Comments on: Pyeongyang caught in another lie?

By: bender

bender — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 06:24:37 +0000

That’s right. Why bake the bones two times? Seriously, why do some people have clouded judgments when it comes to Japan?

Just because Koreans are spiteful of Japan, doesn’t mean they can throw BS at Japan all the time. Same goes for Japan-bashers who have no idea of the nation except for being an adversary during WWII.

By: Aceface

Aceface — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 06:17:03 +0000

I too think “The Nature”article has a point on the scientific side of the argument.But they and other critics of GoJ is missing the very point.After all,”There is no way to conclude anything about these ashes.”which means Pyongyang had returned nothing that can be considered as the concrete evidence of the death of Megumi.
Unless DPRK allows Japanese authority to investigate in their country and come to the same conclusion,the claim of the possibility of Megumi’s survival is valid.

By: bender

bender — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 06:14:45 +0000

Another Japan-bashing? Kind of getting tired to all the BS.

By: Lyons W

Lyons W — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 01:53:51 +0000

Sir,

You facts are a bit confused.
The ashes in question were not supposed to be of a man, but of Ms. Megumi Yokota herself.

The British science journal, Nature, in February 2005, noted with scientific certainty that the Japanese testers of the ashes were simple amateurs who likely contaminated them. There is no way to conclude anything about these ashes.

The link to the Nature article is here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v433/n7025/full/433445a.html
[this article is unfortunately archived and one must purchase it; maybe someone can find it elsewhere]

A link to a Time Magazine article describe the above article is here: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,501050404-1042508,00.html

It is significant to those in the scientific community that the GoJ has refused to release their results, go to outside experts, and conveniently has no more ashes to test.

The Editors of Nature were so troubled that they wrote: “Dealing with North Korea is no fun, but it doesn’t justify breaking the rules of separation between science and politics.”

By: North Korea Caught with Enriched Uranium at ROK Drop

North Korea Caught with Enriched Uranium at ROK Drop — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:17:13 +0000

[...] views on this:You can read more from One Free Korea here. Ampontan see similarities with North Korea’s lies with the HEU issue and their lies over kidnapped [...]

By: OneFreeKorea » U-Tubed! Enriched uranium found on N. Korean sample

OneFreeKorea » U-Tubed! Enriched uranium found on N. Korean sample — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:17:50 +0000

[...] See also: Ampontan’s take. [...]

By: camphortree

camphortree — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:57:42 +0000

Steve, you are confused with the Megumi’s returned “ash”. I am curious to know how the English magazine reporter got the idea of the possibility of the Japanese forensic medicine experts/government who were under heavy scrutiny from the populace could be “lying” in the same context of the North Korean government. Had there been a hint of the possibility that either the J-government or the Japanese forensic scientists lying, most media particulary Asahi, Mainichi, Kyodo and weekly magazines would have gleefully reported in full force.

By: ampontan

ampontan — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:00:21 +0000

I don’t know Steve. Can you provide a link?

By: Steve Schapiro

Steve Schapiro — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:57:44 +0000

I’m no expert and I’m certainly no fan of North Korea, but:

A Japanese analysis discovered the bones were those of an old woman. Pyeongyang claimed the Japanese were lying, but it turned out they had burned the bones twice to foil identification. They were unaware that advances in technology had rendered that particular subterfuge obsolete.

Didn’t both Japanese and foreign scientists also report that such a conclusion – that the ashes were those of an old woman – was impossible?

Is this a case in which it is at least possible that both the North Korean and Japanese governments were lying for their own political reasons?