Opinion - The Korea Times

Exercises in summitry

By Donald KirkSummit fever is upon us. The mere idea of two leaders sitting down and talking suggests the ultimate panacea. Surely they can come to terms once they look each other in the eye and work out all those terrible differences.That's the fantasy as Donald Trump wraps up his role at the G20 gathering in Osaka and takes off Saturday for Seoul and yet another meeting with President Moon Jae-in. Moon is excited. Maybe this time he can talk Trump into meeting Kim Jong-un for a third time and reaching a viable agreement ― even an “end-of-war” declaration.The chances of that happening, of course, are not good. Trump would have to stop insisting that Kim agree to giving up his nuclear program and revealing the whereabouts of all his nukes and the facilities for making them. No one in his right mind thinks Kim will go for anything like that.That's not to say that Trump and Kim won't meet again and maybe do better than they did in Hanoi at the end of February. Trump's walkout was the ultimate happy ending to such a summit. A vacuous agreement on the need for denuclearizatio

Jun 27, 2019By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

North Korea needs to say sorry

By Donald KirkAdvocates of a “peace treaty” with North Korea believe, unanimously, that such a treaty would serve some real purpose other than provide the North with ammunition for withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Korea and closure of U.S. bases. The slightest scrutiny of history should make painfully clear that the North would violate the treaty whenever, however, it wished, but the treaty crowd talks as if North Korea would observe it without question. For sure, they believe, the Korean War would be over.It would be pointless to argue that a war is over when the shooting has stopped and the line drawn between combatants as agreed on in the armistice signed at Panmunjeom on July 27, 1953. However, it should not be pointless, in the run-up to the 69th anniversary of the North Korean invasion on June 25, to note that the North has repeatedly said the armistice was no longer valid. North Korea, and its benefactor China, have long since refused to participate in meetings of the military armistice commission at Panmunjeom.So why is it that advocates of a peace treaty pers

Jun 20, 2019By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

Sunshine: Lee Hee-ho's legacy

By Donald KirkIn her own way, Lee Hee-ho shares credit with Kim Dae-jung for the Sunshine policy of reconciliation with North Korea that he fostered during his presidency from 1998 to 2003.Although not exactly shy and retiring, Lee is largely unknown among foreigners, even those who admired “DJ,” and is scarcely remembered by many Koreans. Still, she had as much to do as anyone in shaping the career of the man she married in May 1962 when both were nearly 40. DJ by then had made his mark as a fiery political figure, having won a seat in the national assembly that Park Chung-hee nullified after seizing power in May 1961 from the democratic government that arose after the April 1960 revolution, but she sensed his best days lay ahead.Lee, who died Monday at the age of 96, was captivated by the fighting spirit and shining idealism of the man Park jailed and then released shortly before their wedding. Born into a large, well known Seoul family, the daughter of a doctor, Lee by background was quite the opposite of DJ, the son of a poor rice farmer who also harvested salt on an

Jun 12, 2019By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

Dreams of democracy

By Donald KirkThe vision of a brave new world in China three decades ago was captivating, exhilarating proof at last that democracy could prevail in an outpouring of revulsion over Communist dictatorship.Alas, it was not to be. The hypnotic image of reform, of the forces of right defeating evil, yielded soon enough to a harsh reminder that might makes right. Mao Zedong was correct when he came out with his most memorable quote, “Power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”I was in Beijing when tens of thousands, not just crazy kids but also somber older people, filled Tiananmen Square. Rampaging through streets leading to the square, they promised to overthrow the rulers across the avenue, headquartered in Zhongnanhai beside the Forbidden City, where leaders of the Communist Party and government plotted to crush the infidels.Mao had long since died, and a reform-minded Deng Xiaoping was now “paramount leader,” reluctant to take on such titles as president or “party chairman” or even secretary-general but very much in control. Some believed that Premier

Jun 9, 2019By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

Healing historic hostilities

By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON ― President Trump's visit to Japan carries a message for South Korea as much as anywhere else. It's time to call a halt to outpourings of anti-Japanese sentiment.That's not to say South Koreans should bury their bitterness over the decades of Japanese rule, the slaughter of Koreans after the revolution of March 1, 1919, or indeed the general sense of superiority that many Japanese still harbor over Koreans.Nor should Koreans have to give up their vigils around statues of Korean comfort women, most visibly across the street from the former Japanese embassy in Seoul. Those images serve as enduring reminders of the suffering inflicted on Korean women in World War II. Activists have a right to remind the world of a legacy that Japanese people would prefer either to forget or deny.And for sure Koreans should go on clinging to Dokdo, those rocky crags in the East Sea, a.k.a. “Sea of Japan” on international maps. The fact that the Japanese refuse to drop their claim to Dokdo, which they insist on calling Takeshima, is an irritating reminder of Japanese

