A South Korean Buddhist monk has died days after he set himself on fire to protest the country’s deal with Japan on former Korean sex slaves, a Seoul hospital said Tuesday.
The monk, 64, set himself ablaze Saturday during rallies against impeached President Park Geun-hye. In his notebook found at the scene, he criticized Park’s 2015 agreement to settle an impasse over Korean women forced to be sex slaves for Japanese troops during World War II in return for an apology from Japan’s prime minister and a pledge of millions of dollars.
The monk was pronounced dead Monday night of multiple organ failures caused by his burns, according to the Seoul National University Hospital.
Disputes over sex slaves are a legacy of Japan’s 1910-45 colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula. Many in both North and South Korea, divided at the end of the Japanese rule, still harbor bitter resentment against the Japanese period.
Park’s Japan deal prompted criticism because it was announced without approval from surviving former sex slaves. Under the agreement that both countries described as „final and irreversible“ at the time of its singing, Japan promised to fund a Seoul-based foundation aimed at supporting the victims.
South Korea, in return, said it would refrain from criticizing Japan over the issue and try to resolve a Japanese grievance over a bronze statue — representing the wartime sex slaves — that had been placed in front of its embassy in Seoul.
The future of the deal was thrown into doubt earlier this month after Japan said it would recall its ambassador to South Korea and suspend economic talks in response to the placing of another such statue in South Korea’s second-largest city of Busan. Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said the decision was „very regrettable. „

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When President Trump (as he will then be) enters the White House, he will have an item flashing as urgent in his email inbox: North Korea. In the election campaign, he offered to sit down with the country’s leader Kim Jong-un over a burger, but that generosity seems less likely now.
Eight years ago, when President Obama moved in, the tone was similarly helpful. Right at the start of his tenure, the new president made a gesture of conciliation to the North Korean leader, not quite an offer of friendship but an indication that nose-to-nose threats need not be the way.
In his inaugural address in 2009, President Obama said he would offer an outstretched hand to those who would „unclench their fists“.
A few months later, Kim Jong-un responded with the launch of a substantial, multi-stage rocket and an underground explosion of a nuclear device. Both tests were seen by the United Nations as a defiant contravention of the policy of the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Some presidents talk tough but trip over realities. George W Bush said in 2006 that North Korea launching a long-range missile would be „unacceptable“ – just before one was launched.
A year earlier, he had said that „a nuclear armed Korea will not be tolerated. “
Yet, on all expert estimates, North Korea has made substantial progress in achieving that aim, of having a nuclear arsenal capable of devastating cities in the United States at very short notice. The ability is not there yet but many technology experts think it is getting there.
So the Obama (and Hillary Clinton) policy of strategic patience is giving way to louder talk of military impatience. The doctrine of squeezing North Korea with sanctions and waiting for change is being supplemented by military plans.
South Korea said it was bringing forward plans to form army units trained to „decapitate“ the regime – in plain English, to kill Kim Jong-un. The outgoing secretary of defence in Washington said that any test of a long-range missile which threatened the United States or its allies (South Korea and Japan) would result in it being shot down.
The Pentagon planners are working overtime. But what are the military options?
Not many, is the answer of most experts. Dr Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in California, said that shooting down a test missile fired by North Korea would be very difficult to do and the attempt might lead to massive retaliation by conventional artillery against Seoul, the outskirts of which are within sight of North Korea.
He told the BBC that North Korea’s nuclear and missile sites were scattered and that, in any case, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) could be launched from mobile trucks.
Another expert echoed that view. Rodger Baker, an analyst of the region with Stratfor, a global consultancy on geo-politics, said that the trouble with any limited military action against North Korea was that it could easily trigger all-out conflict.
„They could fire additional short range missiles into South Korea and US military facilities,“ he explained.
There is similar scepticism about the idea of assassinating Kim Jong-un in the absence of open war. Dr Heather Williams, who lectures at the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London, said: „If South Korea pursues this option, they are really playing with fire and might be testing whether or not North Korea really will retaliate – but it would be retaliation against South Korea. “
She is annoyed at Mr Trump’s tweeting – after Kim Jong-un’s assertion that North Korea might get ICBM, the president-elect tweeted: „It won’t happen. “
Dr Williams added that „so much of nuclear strategy is about signalling and what type of message you are sending. Deterrence is rooted in signalling, so changing from a very carefully-crafted, nuanced nuclear messaging to nuclear messaging in 140 characters is incredibly dangerous. “
Much more likely military options than overt aggression, according to the experts, are attempts to slow the nuclear programme by, say, assassinating scientists or inserting viruses into the industry’s computer systems (as was apparently done in the case of Iran).
It is worth noting, too, that Iran and North Korea are very different. Iran did not have nuclear devices, whereas North Korea has already detonated five of them and has a well-developed and large testing site (3D images courtesy of the Nuclear Threat Initiative).
Iran had elections and so the leadership had to take more account of the economic discontent of the people. It had a much more open society, internally and towards the outside world. All this makes the North Korean nut so much harder to crack.
Some experts – and not just from dovish institutions – say that there may come a time soon when the reality of a nuclear North Korea has to be accepted.
Eric Gomez, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute in the United States, told the BBC: „The US long-term goal is de-nuclearisation and that is a noble long-term goal and I think it should remain a long-term goal.
„But, given the status of their nuclear programme now, I just don’t think it’s a very realistic goal in the immediate term.
„If we can come to the table over some sort of limitation to the current arsenal in terms of delivery systems, that might be the first step towards a larger agreement down the road. “
But there are difficulties with that:
It is not a word he likes.

