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From the
NY Post:
Queens congressional candidate Assembly woman Grace Meng used a North Korea sympathizer to help out with her upcoming primary race.
John Choe, who gathered 20 signatures on a Meng petition dated April 2, is notorious for telling a 2006 “Global Struggle for Socialism” conference that Kim Jung-un-led North Korea was “at the front line of the liberation struggles against imperialism.”
Choe left Comptroller John Liu’s campaign in 2009 after his remarks became public, and resigned as a senior aide in the Comptroller’s Office last September — just weeks after The Post reported he’d been hired there.
“Apparently John Choe — who is not a part of our campaign staff — was one of over 100 volunteers who collected 4,300 Democratic signatures. Assemblywoman Meng completely disagrees with Mr. Choe’s politics concerning North Korea,” said Meng campaign spokesman Michael Tobman.
From the
NY Post:
John Choe, the apologist for communist North Korea, quietly quit his $105,000-a-year job as Liu’s policy director last month -- shortly after The Post reported his equally under-the-radar hiring.
The claim by Liu’s office that The Post story had little to do with Choe’s departure is farfetched, considering how his employment was kept under wraps in the first place.
Choe was previously the comptroller’s chief of staff during Liu’s years on the City Council. After a failed bid to win his own council seat, he worked on Liu’s comptroller campaign until news broke that he’d told a 2006 conference on the “Global Struggle for Socialism” that North Korea was “at the front line of the liberation struggles against imperialism.”
He has since run Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, a propaganda outfit that sends people on trips to the North -- and which South Korea believes is controlled by Pyongyang.
From the
NY Post:
The Korean War is being fought again -- this time, in the city Comptroller’s Office.
Comptroller John Liu has hired back former top aide John Choe, who had resigned amid controversy over his alleged support of North Korea.
Choe, a Korean-American, had been chief-of-staff for Liu when Liu was a City Council member.
Choe quit to run for the council himself in 2009, but continued to work on old boss’ campaign for comptroller. He left the Liu campaign after reports emerged that in 2006, he had told a conference on the “Global Struggle for Socialism” that North Korea “is at the front line of the liberation struggles against imperialism.”
At the time, Liu denied Choe made the comments, saying his aide was the victim of “McCarthyism.”
But Choe admitted to The Post, “I may have said something like that.”
Still, four days after taking over as comptroller in 2010, Liu hired Choe -- who lost his council bid -- for the $105,000-a-year job of director of policy and research.
From the
Queens Tribune blog:
John Choe would rather not talk about North Korea.
“This issue is of very little relevance to District 20,” said Choe, responding to claims made last week by District Leader Julia Harrison, who said her sources were wary of Choe’s alleged connections to North Korea.
Choe did agree to a lengthy interview to dispel the rumors and past allegations that his role in founding a group called Nodutdol somehow branded him unpatriotic or worse. He made no secret of his advocacy for peace on the Korean peninsula and explained his positions on the issues that have gotten North Korea in headlines around the world.
Nodutdol sponsors trips by American Koreans to visit the country and the blog posts they write are overwhelmingly positive, describing the new found pride they feel in their heritage and the warm welcome they received. Nodutdol has been criticized for not presenting the negatives of North Korea, but Choe says that is not the purpose of the group. Instead, the group wants to foster cultural exchange and understanding, traits that Choe considers prerequisites for peace.
Choe said North Korea, like every nation, is entitled to test rockets for civilian purposes. When asked if he believe the rockets recently tested are for satellites or weapons, he said is not aware of any evidence one way or the other.
In regards to human rights violations, Choe criticized the former military government of South Korea, especially their National Security Law, which he said led to the “restricted free speech and freedom of conscience, [and] allowed the authorities to detain, torture and sometimes kill their political opponents whether they were professors, poetry, labor activists.”
“If a similar system is in place in North Korea, I would also oppose it,” said Choe.
From the NY Post:
