Insight into S. Korean politics. And ours.

From a 2004 piece about harassment of North Korean defectors in South Korea who have set up an Internet radio station to provide news and commentary about the North:

North Koreans, by contrast, have not yet had a choice of who to vote for. In this neo-medieval quasi-monarchy, masquerading as communism, the Great Leader Kim Il-sung begat - literally - the Dear Leader Kim Jong-il. Here, there is no free speech and zero tolerance for dissent. . . .

You'd suppose that these refugees, many of whom have suffered terrible privation and persecution, would be welcomed with open arms in Seoul, wouldn't you? Don't the hearts of all good South Koreans go out to their oppressed, starving Northern brethren? . . .

Well, no. Make that, hell no. . . .

* * * *

. . . What person with an ounce of human decency could possibly not wish Free NK well?

Alas, these are not rhetorical questions. Fact is, many South Koreans are not sympathetic - and some are downright nasty. From day one, Free NK has been hassled and harassed . . . .

* * * *

I fear I was wrong about democratization in South Korea. At least some of those who fought against dictatorship weren't, and aren't, true democrats. What they hated was the generals' right-wing politics, not authoritarianism per se.

Such self-styled "progressives", who rule the roost in the new South Korea, seem to me merely to have turned the old values inside out, rather than made true progress. . . .

In the bad old days, woe betide you if you said anything good about North Korea in Seoul. Now it's a mirror image: If you say anything bad about Kim Jong-il, you're a traitor.^[1]

The author also discusses the virtues of free speech and tolerance. His points are relevant to political debate in the United States, particularly what he says about intolerance only for one kind of authoritarianism -- presumably the authoritarianism of George Bush, Führer Aller Leute.

The willingness of the ultra left to disrupt speech^[2] and to try to intimidate conservatives marks its members as people who have no respect for free speech and are not the least bit interested in liberty. Their only objective is to be -- as Mr. Foster-Carter so clearly appreciates -- the regnant authoritarians.

The freedoms of the West are not goals themselves but mere stepping stones for the ultra left to use in straightening us all out.

But good.

Notes
^[1] PYONGYANG WATCH. "Double jeopardy for North Korean defectors." By Aidan Foster-Carter, 5/18/04 (emphasis added) <--- East Asia Affairs, 8/21/05 <-- GI Korea Blog, 8/24/05.
^[2] "The Attack on Ann Coulter: It Wasn't Funny." By John Hinderaker, Powerline, 10/22/04. See also comments thereto.