On my recent trip to Seoul one can honestly feel a sense of pride and hatred even if one is not Korean in terms of the Japanese occupation and brutal killings of Koreans and how the Koreans never lost hope of gaining back their country.  Learning about Korean history in the short time I was there has made me hungry for me.  Today’s post is dedicated to Empress Myeongseong who was brutally killed by the Japanese with the help of some Korean officials.  Why you ask?  Because she advocated stronger ties between Korea and Russia in an attempt to block Japan’s influence in Korea.  What a true patriot!

Read more below:
At about 5:30 of October 8, 1895, a group of Japanese military and people in Japanese attires began Operation Fox Hunt, the objective of which was to eliminate the Korean Queen who stood in the way of the Japanese annexation of Korea.   The assassins infiltrated the Gyeongbok Palace  with little difficulty because the Palace was under Japanese protection.  They killed Hong Geh-bong (홍계훈 洪啓薰), the commander of a guard unit, and his men, who blocked the entrance to the palace
 
King Kojong bitterly protested the Japanese intrusion into his private quarters but he was pushed down by the Japanese. The King’s clothes were torn. The Prince came to his father’s rescue but the young man was thrown on the floor by his hair knot and was beaten with a sword.  
 
Another group of the assassins rushed to the queen’s sleeping area.  The palace minister Lee Gyung-sik (李景稙) tried to stop them but he was shot dead and then mutilated her body right in front of King Kojong. The Queen was molested and burned right on the palace ground. The assassins wrapped the dead queen’s body in a blanket and burned it in a nearby bush. This much is on the history books.  Newly discovered documents show that the queen was sexually molested before her body was cremated.   
 
At 9:30 am, Maj. Niiro sent a secret cable to the Japanese Army Chief of Staff:  the top secret cable read – “Queen dead and King safe.”  The cable signaled the successful execution of Operation Fox Hunt. This shows that the order to kill the Queen came from the top.

Source

More than 100 monks have marched in central Burma, the first time they have returned to the streets since last month’s bloody crackdown on protests.

The monks chanted and prayed as they marched through Pakokku, the site of an incident last month that triggered pro-democracy protests nationwide.

The government said 10 people died during the crackdown, but diplomats believe the toll was much higher.

Thousands more – many of them monks – were thought to have been detained.

Separately, the Human Rights Watch organisation has accused the Burmese army of forcibly recruiting children to cover gaps left by a lack of adult recruits.

Another good article by Paul Craig Roberts

Excerpt (read the rest here)

The US government has broken every agreement with Russia by withdrawing from the anti-ballistic missile treaty, pushing NATO to Russia’s borders, conniving to place missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic, and buying governments in former Soviet republics and installing US military bases therein.

When Russian President Putin finally has enough and protests, the US Secretary of State blames Putin for being difficult and restarting the cold war.

Few Americans realize it, but they take the cake.

International polls show that the rest of the world regard the US and Israel as the greatest dangers to world peace. Americans claim that they are fighting wars against terrorism, but it is US and Israeli terrorism that worries everyone else. The rest of the world knows that the wars are about US and Israeli hegemony and that the US and Israel are prepared to engage in whatever acts of terror are necessary to achieve hegemony.

From BBC:

In Burma, state media has said that 2,093 people were arrested during the crackdown on the protests.

It said 692 people had already been released after signing a declaration that they would not take part in any future rallies.

However, BBC sources in Burma say as many as 10,000 people – many of them monks who led the marchers – have been rounded up for interrogation in recent days.

Dozens are feared to have died during the suppression of the protests, which were triggered by a government decision to raise the price of fuel.

Residents of the main city, Rangoon, say the streets are now quiet during daylight hours, with the police and army keeping a low profile.

But during the overnight curfew, they say raids by the security forces continue.

War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations.

Read more…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5CF5pfVzLI[/youtube]

The world watches to see what the international will do besides the usual press release(s) of “we stand by you”.

ASEAN