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SEOUL, Jan. 9 (UPI) — A senior South Korean official said she is aware of a government „blacklist“ of artists.
Seoul’s Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun said for the first time the blacklist was created in order for the government to keep track of artists who were banned from receiving public support, The Korea Times reported.
„As far as I know, there was a list of artists who were banned from receiving state support for their political beliefs,“ Cho said.
The official said she wasn’t briefed on the blacklist until January, although she took office in September, Yonhap reported.
Cho made the remarks during the seventh hearing on the case of Choi Soon-sil, who has been charged with interfering in government affairs and embezzling funds, using her connections to President Park Geun -hye as leverage when seeking donations from major South Korean corporations.
Cho’s statements were somewhat inconsistent, according to Yonhap.
At one point the official reportedly said she was aware of the list in late 2016, but that she did not know it was the list one of her staff members had submitted to prosecutors for investigation.
Cho also said the list had about „600 people“ but stated she had „never seen such a document. “
The Korea Times reported a more extensive list of 9,000 people, including internationally renowned film director Park Chan -wook and poet Ko Un, who has visited North Korea , was created because of their opposition to Park and their criticism of the government’s handling of the Sewol ferry sinking in 2014.
Do Jong-hwan, a member of the opposition Minjoo Party, said the presidential Blue House and the national intelligence service determined the list of artists who held unfavorable views of the Park administration.

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SEOUL, Jan. 9 (UPI) — A senior North Korean diplomat who fled Pyongyang’s embassy in London said he wants to meet with members of the incoming Donald Trump administration to provide them with information on the Kim Jong Un regime.
Thae Yong-ho, who defected to Seoul last summer, said Sunday he would eventually like to meet with U. S. policymakers and inform the American people about the „reality“ of North Korea, Yonhap reported.
„If properly informing the [U. S. government] of the true intentions of North Korea’s nuclear development helps the United States to establish a rational, precise policy toward North Korea, I would not hesitate visiting the United States,“ Thae said.
Thae had previously told South Korean reporters not even an incentive of „$1 trillion, $10 trillion,“ would make Kim Jong Un give up his nuclear weapons.
Thae had also said he would work to prevent a catastrophe on the Korean peninsula, according to Yonhap.
„The most important thing is to maintain a strong U. S.-South Korea alliance,“ Thae said while emphasizing the need for Washington and Seoul to strengthen cooperation on North Korea policy.
„The situation on the Korean peninsula is quite uncertain in 2017. It is unforeseeable how the Trump administration will implement its North Korea policy,“ Thae said, adding the situation must be stabilized to avoid a crisis.
Thae also said the political situation in South Korea is adding to the unpredictability, but the country is ready to play a bigger role in solving problems on the peninsula.
The former North Korea diplomat added Kim Jong Un’s declaration of readiness to test an intercontinental ballistic missile is aimed at governments in transition in the United States and South Korea.
Kim, however, has been unable to observe ceremonies for his mother, Ko Yong Hui, because of her background as a former resident of Japan, Thae said.
North Korea media avoids publicizing Ko’s birthday or her life history, according to Thae.

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