Page 8 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
U.S.A. / SPORTS
February 20, 2017
North Korea says sanctions aim to hinder sports activities
SANCTIONS & SPORTS. North Koreans ride a
snowmobile at the Masik Pass Ski Resort in Wonsan,
North Korea. North Korea’s Olympic committee lashed
out against sanctions over its nuclear and long-range
missile programs, claiming they are aimed at hurting
the North’s efforts to compete in international sports.
Sanctions blocking the sale of items such as skis,
snowmobiles, snow groomers, yachts, and even bil-
liard tables are a “vicious ulterior political scheme,”
according to its National Olympic Committee. In the
bottom photo, North Koreans ski down a slope at
Masik Pass Ski Resort. (AP Photos/Wong Maye-E)
By Eric Talmadge
The Associated Press
YONGYANG, North Korea —
With just one year to go before
South Korea hosts the Winter
Olympics,
North
Korea’s
Olympic
committee lashed out against sanctions
over its nuclear and long-range missile
programs, claiming they are aimed at
hurting the North’s efforts to compete in
international sports events.
Sanctions that block the sale of items
such as skis, snowmobiles, snow groomers,
yachts, and even billiard tables are a
“vicious ulterior political scheme” to
prevent the country from having sports
exchanges and achieving its goal of
becoming a world sports power, Kang
Ryong Gil, deputy secretary-general of
North
Korea’s
National
Olympic
Committee, said in a statement.
Such items are identified as luxury
goods subject to the sanctions imposed by
the United Nations because of North
Korea’s nuclear and missile tests.
It’s rare for a North Korean official to say
that sanctions are affecting the country.
Normally North Koreans when talking in
public insist that sanctions don’t matter to
them and they say that they will survive
on their own whatever the rest of the world
does.
But in a brief scripted statement, Kang
said some European countries are refusing
to sell sports equipment to North Korea.
The statement also claimed that
sanctions block the International Olympic
Committee and international sports
federations from transferring funds they
would otherwise provide North Korea, as
they do for other developing countries.
Kang did not comment on whether
North Korea will compete in the upcoming
Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South
P
Members of president’s commission
on Asian Americans resign
By Jesse J. Holland
The Associated Press
ASHINGTON — Ten members
of the President’s Advisory Com-
mission on Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) have resigned to
protest the new administration’s policies
and positions on repealing the Affordable
Care Act, building a wall between the
United States and Mexico, and punishing
sanctuary cities.
“We can no longer serve a president
whose policies aim to create outcomes that
are diametrically opposite to our princi-
ples, goals, and charge,” the resigning
commissioners said in a letter sent to
President Donald Trump.
This is a second wave of resignations
from the 20-member commission; six
members resigned in January. This leaves
the commission with only four members.
The White House did not immediately
respond to an e-mail about the resigna-
tions.
The resigning commissioners said in a
letter that several of Trump’s positions
and statements don’t align with what they
wanted to advocate as a commission.
“Protecting civil rights and fighting
against bullying were pillars of our
commission’s work,” said actor Maulik
Pancholy, a former commissioner. “We
cannot serve under an administration that
seeks to exclude members of our society or
take away their rights, especially the
Muslim community, which is very much
part of our AAPI community.”
President Bill Clinton created the com-
mission in 1999, and Presidents George W.
Bush and Barack Obama reauthorized it.
The terms of the commissioners were
already scheduled to end in September,
but the former chair, Tung Nguyen of San
W
Francisco, said they could no longer serve
with this administration. Nguyen said
they had tried to communicate with the
Trump administration since the election
but have not been able to make any
headway.
“We basically have been informed that
we are not to communicate with them
unless it’s something that is congruent or
in the same direction as their policies,”
Nguyen said. “We were supposed to be the
connector (between the White House and
their communities) and we were told that
unless those concerns were aligned with
the administration’s actions or agenda,
there was no point in doing it.”
This year marked the 75th anniversary
of President Franklin Roosevelt’s decision
to authorize internment camps for
Japanese Americans during World War II,
said Nguyen, who has been on the
commission since 2011.
“We could no longer sit and decide to do
nothing,” he said, while the administra-
tion is putting forth its policies on immi-
gration, healthcare, and sanctuary cites.
Go paperless!
protests sanctions as unjust. But this may
be a particularly sore nerve.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has
made raising the country’s profile in global
2016 Most Honored
Elder Award Recipient
Vicki Nakashima
Vicki Nakashima, a third-generation Japanese American (sansei), was born
August 1, 1947 in Spokane, Washington. Her grandfather emigrated from Tottori,
Japan around 1900 and her grandmother was one
of the first “Picture Brides.” Much of Vicki’s family
was interned during World War II at Minidoka,
while her parents were sent to Tule Lake due to
her father’s activism. Vicki, now retired, worked
as the director of multicultural health for the
Oregon Department of Human Services. She was
an American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow
(Class XIII) and has been the recipient of many
accolades, including the Portland State
University Center for Women, Politics & Policy
2010 Women Leaders of Oregon Award, the Herm
Gilliam Spirit Award (2011), the World Arts
Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and
the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church
Coretta Scott King Award. Vicki has a son, Lloyd,
daughter-in-law, Bethany, and a three-year-old
grandson, Jalen. Her many volunteer activities include the Partners in Diversity
Leadership Council, including serving as its first executive director; the Marylhust
University Board of Trustees; the City of Portland Golf Advisory Committee; the
Oregon-Toyama sister-state relationship; and the Western States Golf
Association. She is an avid golfer and often officiates golf tournaments for youth
and adults. She also enjoys shopping at thrift stores and being an extra on film sets
for movies and television.
AR Photo/Eugene Wong
Korea.
North Korea, which conducted another
missile test that has been widely criticized
as a U.N. resolution violation, frequently
sports a high priority of his regime. There
has been a clear effort in the North to
nurture world-class athletes capable of
bringing back gold medals from major
world competitions, similar to the sports
powerhouses of East Germany and other
nations in the former communist bloc.
A ban on winter sporting equipment also
hits close to home for the North’s leader-
ship.
Soon after assuming power in late 2011,
Kim, who lived in Switzerland for a time
when he was young, ordered the con-
struction of North Korea’s first and only
luxury ski resort.
The facility at Masik Pass has been
singled out by some sanctions advocates as
a prime example of how luxury goods still
find their way into the country, usually via
China. Following the North’s nuclear test
early last year, the sanctions were
tightened to specifically target equipment
used to maintain the resort’s slopes.
The tougher trade restrictions appear to
have had little impact, however. The resort
continues to not only be operational and
well-stocked, but is also a popular
destination for foreign tourists along with
North Korean work units, social groups,
and schoolchildren.
North Korea has been subject to several
rounds of U.N. sanctions since its first
nuclear test in 2006.
The Asian Reporter Foundation is accepting nominations
for its 2017 “Most Honored Elder” awards.
The recognition banquet will be held Thursday, April 20, 2017 at northeast
Portland’s TAO Event Center. Nomination forms and guidelines
for eligibility are available for download at <www.ARFoundation.net>.
The nomination deadline is
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at 5:00pm.
Read The Asian Reporter – exactly as
it’s printed here – online! Just visit
<www.asianreporter.com> and click
the “Online Paper (PDF)” link.
The Asian Reporter Foundation’s 19th
Annual Scholarship & Awards Banquet features:
Most Honored Elder Awards
Cultural entertainment
Exemplary Community Volunteer Awards
Ethnic dinner
College Scholarship Awards
Silent auction