considered an individual matter," said Hwang Pil-gyu, a minister on the life and ethics committee of the National Council of Churches in Korea. "Many churches have put this issue on the back burner."
Shim has critics even outside the medical field. Some say he's grandstanding. Others criticize his emphasis on the financial incentive of performing abortions.
"The whole discussion seems to be about his giving up profits from the abortions he doesn't do," Lee said. "This isn't the issue."
But Shim's campaign has triggered a rare public debate on abortion. Lawmakers now call for tougher enforcement of existing laws, and are asking parents to reassess the cultural value of childbirth.
Beginning in the 1970s, officials advocated fewer births as a way to fuel economic productivity. The policy was perhaps too successful: Birthrates in South Korea plummeted. A decade ago, officials reversed their stand, calling for residents to have more babies.
Yet the declining fertility trend has proved difficult to reverse. The country's birthrate is now among the lowest worldwide, with just 1.19 live births per woman.
Meanwhile, abortion rates have kept their pace, many say. Every year, 450,000 babies are born here; Health Ministry officials estimate that 350,000 abortions are performed each year. One politician says the number of abortions is actually four times higher -- nearly 1.5 million.
Now there are calls to strengthen a 1973 mother-child protection law, long criticized for containing loopholes and for being rarely enforced. Some lawmakers want to prosecute more physicians for performing abortions and close down underground clinics where the procedures cost as little as $70.
For the first six months of 2009, only three of 29 abortion-related cases were prosecuted, said Chang Yoon-seok, a member of the ruling Grand National Party, who supports tougher sanctions.
"Even though illegal abortions are widespread . . . it is true that everyone keeps quiet and does not say anything about it," the politician said in a statement.
Dressed in his white lab coat, the bespectacled Shim embodies a new public consciousness against abortion.
In the lobby of his Ion clinic, a sign explains his new philosophy. "Abortions, which abandon the valuable life of a fetus, are the very misery for the nation and society as well as pregnant women, families and ob-gyn doctors," it reads.
For years, Shim rarely, if ever, even used the word "abortion." Rather, he said, he sought to "erase" or "prevent" the fetus.
"I bought into the government's argument that it was OK to do this," he said. "It was good for the country. It boosted the economy."
Still, Shim was often baffled by his patients' behavior: After receiving their abortions, he said, most women cried.
"Many patients cry when they give birth," he said, "but these were a different kind of tears."
Although Shim's clinic made one-quarter of its profits from performing abortions, he tried harder to dissuade patients from choosing the option.
He started a website where he was contacted by other physicians. Although he claims support from 700 doctors, he acknowledges that only 30 have stopped performing the procedure.
Many others have withdrawn their support under pressure from peers. But for Shim, the benefits were immediate. "I feel like a young doctor again," he said.
The decision was difficult financially. His clinic has lost so many patients that Shim says he may soon be forced to close.
But Shim won't reconsider. The physician recalled his final abortion.
He had already sworn off the procedure when a longtime patient called him, distraught. He met with the mother of two for hours and begged her to go home and reconsider.
The following morning, she still wanted the abortion. So Shim relented. After the procedure, he said, she cried.
john.glionna@latimes.com
Ju-min Park of The Times' Seoul Bureau contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
By John M. Glionna
November 29, 2009
Reporting from Seoul
For nearly two decades, obstetrician Shim Sang-duk aborted as many babies as he delivered -- on average, one a day, month after month.
"Over time, I became emotionless," the physician said. "I came to see the results of my work as just a chunk of blood. During the operation, I felt the same as though I was treating scars or curing diseases."
Shim, 42, eventually came to despise himself, despite the money he earned from the procedures. So, two months ago, he founded an activist group of physicians who refuse to perform abortions and advocate prosecution for doctors who continue to do so.
The group's stand has brought a tidal wave of criticism from the Korean Assn. of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which represents more than 4,000 physicians in this country where abortions, although technically illegal, are so prevalent it has been tagged as "the Abortion Republic."
Unlike in America, where doctors have been threatened and even killed for performing abortions, Shim says he's received death threats for deciding to stop performing them.
The controversy illustrates the stark differences between South Korea's attitude toward abortion and that of many Western nations. While often couched elsewhere as a battle between religious activists and those defending a woman's right to choose, the issue here carries no such emotional freight.
"Western societies see abortion as one of benchmark battles between conservatives and liberals -- while here there has not been even any academic discussion," said Lee Na-young, a sociology professor at Seoul's Chung-Ang University.
In South Korea, religious groups and women's rights advocates have remained largely silent on the issue, analysts say.
"During church sermons, we barely talk about abortion, which is considered an individual matter," said Hwang Pil-gyu, a minister on the life and ethics committee of the National Council of Churches in Korea. "Many churches have put this issue on the back burner."
Shim has critics even outside the medical field. Some say he's grandstanding. Others criticize his emphasis on the financial incentive of performing abortions.
"The whole discussion seems to be about his giving up profits from the abortions he doesn't do," Lee said. "This isn't the issue."
