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Fri, September 22, 2017 | 04:31

Opinion > Times Column >

Modify engagement policy toward N. Korea

“Will war break out in Korea?” This is a question I get often these days. Like most people here staying calm despite rattling dispute over North Korea’s repeated firing of missiles, I have remained largely negative over the possibility of war on the peninsula. The war could, however, take place under two scenarios with either the United States making preemptive strikes agains...

2017-09-20 16:48

Trump's speech no prelude to military action

How US pullout could take place

To tweak Mao Zedong’s phrase, few would disagree that the United States is comparable to lips that protect teeth, which is South Korea. The ROK-U.S. alliance was forged in blood when Americans came to the South’s rescue when North Korea, backed by China and the former Soviet Union, invaded the South in the 1950-53 Korean War. The alliance has worked well so far, enabling Seou...

2017-09-15 16:39

US needs to talk to N. Korea

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a new package of sanctions against North Korea in response to its sixth nuclear test. The general consensus among North Korea experts, however, is the sanctions will not change the rogue nation this time, either. Signs show that the North is already preparing to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile in order t...

2017-09-13 17:20

Would nuclear weapons make us safer?

It has become popular for Korean businessmen and bureaucrats to argue that Korea needs to have its own nuclear weapons in order to assure its security. The change in thinking has been aided by a series of high-profile editorials in the Korean media, including editorials by moderate thinkers, advocating for the option of South Korean nuclear weapons as part of a general milita...

2017-09-13 17:04

Rise of popular sovereignty

Popular sovereignty is not a concept often put forth in Korea. In its compressed modern history after the Korean War, a “can-do” spirit pushed the once war-devastated small country toward prosperity and democracy, and on that journey, popular and individual sovereignty were many times preceded by group or national sovereignty. In line with this thought, one of the keywords th...

2017-09-06 17:45

Better lives for North Korean women

I served as a judge for an English speech contest for North Korean defectors Saturday. The event gave me a rare opportunity to have a better understanding of women’s lives in the North. Seven defectors, five women and two men, delivered speeches under the theme of “A Woman Is a Flower.” They went into detail about how women live in their motherland. They also shared with the ...

2017-08-30 17:39

Ruth Benedict was wrong on China

The unprecedentedly strong tsunami and the resultant meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear reactors on March 11, 2011, caught me by surprise. More stunning were the responses of the Japanese. Putting aside their nuclear contamination woes, they refused to purchase products en masse. If I had been there, I would have tried hard to snap up products made before the nuclear catastrop...

2017-08-16 17:47

Rise of streaming media

The English dictionary defines “ubiquitous” as “existing or being everywhere, especially at the same time” or “omnipresent.” This description applies to the information society that the Korean government has been pursuing since it announced the vision of “U-Korea,” a plan to achieve “ubiquitous communications” across the country in 2004. Related ministries and leading Korean ...

2017-08-09 17:20

'The Battleship Island' and Japan's apology

Controversy is brewing over the blockbuster “The Battleship Island.” It portrays the misery faced by the Koreans who were forced to work in the coal mines of the “hellish” Hashima Island during World War II. The film has attracted more than 4 million viewers in only one week, and has triggered criticism from both Korea and Japan. The Japanese media has been slamming the film ...

2017-08-02 18:01

Moon's N. Korea approach

North Korea is showing signs of preparing to launch a ballistic missile yet again very soon - this time probably using a submarine. The harsh reality facing South Korea is that it has few options to counter the North’s additional provocation. The Kim Jong-un regime has completely ignored President Moon Jae-in’s repeated dialogue overtures. It did not even show any interest in...

2017-07-26 18:51

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