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Mon, September 25, 2017 | 13:29

Opinion > Columnists > John Burton >

War's economic havoc

The possibility of a conflict on the Korean peninsula is a scary proposition. But as The Economist recently pointed out, global financial markets don’t seem bothered by the prospect. That may be because the markets are discounting the likelihood that war will ever break out, with the threats from Pyongyang and Washington seen as lacking credibility. The case for complacency rests on the assumption that the U.S. would not want to launch a preventive war against North Korea because it would lead to the deaths of millions, including thousands of U.S. soldiers. But some have also pointed out the...

John Burton | 2017-09-18 17:36

Moon's military maneuvers

While President Moon Jae-in has been trying to promote a policy of reconciliation toward North Korea, known as the Sunshine Policy 2.0 after similar approaches pursued by Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, he is also overseeing a strong defense build-up, dubbed by some as Defense Reform 2.0. Moon’s defense plan is patterned after Defense Reform 2020 launched in 2006 by Roh, under whom the current president served as chief of staff. Previously, South Korea’s military structure was heavily tilted toward the Army, whose troops would be expected to do much of the ground fighting in a seco...

John Burton | 2017-09-04 17:11

Media-driven nuclear crisis

On July 25, The Washington Post reported that the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency had concluded that “North Korea will be able to field a reliable, nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile as early as next year,” two years ahead of previous estimates. The report attracted only modest attention among the U.S. media, which was focused that day on an upcoming vote in the U.S. Senate on healthcare reforms, U.S. President Donald Trump’s twitter attacks on U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the denial by the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, that he had colluded with the Russi...

John Burton | 2017-08-23 17:38

Trump's cultural revolution

I have a confession to make. In my wayward youth, I was a Maoist. The idea of overthrowing bureaucratic structures appealed to my libertarian sensibilities. If I felt the same now, maybe I would be a Trumpist. For one way to understand Donald Trump and his tumultuous presidency is to compare him to Mao Tse-tung and the Cultural Revolution. They share the same strategy of trying to create chaos to challenge and disrupt a hostile establishment. Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966 to overthrow senior government officials who were trying to sideline him after his disastrous Gre

John Burton | 2017-08-09 17:04

Moon's nuclear option

Lee Jong-kul, a prominent lawmaker from President Moon Jae-in’s Minjoo Party, last week told a seminar in Washington that South Korea may have to acquire nuclear weapons, an idea that until now has been confined to the conservative political fringes in Seoul. “If North Korea continues to conduct nuclear weapon and missile tests while the North Korean nuclear negotiations are sluggish, South Korea should decide whether to break the principle of denuclearization and start developing nuclear weapons,” Lee said in a speech at a forum in the U.S. capital sponsored by several Korea-related religio...

John Burton | 2017-07-26 17:43

Moon meets the Art of the Deal

When Korean President Moon Jae-in met U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington two weeks ago, the bar had been set so low by the media that anything short of the two leaders getting into a screaming match would have been counted as a success.

John Burton | 2017-07-12 17:37

Why investors like Moon

It is an irony that Korean presidents who are considered “leftists” have done more to promote market reforms than their conservative counterparts. Kim Dae-jung embraced the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund in the wake of the 1997 financial crisis to become the country’s most classically liberal president by ending trade restrictions, deregulating financial markets and allowing some of the country’s biggest business groups to collapse rather than bailing them out with state funds. His successor, Roh Moo-hyun, built on that legacy by increasing regulatory transparency, streng...

John Burton | 2017-06-28 17:39

Moon to have crucial summit with Trump

Solution to youth unemployment

The Moon Jae-in administration last week signaled the importance it places on job creation by proposing a $10 billion supplementary budget aimed at improving work prospects and fighting record youth unemployment. Korea finds itself in the enviable position of having the financial clout to address the problem. Its government debt is among the lowest for OECD economies and its 2017 fiscal deficit is expected to amount to only 1.7 percent of gross domestic product.

John Burton | 2017-06-14 17:45

University graduates face fierce competition to become janitors

Dear President Moon: Your upcoming trip to Washington in late June to meet U.S. President Donald Trump will probably be your single most important event to date in your young administration. The visit could determine the future of U.S.-ROK security alliance over the next several years at a time of peril on the Korean peninsula. The U.S. media has been playing up the possibility of a volatile clash between you and Trump because of your more conciliatory approach toward North Korea compared to the Trump administration’s preference for tougher sanctions.

John Burton | 2017-05-31 17:35

Green growth revival

While a lot of international attention has been paid to President Moon Jae-in’s policies on North Korea, his domestic agenda has been largely ignored by outside observers.

John Burton | 2017-05-17 16:26

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