But Shim's campaign has triggered a rare public debate on abortion. Lawmakers now call for tougher enforcement of existing laws, and are asking parents to reassess the cultural value of childbirth.
Beginning in the 1970s, officials advocated fewer births as a way to fuel economic productivity. The policy was perhaps too successful: Birthrates in South Korea plummeted. A decade ago, officials reversed their stand, calling for residents to have more babies.
Yet the declining fertility trend has proved difficult to reverse. The country's birthrate is now among the lowest worldwide, with just 1.19 live births per woman.
Meanwhile, abortion rates have kept their pace, many say. Every year, 450,000 babies are born here; Health Ministry officials estimate that 350,000 abortions are performed each year. One politician says the number of abortions is actually four times higher -- nearly 1.5 million.
Now there are calls to strengthen a 1973 mother-child protection law, long criticized for containing loopholes and for being rarely enforced. Some lawmakers want to prosecute more physicians for performing abortions and close down underground clinics where the procedures cost as little as $70.
For the first six months of 2009, only three of 29 abortion-related cases were prosecuted, said Chang Yoon-seok, a member of the ruling Grand National Party, who supports tougher sanctions.
"Even though illegal abortions are widespread . . . it is true that everyone keeps quiet and does not say anything about it," the politician said in a statement.
Dressed in his white lab coat, the bespectacled Shim embodies a new public consciousness against abortion.
In the lobby of his Ion clinic, a sign explains his new philosophy. "Abortions, which abandon the valuable life of a fetus, are the very misery for the nation and society as well as pregnant women, families and ob-gyn doctors," it reads.
For years, Shim rarely, if ever, even used the word "abortion." Rather, he said, he sought to "erase" or "prevent" the fetus.
"I bought into the government's argument that it was OK to do this," he said. "It was good for the country. It boosted the economy."
Still, Shim was often baffled by his patients' behavior: After receiving their abortions, he said, most women cried.
"Many patients cry when they give birth," he said, "but these were a different kind of tears."
Although Shim's clinic made one-quarter of its profits from performing abortions, he tried harder to dissuade patients from choosing the option.
He started a website where he was contacted by other physicians. Although he claims support from 700 doctors, he acknowledges that only 30 have stopped performing the procedure.
Many others have withdrawn their support under pressure from peers. But for Shim, the benefits were immediate. "I feel like a young doctor again," he said.
The decision was difficult financially. His clinic has lost so many patients that Shim says he may soon be forced to close.
But Shim won't reconsider. The physician recalled his final abortion.
He had already sworn off the procedure when a longtime patient called him, distraught. He met with the mother of two for hours and begged her to go home and reconsider.
The following morning, she still wanted the abortion. So Shim relented. After the procedure, he said, she cried.
john.glionna@latimes.com
Ju-min Park of The Times' Seoul Bureau contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
Japan PM 'surprised' at reports of dubious funds from mother
(AFP) – 5 days ago
TOKYO — Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Wednesday he was "surprised" about media reports that his millionaire mother gave him dubious political donations.
"I am very much surprised at what has been reported," he told reporters, as a scandal involving his fund-raising body appeared to widen about two months into his premiership.
"What has been done without my knowledge at all? Is it (what has been reported) true or not? They (the reports) have all surprised me very much," he said.
Hatoyama's fund-raising body allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars from his mother Yasuko, the eldest daughter of Bridgestone founder Shojiro Ishibashi, the Mainichi Shimbun said, quoting unnamed sources.
The Yomiuri Shimbun daily also said Yasuko, a major shareholder of the Japanese tyremaker, secretly provided 1.5 million yen (17,000 dollars) a year to the fund-raising body, which, if correct, may violate the political funds law.
The prime minister said he hoped that the "truth will be brought to light" through ongoing investigations by public prosecutors.
In a related development, a former aide to Hatoyama is now facing indictment for misreporting political donations, media reports said Tuesday.
Hatoyama fired the aide in June, when he was still opposition leader, and admitted to sloppy account-keeping by the fund-raising body, which had listed the names of dead people as well as people who later denied giving money.
The centre-left prime minister hails from a wealthy political family often dubbed "Japan's Kennedys" and has also faced media accusations he used his personal fortune to bankroll some of his political activities.
Hatoyama took power in mid-September after a landslide election win that ended more than half a century of almost unbroken conservative rule.
Support for his cabinet has dropped to 63 percent amid a probe into the donation scandal, the Yomiuri Shimbun said in its poll in mid-November.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano told reporters: "Our prime minister has apologised to the people. He is looking at the developments based on the assumption that he will cooperate in the investigation."
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
TOKYO — Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Wednesday he was "surprised" about media reports that his millionaire mother gave him dubious political donations.
"I am very much surprised at what has been reported," he told reporters, as a scandal involving his fund-raising body appeared to widen about two months into his premiership.
"What has been done without my knowledge at all? Is it (what has been reported) true or not? They (the reports) have all surprised me very much," he said.
