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Wed, September 19, 2018 | 14:50

Opinion > Oh Young-jin Column >

Is Kim going down Gorbachev's path?

Is North Korea's Kim Jong-un going down the path of the last Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev? The two have converged a lot so far but of course we know about the end of Gorbachev's story, while Kim's remains open-ended. Gorbachev had pushed for glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) and was hailed for it by western media, but his effort ended up hastening the ...

2018-05-18 17:27

Kim Jong-un's endgame

A week after the April 27 inter-Korean summit, much of the euphoria _ a strong sense of anticipation about lasting peace on the peninsula _ remains. That sense is, however, based on wishful thinking after full-day coverage bombarded us with President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un holding hands, walking together and dining with their wives.

2018-05-04 13:54

Days shaking the world

It is difficult to fathom how big the change is that not just Koreans but people of the world have been experiencing over the past couple of months. The difficulty lies in the fact that we stand at the entrance to a historical vortex that may deliver a brave new world, but we really don't know what to expect.

2018-04-20 16:42

Beware! North Korean invasion under way

An attack by North Korea is under way but not in the way we have feared most. Instead of employing guns and rockets, this one involves an elaborate set of public relations (PR) moves, which, when lumped together, proves a major charm offensive that can disarm the South and corner other stakeholder countries. And its effects can be as devastating as conventional war. The spear...

2018-04-06 15:23

Trump should go to Pyongyang

Would U.S. President Donald Trump go to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang for the summit with Kim Jong-un in May? Would Kim risk leaving his comfort zone to travel to Scandinavia or even Beijing to meet Trump? Unless one of the two makes a concession, differences over the venue could be the stumbling block to the biggest chance so far of ending the North Korean nuclear st...

2018-03-23 16:54

Between Ivanka and Kim Yo-jong, it's no draw

There were desperate attempts to compare Ivanka Trump and Kim Yo-jong during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Perhaps it was the spirit of the Games that fed the media frenzy that asked, “Who is the better of the two?” The former visited the closing ceremony of the Games, while the second attended the opening. Maybe the old Cold War sense of confrontation gave full play to th...

2018-03-02 17:09

Samsung and Polympics

Korea is at war with Samsung Group with a ferocity that sometimes shows as if it won't be over until one of the two is done away with. The irony is that Samsung is the lifeline of Korea Inc., being the biggest employer, exporter, taxpayer, charity giver and the single largest pillar to support the stock market, possibly all at once.

2018-02-23 17:51

US ambassador and two defectors

With Victor Cha out and nobody in the offing for the job of U.S. ambassador to Korea, perhaps the current acting head of mission in Seoul, the charge d'affaires, could be a rather good choice. I am not advocating his candidacy for personal reasons of course. But an encounter with him at a Wednesday night diplomatic function presented that idea. “We are the cheerleaders,” acti...

2018-02-09 18:43

2018 Pyongyang Olympics

Just in case the title makes you wonder whether the venue for February's Winter Games has changed, it hasn't. The quadrennial event will still be held in PyeongChang, South Korea, from Feb. 9-25, as scheduled. The imaginary Olympics in the North Korean capital is a byproduct of an ongoing, fierce domestic political fight.

2018-01-26 15:19

Kim Jong-un in PyeongChang

So far, there has been little to divert from our familiar North Korean playbook. Leader Kim Jong-un has switched to conciliatory tactics. South Korea has jumped at the chance to achieve anything close to a more stable form of lasting peace. The result is the first high-level inter-Korean contact since the Moon Jae-in administration’s May inauguration. Now Pyongyang is expecte...

2018-01-19 15:23

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Inter-Korean Summit in Pyongyang [PHOTOS]