This coincidence is truly amazing and appropriate:

 Nov. 17, 2005 marks exactly 100 years since Nov. 17, 1905 — two dates the U.S. magazine Weekly Standard in an early 2006 issue described as days of “national humiliation” for Korea. Headlined, “A Korean Day of Infamy”, the op-ed piece says, “There’s hardly ever a dull moment in South Korean politics. Awash in frequent and stupendous scandals, Koreans rarely find the time to step back and take the long view. Looking back on 2005, which defining event will Koreans remember, say, 50 or 100 years from now?”

On Nov. 17, 1905, Korea was deprived of diplomatic sovereignty when it signed the protectorate treaty with Japan. Exactly 100 years later, on Nov. 17, 2005, our government abstained on a UN resolution condemning the violation of human rights in North Korea. It was Lee Sung-yoon, Kim Koo research associate at the Korea Institute, Harvard University, who pointed out the coincidence of dates, saying the “infamy” of the latter was on a par with that of the former. “And the abstention by the South Korean government on that day, if not the details of the resolution itself, will cast a long shadow. Like the shameful events of 1905, it will not soon be forgotten.”  [Chosun Ilbo]

Then again how can the South Korean government vote to condemn North Korea for their human rights situation when they don’t even believe any evidence of such violations exist?