Hatoyama's fund-raising body allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars from his mother Yasuko, the eldest daughter of Bridgestone founder Shojiro Ishibashi, the Mainichi Shimbun said, quoting unnamed sources.
The Yomiuri Shimbun daily also said Yasuko, a major shareholder of the Japanese tyremaker, secretly provided 1.5 million yen (17,000 dollars) a year to the fund-raising body, which, if correct, may violate the political funds law.
The prime minister said he hoped that the "truth will be brought to light" through ongoing investigations by public prosecutors.
In a related development, a former aide to Hatoyama is now facing indictment for misreporting political donations, media reports said Tuesday.
Hatoyama fired the aide in June, when he was still opposition leader, and admitted to sloppy account-keeping by the fund-raising body, which had listed the names of dead people as well as people who later denied giving money.
The centre-left prime minister hails from a wealthy political family often dubbed "Japan's Kennedys" and has also faced media accusations he used his personal fortune to bankroll some of his political activities.
Hatoyama took power in mid-September after a landslide election win that ended more than half a century of almost unbroken conservative rule.
Support for his cabinet has dropped to 63 percent amid a probe into the donation scandal, the Yomiuri Shimbun said in its poll in mid-November.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano told reporters: "Our prime minister has apologised to the people. He is looking at the developments based on the assumption that he will cooperate in the investigation."
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
Japan seeks baby boom to defuse population timebomb
by Patrice Novotny Patrice Novotny
Thu Nov 26, 3:52 pm ET
TOKYO (AFP) – There are many reasons Japan's population is headed for a sharp decline, but one of them is that for working women giving birth usually spells the death of their careers.
The country's new centre-left government -- trying to defuse a ticking demographic timebomb -- is working to change laws and mindsets in a bid to boost Japan's birth rate, one of the world's lowest.
It is up against entrenched attitudes about women in the workplace and motherhood, as one twenty-something mother-to-be experienced when her employer recently handed her a pre-written resignation letter.
"The personnel department just gave me the letter," she recalled. "I was told to copy it by hand, sign it and date it. When I didn't do it immediately, the supervisor yelled at me."
"I finally gave in," said the woman, who worked at a big publishing house and asked not to be named. "In the end I was almost relieved to stop work, because the atmosphere in the office had just become so stifling."
Such cases are especially frequent for temporary workers such as the Tokyo woman, who said she had received no unemployment benefits since her 'voluntary resignation' when her boss showed her the door several months ago.
Japan's new government, which ended half a century of almost unbroken conservative rule when it took power in September, has embarked on a campaign to make Japan a more equal and family-friendly nation.
The problem is existential for Japan, the world's number two economy. Its population of about 127 million, on current trends, is projected to decline to 95 million by 2050.
That would leave the country with a ratio of only 1.5 economically active people per retiree by 2050 -- compared to about three workers per retiree now.
Japan, famously reluctant to open up its doors to more than a trickle of immigrants, is in part banking on advances in robotics to care for its army of elderly in future.
The fertility rate, the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime, dropped below the population replacement level of 2.07 in the 1970s, setting the island-nation on the path for contraction.
It hit bottom at 1.26 in 2005 before creeping up to 1.37 last year.
To beat the drum for a new baby boom, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has appointed Mizuho Fukushima, leader of a junior coalition partner, as his State Minister for the Declining Birthrate and Gender Equality.
The former human rights lawyer -- known for advocating that married women should be allowed to keep their maiden names -- is seeking to bolster the number of nurseries and boost financial aid for women on maternity leave.
"Unfortunately 70 percent of women quit their jobs once they have a child. We want them to continue working throughout their active lives," Fukushima told AFP in a recent interview.
"Between work and the long commutes, people are exhausted when they get home," said Fukushima. "We need to regulate work hours to create a system in which men will be able to participate more in housework."
The government started allowing paternity leave several years ago, but the participation rate of fathers has hovered at a miniscule 1.2 percent.
The government plans other cash measures to help families -- 26,000 yen (290 dollars) per month for every child until middle school, the abolition of high school enrolment fees, and new benefits for single-parent families.
"That way, we will be able to create a society where having children will no longer be considered a handicap," said Fukushima.
The news is not all grim. While Japan in many ways remains a deeply traditional and male-dominated society, attitudes toward working women are changing, albeit at a snail's pace.
In a 1992 government survey, only 23 percent of Japanese said they supported the idea of women working after they give birth. That number had risen to 43 percent 15 years later.
"Little by little, Japanese society agrees that a woman can have children and work at the same time -- that's my personal view," said Yasuo Tanaka, a manager at the Centre for the Advancement of Working Women in Tokyo.
However, for sociologist Yuko Kawanishi, work is only one aspect of the fertility problem.
"The main reason is that Japanese tend to marry later and later in life, or not at all -- and also the fact that it is very rare to have children born out of wedlock," she said.
Only three percent of Japanese babies are born to unmarried couples, compared to more than 50 percent in France and the Scandinavian countries and about 40 percent in the United States.
