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Thu, May 25, 2017 | 10:08

Opinion > Columnists > Donald Kirk >

Testing the alliance

Would Kim Jong-un mind giving Moon Jae-in a break? More than any other South Korean leader in years, Moon would like nothing better than to be the one to bring about North-South reconciliation. Wouldn’t it be great, Moon’s newly appointed former activists must be saying, if Kim Jong-un invited Moon to Pyongyang instead of awaiting “the right conditions.” It would be so easy for Kim to outfox the Americans, who clearly think Moon will settle down, mute his pronouncements about talks with the North and cooperate as did his predecessors. But no, right away, Kim Jong-un opted to turn Moon’s drea...

Donald Kirk | 2017-05-18 17:34

Korea's minority president

The drama of South Korean history opens a tumultuous new act with the election of a liberal labor lawyer who has promised both to bring about detente with North Korea and satisfy the demands of restive masses fed up with rightist abuses.

Donald Kirk | 2017-05-11 17:57

Japan against its enemies

TOKYO - The shadows of war lengthen over Japanese society in thrall to Article 9 of a “peace constitution" foisted under the “occupation” led by the victorious World War II Pacific commander, General Douglas MacArthur. Much as the “rightist” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe might want to do away with it, Article 9 still bans Japan’s euphemistically named “self-defense forces” from waging war. Or, to be precise, under Article 9 “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.” Abe would like dea...

Donald Kirk | 2017-05-04 17:14

Searching for peace

An interviewer for a radio station in Boston, winding up one of those Q&A’s to which journalists are subjected, asked, What would you do to resolve the North Korean “problem?” I answered, “I have no solution, no idea, no clue.” While that response might seem like an abject display of ignorance or non-concern, I have yet to read any column or analysis by anyone else who’s got the answer either.

Donald Kirk | 2017-04-27 18:09

Trade-off for the trade gap

All the talk over what to do with North Korea overlooks one problem to which people are not paying that much attention. That’s the yawning gap in trade between the U.S. and all its leading trade partners. It’s a lot easier to grasp the significance of a North Korean nuclear warhead attached to a long-range missile than to care whether China’s exports to the U.S. last year exceeded its imports from the U.S. by a cool $347 billion. The imbalance with China is by far the most distended of any trade gap in the history of commerce between nations, and it’s a bargaining ploy in the Great Game over...

Donald Kirk | 2017-04-20 17:33

To strike or not to strike

POHANG - An array of heavy-duty, sophisticated gear spread over the beaches here shows the incredible military might of the U.S. and South Korea. Far offshore, way beyond the horizon, the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson leads a “strike force” of warships. Watching the display of U.S. strength on the beach in a wargame called Pacific Reach, one realizes how easy it would be to decimate the North Koreans.

Donald Kirk | 2017-04-13 17:17

THAAD's return on cost

From the outset, the idea of implanting a Star Wars weapon capable of zapping an enemy missile 150 kilometers above the earth’s surface had to be controversial. The real problem from the South Korean viewpoint initially was, what for - what we really need are short and mid-range missiles for not only countering whatever North Korea is throwing at us but also delivering body blows to targets on North Korea soil. South Koreans hemmed and hawed with visiting American potentates, from cabinet-level personages to military officers to corporate types and engineers, and even a physicist or two, all...

Donald Kirk | 2017-04-06 17:19

Sad legacy of presidential corruption

The prospect of Park Geun-hye going to jail in the most sweeping political scandal in modern Korean history inspires invidious comparisons. Who, actually, was the most corrupt president since promulgation of the “democracy constitution” in 1987 at the height of demonstrations as massive as those we have witnessed in central Seoul since October? None in this cast of characters managed to escape charges that blackened their names after their years of power and glory in the Blue House. In assessing their legacies, amazingly Park seems by no means the guiltiest. In fact despite the 13 charges ag...

Donald Kirk | 2017-03-30 17:26

Waving all those flags

The sight of the American Stars and Stripes among the Taegukgi held high by loyalists to Park Geun-hye is a reminder of the historical depth of ties among mostly aging Koreans to the country that rescued the South from annihilation by North Korea and China in the Korean War. Some Americans, seeing their country’s flag held high by Koreans, respond with bemusement. Many of them, scholars, teachers, researchers, would not dream of flying an American flag at home. To them, the notion of waving the national flag and singing patriotic songs is antithetical to their liberal creed - identification,...

Donald Kirk | 2017-03-23 16:59

Alliance under assault

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, dispensing pledges like a jolly Santa Claus pulling Christmas presents from his sled, arrives today (Friday) in Seoul from Tokyo and flies tomorrow to Beijing. After vowing undying U.S. support to Korea and Japan, he’ll assure China that THAAD presents no threat and beg the Chinese to get their North Korean friends to abandon their nuclear program. Tillerson may mean well, but his mission arouses skepticism for reasons that have nothing to do with his undoubted sincerity. Fact is, Tillerson does not have much influence over President Donald Trump’s fore...

Donald Kirk | 2017-03-16 17:15

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Park's impeachment