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Mon, January 21, 2019 | 09:11

Opinion > Columnists > Donald Kirk >

'The more things change…'

The most obvious lesson of the Singapore summit is that “complete denuclearization” is mission impossible. The North Koreans since then haven't used the “n” word _ “n” for nuclear _ while talking in generalities about the need to respect everyone's “sovereignty” along with the statement signed by President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un on June 12 and the Panmunjom declaration of April 27, signed by President Moon Jae-in and Kim.

Donald Kirk | 2018-06-21 16:31

Showing off at the summit

SINGAPORE _ Style triumphed over substance in a summit of imagery and optics that left you wondering, why did they bother?

Donald Kirk | 2018-06-14 16:41

Covering Kim's bills in Singapore

The most controversial topic surrounding next Tuesday's Trump-Kim summit is probably not denuclearization or human rights. We already can be pretty sure those two bozos can talk their way around the nuclear issue with some vague declaration that all comes down to agreeing “Nukes Are Bad, Make Peace, not War.”

Donald Kirk | 2018-06-07 17:35

Racing to the summit

It does look like Singapore is on again. You can't have so many emissaries going back and forth, between Pyongyang and New York, between Washington and Singapore, between Pyongyang and Singapore, between Manila and Panmunjeom, without thinking these guys are serious, something's up.

Donald Kirk | 2018-05-31 16:35

Gambling on summit

it is time now to calculate the odds on whether President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meet up even if not quite as scheduled on June 12 in Singapore.

Donald Kirk | 2018-05-24 16:23

Kim's game of smoke and mirrors

It's not enough that North Korea should abruptly cancel South-North talks on military tensions and another long-awaited round of reunions of fast-fading families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War. Now we're not even sure Kim Jong-un will go through with his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Donald Kirk | 2018-05-17 16:27

Trump, Iran and North Korea

Nothing like a meeting with a dictator to get out of problems at home. The visit of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Pyongyang, just as President Donald Trump was jettisoning the Iran deal, shows Trump's eagerness to sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and come up with a statesman-like solution to the confrontation on the Korean Peninsula.

Donald Kirk | 2018-05-10 17:29

So much for Libyan example

John Bolton, U.S. President Donald Trump's national security adviser, may be hawkish and conservative, but at least you had to credit him with sophistication and having insights on the issues and the people whom he was confronting. In the course of many visits to Korea, he often displayed understanding on the realities of dealing with the North and the need for strong countermeasures against rising threats from the Kim dynasty.

Donald Kirk | 2018-05-03 17:19

Playing the blame game

CHICAGO - If the 1950-53 Korean War is America's “forgotten war,” the Jeju uprising that erupted 70 years ago last month is America's non-war. Ask U.S. officials about America's responsibility for the strife that cost the lives of about 30,000 people on Jeju from April 3, 1948, to 1954, and they profess either to know nothing about it or to deny that Americans had anything to do with it. Whatever the Americans might say, however, a movement led by the Memorial Committee for the 70th Anniversary of the Jeju April 3 Uprising and Massacre, based in Jeju, pins much of the blame on the U.S.

Donald Kirk | 2018-05-01 16:46

Dreaming of 'peace'

WASHINGTON - Here's a hard truth that's certifiable by any rudimentary review of modern Korean history: the real news about Korea catches almost everyone by surprise.

Donald Kirk | 2018-04-26 20:31

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