The main factor is widespread discrimination against children born out of wedlock who, under Japanese law, have rights to only half of the parental inheritance of their "legitimate" siblings.
Fukushima said she and Justice Minister Keiko Chiba are working to change the law as a step to encourage unmarried couples to have babies.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved
Thu Nov 26, 3:52 pm ET
TOKYO (AFP) – There are many reasons Japan's population is headed for a sharp decline, but one of them is that for working women giving birth usually spells the death of their careers.
The country's new centre-left government -- trying to defuse a ticking demographic timebomb -- is working to change laws and mindsets in a bid to boost Japan's birth rate, one of the world's lowest.
It is up against entrenched attitudes about women in the workplace and motherhood, as one twenty-something mother-to-be experienced when her employer recently handed her a pre-written resignation letter.
"The personnel department just gave me the letter," she recalled. "I was told to copy it by hand, sign it and date it. When I didn't do it immediately, the supervisor yelled at me."
"I finally gave in," said the woman, who worked at a big publishing house and asked not to be named. "In the end I was almost relieved to stop work, because the atmosphere in the office had just become so stifling."
Such cases are especially frequent for temporary workers such as the Tokyo woman, who said she had received no unemployment benefits since her 'voluntary resignation' when her boss showed her the door several months ago.
Japan's new government, which ended half a century of almost unbroken conservative rule when it took power in September, has embarked on a campaign to make Japan a more equal and family-friendly nation.
The problem is existential for Japan, the world's number two economy. Its population of about 127 million, on current trends, is projected to decline to 95 million by 2050.
That would leave the country with a ratio of only 1.5 economically active people per retiree by 2050 -- compared to about three workers per retiree now.
Japan, famously reluctant to open up its doors to more than a trickle of immigrants, is in part banking on advances in robotics to care for its army of elderly in future.
The fertility rate, the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime, dropped below the population replacement level of 2.07 in the 1970s, setting the island-nation on the path for contraction.
It hit bottom at 1.26 in 2005 before creeping up to 1.37 last year.
To beat the drum for a new baby boom, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has appointed Mizuho Fukushima, leader of a junior coalition partner, as his State Minister for the Declining Birthrate and Gender Equality.
The former human rights lawyer -- known for advocating that married women should be allowed to keep their maiden names -- is seeking to bolster the number of nurseries and boost financial aid for women on maternity leave.
"Unfortunately 70 percent of women quit their jobs once they have a child. We want them to continue working throughout their active lives," Fukushima told AFP in a recent interview.
"Between work and the long commutes, people are exhausted when they get home," said Fukushima. "We need to regulate work hours to create a system in which men will be able to participate more in housework."
The government started allowing paternity leave several years ago, but the participation rate of fathers has hovered at a miniscule 1.2 percent.
The government plans other cash measures to help families -- 26,000 yen (290 dollars) per month for every child until middle school, the abolition of high school enrolment fees, and new benefits for single-parent families.
"That way, we will be able to create a society where having children will no longer be considered a handicap," said Fukushima.
The news is not all grim. While Japan in many ways remains a deeply traditional and male-dominated society, attitudes toward working women are changing, albeit at a snail's pace.
In a 1992 government survey, only 23 percent of Japanese said they supported the idea of women working after they give birth. That number had risen to 43 percent 15 years later.
"Little by little, Japanese society agrees that a woman can have children and work at the same time -- that's my personal view," said Yasuo Tanaka, a manager at the Centre for the Advancement of Working Women in Tokyo.
However, for sociologist Yuko Kawanishi, work is only one aspect of the fertility problem.
"The main reason is that Japanese tend to marry later and later in life, or not at all -- and also the fact that it is very rare to have children born out of wedlock," she said.
Only three percent of Japanese babies are born to unmarried couples, compared to more than 50 percent in France and the Scandinavian countries and about 40 percent in the United States.
The main factor is widespread discrimination against children born out of wedlock who, under Japanese law, have rights to only half of the parental inheritance of their "legitimate" siblings.
Fukushima said she and Justice Minister Keiko Chiba are working to change the law as a step to encourage unmarried couples to have babies.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved
Japan plans major new stimulus package
Sun Nov 29, 10:56 pm ET
TOKYO (AFP) – Japan plans an extra stimulus of at least 31 billion dollars this fiscal year that would include measures to tackle the surging yen and weak share prices, the top government spokesman said Monday.
The government needs to take "policy action in view of the strengthening yen and problems surrounding share prices" and plans spending of "no less than 2.7 trillion yen (31 billion dollars)," said government spokesman Hirofumi Hirano.
Japanese share prices have been hit in recent weeks by a strong yen which hit a 14-year high against the dollar last week.
A strong yen hurts exporters by making their goods more expensive abroad and eating into their dollar profits when they are converted back into yen.
The yen traded at 86.74-yen to the dollar in Tokyo early Monday.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
TOKYO (AFP) – Japan plans an extra stimulus of at least 31 billion dollars this fiscal year that would include measures to tackle the surging yen and weak share prices, the top government spokesman said Monday.
