The Sunshine Policy in Gaeseong Dying

In the see-saw competition between the Koreas little is permanent.

South Korea began withdrawing its personnel from the Gaeseong (Kaesong) Industrial Complex in North Korea on November 28. Tours to the North’s ancient border city of Gaeseong and cross-boarder cargo train service on the Gyeongeui Line were both suspended on the same day. The actions were taken after North Korea notified the South on November 24 that it would block and strictly limit non-essential overland travel and reduce the number of South Korean staff at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex beginning next month.

In a press briefing on November 28, South Korea’s Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said, “As of November 28, the Office of Consultation for Economic Cooperation in Gaeseong was closed and seven officials from the office returned to the South as of 4:30 p.m. that day via the Military Demarcation Line.”

Six buses carrying 210 South Korean tourists who were on what could be the final tour to Gaeseong returned to Seoul at 5:00 p.m. The cargo train that makes daily round trips between North and South left for the North’s Bongdong Station at around 9:30 a.m. and returned to the South’s Dorasan Station at 2:00 p.m., in what may have been its final run.

Earlier in the day, North Korea was believed to have informed South Korea that it would limit the number of South Koreans stationed at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex to approximately 1,600 people. The Unification Ministry spokesman said, however, “Negotiations are underway because some companies (in the Gaeseong complex) have not received notification. The number of people allowed to stay will be approximately 1,600 to 1,800.”

And, so it is in Gaeseong, too.

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What Is Marriage?

“‘There’s a lot of anxiety having to do with how rapidly marriage is changing…'”

All the more reason the State, or even a majority shouldn’t define what has never meant the same relationship.

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Mumbai Needs to Secure Its Perimeter

In an interesting exchange on the Online Newshour, Sumit Ganguly and Christine Fair criticize Mumbai’s “lackadaisical” attitude about its own security.

RAY SUAREZ: Professor Ganguly, from inside and outside the country, there has been criticism of the pace of the response. There are still explosions and gunfire at the scene of the Taj Palace. Did the attackers get too much of a head start? And why do you think that happened?

SUMIT GANGULY, Indiana University, Bloomington: No, I don’t think they got too much of a head start. I think they were extremely well planned. I think they had taken adequate steps to provide themselves with food and succor and, in addition to that, had ample ammunition, as has been discovered from several of the backpacks that have been recovered.

And if there’s only one area where I would fault the Indians is not to bring in the national security guards swiftly on the scene, because they are highly trained. I have actually witnessed some of their training.

And when they were being lured off the helicopters, I was reminded of the manner in which they are trained. So the only question that I have is, why did it take nine hours to deploy the national security guards?

(…)

RAY SUAREZ: Christine Fair, many places in the world, even places with no history of terrorist attacks, have beefed up security since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. When you’re in Mumbai, have you noticed that kind of increased hardening of targets, public places, places like hotels?

CHRISTINE FAIR: Well, I mean, again, let’s take a look at the targets that they chose. They did not choose the U.S. consulate, which was also in the general vicinity. There are a number of intelligence, police and military installations in the larger area that they targeted.

What they actually did was targeted exceptionally vulnerable hotels, a train station, a cinema, and a cafe. I mean, many of us, you know, have eaten at Leopold’s Cafe. It’s an open cafe on a sidewalk. So many of the targets that they chose were very soft targets.

(…)

RAY SUAREZ: Have you noticed any raising of the general precautions in India in the last several years?

CHRISTINE FAIR: Well, actually, the entire region, when you go to hotels, it’s very typical that you’ll be subjected to a metal detector, that you’ll be subjected to — your baggage will be put on an X-ray equipment.

But it’s also very typical that that procedure will be handled in a very lackadaisical manner.

Mumbai is also very interesting, because it has a historical gang presence, and you also have had a well-known problem in Bombay, Mumbai, and elsewhere in India with police corruption.

So, as Dr. Ganguly mentioned, you know, India moving forward is going to have to take very seriously issues such as internal intelligence, beefing up the police, and generally rethinking security.

What I haven’t seen in India is the adoption of a lot of public cameras. You know, many countries that I’ve been to in Europe, the United States is moving in that direction — you know, India has talked a lot about going that way.

Of course, it’s very expensive. And this is obviously an area where India could turn to its allies and friends to try to find some way of fortifying public security.

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