May 31, 2019By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

Surfing to war

By Donald Kirk VIRGINIA BEACH ― Holiday crowds soak up the surf and sun while sailors and marines train for war in distant countries about which they know very little. A young marine, bored with the routine at one of the dozen or so facilities between this sprawling oceanside community and the huge naval base up the interstate at Norfolk, says in an idle moment he'd like to see what combat is like.Reminded that he might not feel that way if cast in harm's way, he's not dissuaded. “I want to go,” he insists as weekend visitors stroll by and the sounds of music reverberate from nearby clubs. In an unreal world, it's hard to imagine visions of combat intruding into the lives of anyone here, including thousands of military people enjoying the perks of comfortable lifestyles and steady work. You have to return to Washington to realize the danger of stumbling into war beyond the brush fires that flare up periodically just about anywhere.Not that you really believe Armageddon is at hand. The debate is abstract, the levels of danger, the imminence of anything really happening, mi

May 23, 2019By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

From trade war to real war

By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON ― The U.S.-China trade war has grave implications for war and peace around the periphery of China, including the Korean Peninsula. In all the yakking on the U.S. news networks, however, you don't hear much about the danger of the whole shebang exploding into a shooting war.We may not be at the stage of armed conflict but should never forget that some of the bloodiest wars in the last century erupted from disputes over trade. Just look at the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific when the Japanese decided an attack on U.S. bases in Hawaii and the Philippines was the way to counter constraints imposed on trade with Japan, notably the oil needed then as now to fuel the Japanese economy.China's President Xi Jinping may be quite reluctant to see huge differences over trade boil over into a real war, but it's unlikely he will be inclined to appreciate U.S. concerns, much less make concessions, while embroiled in a bitter trade war. As long as the U.S. and China impose punitive tariffs on each country's products, we can be pretty sure we will begin to feel the im

May 16, 2019By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

America's enemy within

By Donald KirkWASHINGTON ― Well, that was quick. After a day of headlines the salvo of long-range projectiles fired by the North Koreans was history, yesterday's news. Reverberations of the shots faded away while experts wondered if those were missiles or just extra long-range artillery.Actually, whatever they were, Kim Jong-un will have to try a little harder if he thinks he's scaring anyone. No one here really thinks he's about to order an attack on American forces in South Korea, much less on anything else including targets in the U.S. Maybe the reaction here should have been hysterical. Since he didn't get much of a rise out of the American mass media, Congress, the Pentagon or the White House, maybe he'll try again ― firing more and better and still longer-range projectiles, if not missiles.Americans face a much more immediate real and present danger of just about anyone with a pistol or rifle firing into a crowd. No, the shooter has no chance of escaping, but he can kill or wound people while Americans again debate the constitutional if not the sacred right of just about anyone

May 9, 2019By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

Uncovering Jeju revolt

By Donald Kirk PHILADELPHIA ― The testimony of two grandmothers from the island province of Jeju about their brief encounters with American soldiers more than 70 years ago offers a glimmer of the U.S. role there before the outbreak of the Jeju revolt on April 3, 1948 (often called “4.3” by Koreans).One of the women, in a taped interview screened at the 19th World Peace Island Forum, moderated by Ko Chang-hoon, professor emeritus at Jeju University, goes beyond vague references to the U.S. military government. Her memories on tape, and her response to questions at the forum, captured the fears of people on Jeju about the American soldiers whom they occasionally encountered.This video is significant since it describes a scene in the ill-fated village of Bukchon on Jeju's northern coast. Bukchon is memorialized for a massacre in which more than 300 villagers were hacked and shot to death by rampaging South Korean police and soldiers on Jan. 17, 1949, at the height of the revolt that cost the lives of nearly 30,000 people.It was long before the massacre, months before April 3

May 2, 2019By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

Russia's stake in North Korea

By Donald Kirk It's easy to overlook the Russian stake in the Korean Peninsula. We hear so much about China's pivotal role, its influence over North Korea and its enormous trade with South Korea that we tend to forget the Soviet Union shared responsibility with the U.S. for the artificial division of the peninsula between North and South at the 38th parallel in 1945.Soviet forces ruled the northern “half” of Korea after the Japanese surrender in August 1945, setting in motion the events that led to the installation in Pyongyang more than three years later of a leader who had served as an officer in the Soviet army, having returned to the port of Wonsan on a Soviet commercial vessel and then being placed in charge of a provisional government in Pyongyang. This leader, Kim Il-sung, was installed as premier of the newly formed Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Sept. 9, 1948, 25 days after the American-backed Syngman Rhee was inaugurated as the first president of the Republic of Korea, or South Korea, on Aug. 15.The get-together of Russia's President Vladimir Pu

Apr 24, 2019By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

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Exercises in summitry

North Korea needs to say sorry

Sunshine: Lee Hee-ho's legacy

Dreams of democracy

Healing historic hostilities

Surfing to war

From trade war to real war

America's enemy within

Uncovering Jeju revolt

Russia's stake in North Korea

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