The government needs to take "policy action in view of the strengthening yen and problems surrounding share prices" and plans spending of "no less than 2.7 trillion yen (31 billion dollars)," said government spokesman Hirofumi Hirano.
Japanese share prices have been hit in recent weeks by a strong yen which hit a 14-year high against the dollar last week.
A strong yen hurts exporters by making their goods more expensive abroad and eating into their dollar profits when they are converted back into yen.
The yen traded at 86.74-yen to the dollar in Tokyo early Monday.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Japan manga fans flock to cartoonist's funeral
(AFP) – 13 hours ago
TOKYO — Thousands of manga fans flocked to the funeral Monday of Japanese cartoonist Yoshito Usui, whose cheeky schoolboy character Shin-chan delighted millions.
More than 3,000 mourners queued to offer their last respects at central Tokyo's Aoyama Funeral Hall, where pictures, stuffed dolls, comic books and videos of Usui's characters were on display and decorated with flowers.
Usui died on a mountain hike in September.
"Mr Usui unfortunately died, but the characters created by Mr Usui are still alive," said fellow cartoonist Tetsuya Chiba, hailing the artist who created the hit "Crayon Shin-chan" series in the 1990s.
Usui, 51, who was popular among manga enthusiasts worldwide, went missing on September 11 while hiking alone in a mountain range north of Tokyo.
His bruised body was found more than a week later but police said there was no suggestion his death was a suicide.
"It was very shocking to me when I heard of his death," said one fan, Megumi Nagai, a 24-year-old female bartender. "The funeral was very valuable because I could see his works, all the comics, all the videos and the history."
Usui made his debut as a manga author in 1987 and sprang to prominence in the 1990s with Crayon Shin-chan, a magazine manga strip about the daily life of Shinnosuke, a mischievous five-year-old boy.
The series was turned into a book and an animated television series.
The cartoon books, which have sold 50 million copies in Japan alone, have been since translated and published in 14 countries, while the television series has been aired in 30 nations.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
TOKYO — Thousands of manga fans flocked to the funeral Monday of Japanese cartoonist Yoshito Usui, whose cheeky schoolboy character Shin-chan delighted millions.
More than 3,000 mourners queued to offer their last respects at central Tokyo's Aoyama Funeral Hall, where pictures, stuffed dolls, comic books and videos of Usui's characters were on display and decorated with flowers.
Usui died on a mountain hike in September.
"Mr Usui unfortunately died, but the characters created by Mr Usui are still alive," said fellow cartoonist Tetsuya Chiba, hailing the artist who created the hit "Crayon Shin-chan" series in the 1990s.
Usui, 51, who was popular among manga enthusiasts worldwide, went missing on September 11 while hiking alone in a mountain range north of Tokyo.
His bruised body was found more than a week later but police said there was no suggestion his death was a suicide.
"It was very shocking to me when I heard of his death," said one fan, Megumi Nagai, a 24-year-old female bartender. "The funeral was very valuable because I could see his works, all the comics, all the videos and the history."
Usui made his debut as a manga author in 1987 and sprang to prominence in the 1990s with Crayon Shin-chan, a magazine manga strip about the daily life of Shinnosuke, a mischievous five-year-old boy.
The series was turned into a book and an animated television series.
The cartoon books, which have sold 50 million copies in Japan alone, have been since translated and published in 14 countries, while the television series has been aired in 30 nations.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
Obama To Outline U.S. Goals At Climate Summit
by Scott Horsley
November 25, 2009
President Obama will commit the U.S. to a goal of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade at a climate conference in Copenhagen next month. His goal is to cut carbon dioxide emissions by about 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.
TRANSCRIPT
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
MICHELE NORRIS, host:
And I'm Michele Norris.
The White House announced today that President Obama will attend the big international conference on climate change in Copenhagen next month. Moreover, he will offer to make significant cuts in greenhouse gas emission, even though Congress hasn't taken final action yet.
NPR's Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY: President Obama's first trip to Copenhagen didn't work out so well. He made a last minute dash there in September to support Chicago's Olympic bid, but came home empty handed. This time, the president is hoping for better luck when he takes his place at the starting line of an international climate conference aimed at combating global warming.
Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists thinks the president's attendance will give a needed boost to climate negotiations.
Mr. ALDEN MEYER (Director of Strategy and Policy, Union of Concerned Scientists): What the world needs from the United States is two things -clarity and confidence about what we're prepared to do.
HORSLEY: The White House says Mr. Obama will put on the table a proposal for the U.S. to cut its emissions of heat trapping gasses by about 17 percent from their 2005 levels over the next decade. That's in line with cuts narrowly approved by the House of Representatives. But the Senate hasn't voted on it's version of the climate bill. So, Meyer says the president is, in a sense, going out on a limb.
Mr. MEYER: I think he also will need to assure the world that he is personally committed to work with the Congress to get this job done back home so the world will have the confidence that will carry through on the commitments he makes.
