4/18/13: Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School, North Korea Conversations

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Filipino American Youth showing unity in renaming their Union City school to Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School (Photo from Bayani Art)

APEX Contributor Kiwi brings us sounds from the youth movement that successfully renamed a Union City school to Filipino Farmworker Leaders, Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz.

APEX Hosts Karl Jagbundangsingh and Marie Choi bring us a special edited rebroadcast from our sister station and show, Asia Pacific Forum (www.asiapacificforum.org).

“Bomb North Korea before it’s too late” was the title of a recent New York Times op-ed.  As the drumbeat of war crescendos on the Korean peninsula, we bring together leading experts and activists to discuss what’s really happening – from the failure of the past twenty years of denuclearization talks, to the deleterious impact of decades of sanctions on the people of North Korea.  Nodutdol, a New York City-based grassroots organization that works for peace and demilitarization of the Korean peninsula, teams up with APF to produce this timely roundtable.

 

Guests

• Christine Hong is an assistant professor of Asian American literature, Korean diaspora studies, and critical Pacific Rim studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is a coordinating committee member of the National Campaign to End the Korean War, a steering committee member of the Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea, and a member of the Working Group on Peace and Demilitarization in Asia and the Pacific.
• Gregory Elich is the author of ‘Strange Liberators: Militarism, Mayhem, and the Pursuit of Profit’. He is on the board of directors of the Jasenovac Research Institute and on the advisory boards of the Korea Policy Institute and the U.S. chapter of the Korea Truth Commission.
• Tim Shorrock is the author of “Spies for Hire.” He is a writer and commentator on US foreign policy, national security and intelligence, as well as East Asian politics. His work has appeared in Harper’s, Mother Jones, The Nation, and Salon.

Our only source of information on human rights in North Korea is testimonies of defectors and former detainees. Is this skewing our concept of the ground realities? We are told the only possible solution to human rights violations in North Korea is tougher sanctions – what humanitarian relief manager Ken Isaacs calls “starvation as a foreign diplomacy tool.” Betsy Yoon of Nodutdol guest-hosts the second-part of this roundtable discussion – a critical rethinking about human rights in North Korea.

Guests

• Christine Hong is an assistant professor of Asian American literature, Korean diaspora studies, and critical Pacific Rim studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is a coordinating committee member of the National Campaign to End the Korean War, a steering committee member of the Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea, and a member of the Working Group on Peace and Demilitarization in Asia and the Pacific.
• Paul Liem is on the board of directors of the Korea Policy Institute, has been active on Korean peninsular issues for four decades and has visited North Korea in three different decades. He was a writer for The Korea Bulletin and editor of The Korea Commentary, and has assisted in sending delegations of progressive religious leaders, including members of the National Council of Churches, to North Korea.

As tensions mount on the Korean peninsula, largely missing from the public discussion are the voices of progressive Korean Americans. Here are voices of Korean Americans from across the country – discussing their views on the threat of war in Korea and their desire for peace and reunification. Danny Kim helped to produce this segment.

Thanks to Doug Hong, Debby Cho, Sarah Ahn, Sooyoung Lee, Kyung-hee Lee, Miriam Ching Yu Louie, Katie Hae Leo, Sunyoung, Hae Won, Gonji, Marie, Lindsey, Judy, Jeanne, Io, Hyejin, Eugene, Rev Tong-kyun Kim, Doogi Kim, Heng-gil Han, and Taehyun Kim for participating.