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<DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Scott Bug beat me to it. This period piece </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- a 40 year old 'diary'? Surely that's an archive!
-</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>is valuable for its </FONT><FONT size=4>fascinating
anecdotage.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>But caveat lector: it's also full of howlers
when</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>the author pontificates about Korean history. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>For instance:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline !important; FONT: 14px/19px Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; FLOAT: none; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">The
Red Army marched into North Korea, with Kim Il-sung reportedly in one of its
tanks;<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline !important; FONT: 14px/19px Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; FLOAT: none; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>or</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline !important; FONT: 14px/19px Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; FLOAT: none; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">Who
the hell was Kim Il-sung? Where did he come from? </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline !important; FONT: 14px/19px Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; FLOAT: none; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">Had
he ever operated as a guerrilla leader? </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline !important; FONT: 14px/19px Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; FLOAT: none; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">... It
is possible that Kim Il-sung operated as a guerrilla in China</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline !important; FONT: 14px/19px Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; FLOAT: none; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"> and
then fled to Russia. </SPAN><SPAN
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline !important; FONT: 14px/19px Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; FLOAT: none; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline !important; FONT: 14px/19px Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; FLOAT: none; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">We
don’t know for sure.</SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline !important; FONT: 14px/19px Georgia, Palatino, 'Palatino Linotype', serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; FLOAT: none; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>In the US, serious magazines employ
fact-checkers.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>It's a pity the LRB didn't do the same.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Kind regards</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Aidan FC</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black" lang=EN-GB><FONT size=3>Aidan
Foster-Carter<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black" lang=EN-GB>Honorary Senior Research
Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University, UK</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 8pt"
lang=EN-GB> </SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 8pt"
lang=EN-GB><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black" lang=EN-GB>E</SPAN></EM><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"
lang=EN-GB>: <A title=mailto:afostercarter@aol.com
href="mailto:afostercarter@aol.com">afostercarter@aol.com</A><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><A
title=mailto:afostercarter@yahoo.com
href="mailto:afostercarter@yahoo.com">afostercarter@yahoo.com</A><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><EM><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria">W</SPAN></EM>: <A title=http://www.aidanfc.net/
href="http://www.aidanfc.net/">www.aidanfc.net</A><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria"
lang=EN-GB>W in Korea:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></SPAN></I><SPAN lang=EN-GB><A
href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090202080126/http:/aidanfc.net/index.html"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">http://web.archive.org/web/20090202080126/http://aidanfc.net/index.html</FONT></A></SPAN></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>________________</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 1/21/2012 11:49:44 GMT Standard Time,
jsburgeson@yahoo.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><FONT
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face="Times New Roman">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fff; FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif; COLOR: #000; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">In
the current issue of the <I>London Review of Books</I>, there is rather
amusing and dishy account of two of Tariq Ali's visits to North Korea in the
early 1970s:
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV> http://www.lrb.co.uk/v34/n02/tariq-ali/diary</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Ali makes some interesting claims, especially near the end:</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><I>"At one stage it appeared that the United States was going to buy out
the North Koreans. Clinton despatched Madeleine Albright to Pyongyang in 2000
to do a deal – loadsamoney for the Kims, denuclearisation of sorts followed by
a soft reunification with the South – but it didn’t go through. Bush had no
interest at all in contact. Why? I got an answer of sorts after a public
debate on the Iraq war in Berlin in 2003. My opponent was Ruth Wedgwood from
Yale, an adviser to Donald Rumsfeld. Over lunch I asked her about their plans
for North Korea. She was cogent. ‘You haven’t seen the glint in the eyes of
the South Korean military,’ she said. ‘They’re desperate to get hold of the
North’s nuclear arsenal. That’s unacceptable.’ Why? ‘Because if a unified
Korea becomes a nuclear power, it will be impossible to stop Japan from
becoming one too and if you have China, Japan and a unified Korea as nuclear
states, it shifts the relationship of forces against us.’"</I></DIV>
<DIV><I><BR></I></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN><SPAN>Fun stuff!</SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN>– Scott Bug</SPAN></DIV></DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
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