HORSLEY: And if, say, Mr. Obama decided to attend the Copenhagen meeting after constructive talks in recent days with leaders of China and India, he's hoping to produce a tentative agreement that will ultimately lead to a legally binding treaty.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.
Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved.
November 25, 2009
President Obama will commit the U.S. to a goal of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade at a climate conference in Copenhagen next month. His goal is to cut carbon dioxide emissions by about 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.
TRANSCRIPT
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
MICHELE NORRIS, host:
And I'm Michele Norris.
The White House announced today that President Obama will attend the big international conference on climate change in Copenhagen next month. Moreover, he will offer to make significant cuts in greenhouse gas emission, even though Congress hasn't taken final action yet.
NPR's Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY: President Obama's first trip to Copenhagen didn't work out so well. He made a last minute dash there in September to support Chicago's Olympic bid, but came home empty handed. This time, the president is hoping for better luck when he takes his place at the starting line of an international climate conference aimed at combating global warming.
Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists thinks the president's attendance will give a needed boost to climate negotiations.
Mr. ALDEN MEYER (Director of Strategy and Policy, Union of Concerned Scientists): What the world needs from the United States is two things -clarity and confidence about what we're prepared to do.
HORSLEY: The White House says Mr. Obama will put on the table a proposal for the U.S. to cut its emissions of heat trapping gasses by about 17 percent from their 2005 levels over the next decade. That's in line with cuts narrowly approved by the House of Representatives. But the Senate hasn't voted on it's version of the climate bill. So, Meyer says the president is, in a sense, going out on a limb.
Mr. MEYER: I think he also will need to assure the world that he is personally committed to work with the Congress to get this job done back home so the world will have the confidence that will carry through on the commitments he makes.
HORSLEY: And if, say, Mr. Obama decided to attend the Copenhagen meeting after constructive talks in recent days with leaders of China and India, he's hoping to produce a tentative agreement that will ultimately lead to a legally binding treaty.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.
Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved.
China Announces Plans To Cut Carbon Emissions
November 27, 2009
The Chinese government has announced plans to slow its greenhouse gas emissions, but the formula allows emissions to rise as China's economy expands. China already leads the world in greenhouse gases. The announcement raises questions of how effective the plan will be on cleaning up earth's atmosphere.
Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®.
TRANSCRIPT
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Renee is celebrating the holiday today. I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
China is giving some indication of just how far it's willing to go to fight global warming. The Chinese government announced a plan to slow the growth of China's carbon emissions, which are linked to climate change. China will slow their growth but not actually cut those emissions. And this announcement comes just weeks before the Copenhagen talks on climate change that take place early next month.
NPR's Anthony Kuhn joins us from Beijing to talk about this. Hi, Anthony.
ANTHONY KUHN: Hi, Steve, nice to be with you.
INSKEEP: What's it mean to slow China's growth in emissions rather than cut them?
KUHN: Well, China's plan calls for a cut in what's called carbon intensity and that means the amount of greenhouse gases they emit as measured against economic output. And because China's economy is growing at a robust rate, it could rise. For example, it could grow four-fold in the coming decades and that means that emissions could more than double.
INSKEEP: Let's talk this through so that it's clear. China is saying the average Chinese person or Chinese business will be using energy more efficiently if this plan becomes real, but still because China's economy is growing and when the economy grows, you use more energy, China will pollute more than ever before.
KUHN: Well, we have to see what China's actual growth levels are. I know there's two things at stake here. One is how much energy they use to produce that economic growth, and the other part is how much carbon they emit to get there. They are managing to use less energy, but because they are so reliant on coal and because they are in a phase of heavy industry right now - emitting an awful lot of carbon, and that is probably set to continue.
INSKEEP: Is there something of a shell game going on here then?
KUHN: Well, a lot of environmental groups think that this target is not so ambitious. A lot of people will say that actually China's carbon intensity has been declining anyway, so this is just following a trend. But I think we have to say that, you know, first of all, it's going to require some doing on China's part to fulfill these goals. They are going to have to burn cleaner coal. They are going to have to introduce more renewable energy sources like wind and solar and ramp up public transportation. I see the problem as being at the local level. A lot of inland places in China really don't have much industry. And they are going to be going in heavy on infrastructure building, buying cars, building homes, producing steel and cement. And these are the things that emit a lot of carbon.
INSKEEP: Anthony Kuhn in Beijing, I want to play you a piece of tape. This is tape from Steven Chu, the American energy secretary, who visited China earlier this year and came away he said very impressed with China's efforts to capture wind and solar energy, cleaner forms of energy.
Secretary STEVEN CHU (Department of Energy): China is ahead in certain aspects. They want very much to expand their homegrown wind capacity to develop those exquisitely efficient turbines. They are very serious about developing photovoltaic technology. And so they are looking at this, and they are spending of order $12 million an hour to generate alternative and cleaner forms of energy.
INSKEEP: How do we match up that picture of a China that's very active in this area with this other picture of China, Anthony Kuhn, that may not be doing very much at all?
