Speaking of accuracy in journalism, _The Nation_ ran a correction on p. 23 regarding the Bruce Cumings article above: "In Bruce Cumings' 'Endgame in Korea' [Nov. 18], editing errors resulted in two incorrect phrases. 'Atomic bombs' should have been 'atomic gravity bombs' and 'pre-emptive war plans' should have been simply 'war plans.' Cuts for reasons of space in the introductory paragraph altered the author's portrayal of the atmosphere in North Korea. For a fuller text of this editorial, see www.thenation.com" (_The Nation_ 16 December 2002).
The "Bruce Cumings article" that the 18 November 2002 issue of _The Nation_ ran in print had the following introductory paragraph:
***** On a sparkling Indian Summer day fifteen years ago, I was waiting in front of the Pyongyang Hotel with a British documentary producer. Our North Korean "counterparts" were picking us up for another round of "discussions" over when, where and what our film crew would be allowed to shoot. "They're all a bunch of liars," we both agreed, after days of bluff, prevarication, dissembling and bait-and-switch games using even their own people. North Korea recognizes no ethic, law or morality that obtains beyond its water's edge, except for one: the Western doctrine of the sovereign equality of all nations, to which it clings with a passion and an almost quaint sincerity. Sometime in 1998, we are told, the North Koreans made a deal with our longtime ally in Islamabad: their missiles for Pakistan's uranium-enrichment technology. Sometime this past summer, we are again told, evidence that they are manufacturing enriched uranium came to light. If they maximize their efforts, using 1,000 centrifuges that they may or may not have, they could manufacture one or two very large and unwieldy atomic bombs every year. *****
The difference is not a simple matter of cutting some words or sentences "for reasons of space." Cumings' own introductory paragraph reminds us of "years of American carpet-bombing during that war, and the incessant threat of annihilation by US nuclear weapons ever since," which the _Nation_ editor chose to erase in print. The _Nation_ editor saw fit to speculate that "[i]f they maximize their efforts, using 1,000 centrifuges that they may or may not have, they could manufacture one or two very large and unwieldy atomic bombs every year," the speculation that does not make an appearance in Cumings' own article on the web. Needless to say, Cumings' own words on the web do not include the racist statement that "North Korea recognizes no ethic, law or morality that obtains beyond its water's edge, except for one: the Western doctrine of the sovereign equality of all nations, to which it clings with a passion and an almost quaint sincerity," which the _Nation_ editor put in Cumings' mouth. Since when has "the sovereign equality of all nations" been a "Western" doctrine??? -- Yoshie
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