Here's a BBC report.
BBC
Smooth inter-Korean relations and peace requires two requirements: willing governments on both sides of the border. On the southern side, the requirement was met for the past ten years. But on the northern side, the requirement was never met, as the Kim Jong-il regime was more interested in protecting his pride and cult leader status than in revitalizing the economy and making the people prosper (or at least keeping them fed). But the southern side had enough will that a few token projects did proceed between the two sides.
But that's all history. The south now has 2MB, who, just like his northern counterpart, would rather crush his subjects than serve them; moreover, he would rather serve the interests of a failed ideology (not too different from the north, really) as well a discredited US political faction (an extremely treasonous idea and unique to the south).
Longtime North Korean propaganda has always stated that South Korea is a mere puppet regime of the United States of America. Of course, North Korea believes W-style cowboy diplomacy indeed represents the US. But in reality, the US is a great, diverse nation, and has many different ideologies and factions, of which W and the neocons are only one. Sure, South Korea is a puppet and a colony alright, but North Korea gets it wrong, as South Korea is beholden to just this one faction, rather than the entire United States.
The supporters of the southern colonial government, including the Korean-Americans, will now call me every name in the books then some more, including the classic smear of a "Red" or a "Communist." But I don't care anymore. The colonials' supporters will never get it. They don't care that I oppose the northern regime for the same reasons that I oppose the colonials.
Maybe I should care for my own safety, however, as I should find myself back in South Korea and under the jurisdiction of the colonial government soon. The government now has the power to put me in jail, torture me, and even murder me - and get away with it. But once I survive my short stint, and make my way back to the US, it'll prove extremely stressful to continue dealing with the Korean-Americans, but at least I'll be safe. I do look forward to returning to South Korea when democracy, sovereignty, and justice are restored, and by then, I also hope that Kim Jong-il is dead and a new, more sensible regime is in power up north too.
On an unrelated note, it's the 2nd of December. It marks the ninth anniversary of the start of my trip to Amsterdam. I'm glad to be marking it in a vastly superior place, Hong Kong, doing my final round of sightseeing. Although Amsterdam really let me down and offended me with its inability to contain ethnic hatred, I am not slowing my travels down, as I am demonstrating right now by being in Hong Kong. I'll continue traveling to any place that welcomes me. Hong Kong certainly is one, the mainland China will be another (I loved Beijing, and would love to see the ruins of Xi'an), and while not for now, but in time, both Koreas will count themselves in that list too; the people already do, and it's the damn governments that are so hostile. I also need to get back to Europe and also expand my horizons toward Australia and even Latin America while at it; the Amsterdam trip, which also included Cologne, was the last time I actually covered any new ground in Europe.