KUHN: I think Secretary Chu and people like that come to Beijing and they speak to China's leaders and they sense a real commitment to reduce emissions, and that is a turnaround from five years ago. Five year ago, first of all, it's the measuring point. They're measuring cuts in carbon intensity as measured against 2005 levels, and that was really the year that they decided they're going to have to start introducing curbs on emissions.
Not because of Copenhagen, not because of global warming, so much as concerns about energy security and pollution. But as I said, you know, this commitment at the central government level is very different from the reality in the inland poorer provinces, places that need to ramp up industry.
INSKEEP: NPR's Anthony Kuhn is in Beijing. Anthony, thanks very much.
KUHN: Thank you, Steve.
Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved.
The Chinese government has announced plans to slow its greenhouse gas emissions, but the formula allows emissions to rise as China's economy expands. China already leads the world in greenhouse gases. The announcement raises questions of how effective the plan will be on cleaning up earth's atmosphere.
Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®.
TRANSCRIPT
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Renee is celebrating the holiday today. I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
China is giving some indication of just how far it's willing to go to fight global warming. The Chinese government announced a plan to slow the growth of China's carbon emissions, which are linked to climate change. China will slow their growth but not actually cut those emissions. And this announcement comes just weeks before the Copenhagen talks on climate change that take place early next month.
NPR's Anthony Kuhn joins us from Beijing to talk about this. Hi, Anthony.
ANTHONY KUHN: Hi, Steve, nice to be with you.
INSKEEP: What's it mean to slow China's growth in emissions rather than cut them?
KUHN: Well, China's plan calls for a cut in what's called carbon intensity and that means the amount of greenhouse gases they emit as measured against economic output. And because China's economy is growing at a robust rate, it could rise. For example, it could grow four-fold in the coming decades and that means that emissions could more than double.
INSKEEP: Let's talk this through so that it's clear. China is saying the average Chinese person or Chinese business will be using energy more efficiently if this plan becomes real, but still because China's economy is growing and when the economy grows, you use more energy, China will pollute more than ever before.
KUHN: Well, we have to see what China's actual growth levels are. I know there's two things at stake here. One is how much energy they use to produce that economic growth, and the other part is how much carbon they emit to get there. They are managing to use less energy, but because they are so reliant on coal and because they are in a phase of heavy industry right now - emitting an awful lot of carbon, and that is probably set to continue.
INSKEEP: Is there something of a shell game going on here then?
KUHN: Well, a lot of environmental groups think that this target is not so ambitious. A lot of people will say that actually China's carbon intensity has been declining anyway, so this is just following a trend. But I think we have to say that, you know, first of all, it's going to require some doing on China's part to fulfill these goals. They are going to have to burn cleaner coal. They are going to have to introduce more renewable energy sources like wind and solar and ramp up public transportation. I see the problem as being at the local level. A lot of inland places in China really don't have much industry. And they are going to be going in heavy on infrastructure building, buying cars, building homes, producing steel and cement. And these are the things that emit a lot of carbon.
INSKEEP: Anthony Kuhn in Beijing, I want to play you a piece of tape. This is tape from Steven Chu, the American energy secretary, who visited China earlier this year and came away he said very impressed with China's efforts to capture wind and solar energy, cleaner forms of energy.
Secretary STEVEN CHU (Department of Energy): China is ahead in certain aspects. They want very much to expand their homegrown wind capacity to develop those exquisitely efficient turbines. They are very serious about developing photovoltaic technology. And so they are looking at this, and they are spending of order $12 million an hour to generate alternative and cleaner forms of energy.
INSKEEP: How do we match up that picture of a China that's very active in this area with this other picture of China, Anthony Kuhn, that may not be doing very much at all?
KUHN: I think Secretary Chu and people like that come to Beijing and they speak to China's leaders and they sense a real commitment to reduce emissions, and that is a turnaround from five years ago. Five year ago, first of all, it's the measuring point. They're measuring cuts in carbon intensity as measured against 2005 levels, and that was really the year that they decided they're going to have to start introducing curbs on emissions.
Not because of Copenhagen, not because of global warming, so much as concerns about energy security and pollution. But as I said, you know, this commitment at the central government level is very different from the reality in the inland poorer provinces, places that need to ramp up industry.
INSKEEP: NPR's Anthony Kuhn is in Beijing. Anthony, thanks very much.
KUHN: Thank you, Steve.
Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved.
Russians Mourn Victims Of Express Train Wreck
by The Associated Press
November 29, 2009
Russians mourned at religious services and soccer stadiums Sunday after a deadly train wreck that authorities blamed on a terrorist bomb. The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church urged the nation not to give in to fear.
Relatives identified loved ones killed in the wreck of the express train. If confirmed as caused by a bombing, the wreck would be Russia's deadliest terrorist attack outside the violence-plagued North Caucasus provinces in five years.
Television networks took entertainment programs off the air and moments of silence were observed before matches on the final Sunday of the Russian football league.
Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the country's dominant church, led a service for the victims at Christ the Savior Cathedral near the Kremlin. "We will remember their sacred names," he said.
"Our people have been challenged. A crime of which any one of us could have been a victim has been committed for effect," Kirill said in a statement on the church's Web site. "They want to frighten everybody who lives in Russia."
The rear three cars of the Nevsky Express, one of Russia's fastest trains, derailed on a remote stretch of track late Friday as it sped from Moscow to St. Petersburg, killing some passengers and trapping others in the jumbled wreckage. The head of Russia's Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, said Saturday that an explosive device detonated under the train, gouging a crater in the rail bed and blowing the tail cars off the tracks.
Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said at least 25 people were killed and 26 were unaccounted for, though he said some may have survived uninjured or never have boarded the train.
Health Minister Tatyana Golikova said 85 people remained hospitalized, 21 in grave condition, according to Russian news agencies. A Belgian and an Italian were among those hurt.
Recovering from a broken rib at a hospital in St. Petersburg, Natalya Tarasova said she and her sister were reading in the third car from the rear when she heard a bang and felt the windows shake. The car swung wildly from side to side and she was thrown to the floor, her sister toppling onto her.
"People were tossed around the carriage like rags," said Tarasova, 36, who works in a jewelry business and was returning home after an exhibition in Moscow. "Suitcases were jumping from the racks like frogs and falling on people."
She said conductors collected medicine and other items from passengers and took the supplies to the two more badly damaged rear cars, which were left hundreds of meters back and were where most of the casualties occurred.
"It was scary, but there was no panic," she said.
Relatives were identifying victims Sunday at a hospital morgue in Tver, the closest sizable city to the wreck site near the border of the Tver and Novgorod provinces, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) northwest of Moscow.
The state-run railway company, Russian Railways, said train traffic was fully restored. There were no credible claims of responsibility or word on a possible motive.
Russia has been hit by a number of major terrorist attacks since the 1991 Soviet collapse, most linked to the 1990s wars between government forces and separatist rebels in Chechnya and the violence the conflicts have spawned across the surrounding North Caucasus.
Extreme nationalists were blamed for an explosion that caused a derailment along the same railway line in 2007, injuring 27 passengers. Authorities arrested two suspects in that blast and are searching for a third, a former military officer.
November 29, 2009
Russians mourned at religious services and soccer stadiums Sunday after a deadly train wreck that authorities blamed on a terrorist bomb. The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church urged the nation not to give in to fear.
Relatives identified loved ones killed in the wreck of the express train. If confirmed as caused by a bombing, the wreck would be Russia's deadliest terrorist attack outside the violence-plagued North Caucasus provinces in five years.
Television networks took entertainment programs off the air and moments of silence were observed before matches on the final Sunday of the Russian football league.
Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the country's dominant church, led a service for the victims at Christ the Savior Cathedral near the Kremlin. "We will remember their sacred names," he said.
"Our people have been challenged. A crime of which any one of us could have been a victim has been committed for effect," Kirill said in a statement on the church's Web site. "They want to frighten everybody who lives in Russia."
The rear three cars of the Nevsky Express, one of Russia's fastest trains, derailed on a remote stretch of track late Friday as it sped from Moscow to St. Petersburg, killing some passengers and trapping others in the jumbled wreckage. The head of Russia's Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, said Saturday that an explosive device detonated under the train, gouging a crater in the rail bed and blowing the tail cars off the tracks.
Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said at least 25 people were killed and 26 were unaccounted for, though he said some may have survived uninjured or never have boarded the train.
Health Minister Tatyana Golikova said 85 people remained hospitalized, 21 in grave condition, according to Russian news agencies. A Belgian and an Italian were among those hurt.
Recovering from a broken rib at a hospital in St. Petersburg, Natalya Tarasova said she and her sister were reading in the third car from the rear when she heard a bang and felt the windows shake. The car swung wildly from side to side and she was thrown to the floor, her sister toppling onto her.
"People were tossed around the carriage like rags," said Tarasova, 36, who works in a jewelry business and was returning home after an exhibition in Moscow. "Suitcases were jumping from the racks like frogs and falling on people."
She said conductors collected medicine and other items from passengers and took the supplies to the two more badly damaged rear cars, which were left hundreds of meters back and were where most of the casualties occurred.
"It was scary, but there was no panic," she said.
Relatives were identifying victims Sunday at a hospital morgue in Tver, the closest sizable city to the wreck site near the border of the Tver and Novgorod provinces, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) northwest of Moscow.
The state-run railway company, Russian Railways, said train traffic was fully restored. There were no credible claims of responsibility or word on a possible motive.
Russia has been hit by a number of major terrorist attacks since the 1991 Soviet collapse, most linked to the 1990s wars between government forces and separatist rebels in Chechnya and the violence the conflicts have spawned across the surrounding North Caucasus.
Extreme nationalists were blamed for an explosion that caused a derailment along the same railway line in 2007, injuring 27 passengers. Authorities arrested two suspects in that blast and are searching for a third, a former military officer.
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