Opinion - The Korea Times

Rising risks of war for Taiwan

By Donald KirkWe're so obsessed with Russian forces amassed against Ukraine, with terrorism in the Middle East, with North Korea's nukes and missiles, that we risk placing China's threats against Taiwan somewhere down the list of all the crises around the world.Every day we hear reports of China exploiting cyberspace, stealing secrets and spying on people, of Chinese expansionism around its borders, in the South China Sea, down and across Central Asia. Chinese companies are accused of stealing secrets, and Chinese interests wring money and loyalty on all continents. Then, at home, the ruling Communist Party imposes drastic restraints over the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, forcing the Uyghur populace into concentration camps, beating and sometimes killing them.The island province of Taiwan, though, is another story. We've so often heard Chinese claims, Chinese vows, Chinese intimidation that we're tempted to shrug off the rhetoric and doubt whether China has any real intention to load soldiers onto ships and send them 100 miles across the Taiwan or Formosa Straits, land them unde

Feb 10, 2022By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

Awaiting Washington's new man in Seoul

By Donald KirkOne odd question hangs over U.S. relations with Korea, both South and North, in this pivotal election year in which South Koreans decide a few weeks from now on their next president. That is, who is directing American policy and how is Washington navigating between conflicting views in the South and rising threats from the North?What's strange is that the U.S. for more than a year has had no ambassador to South Korea. Now it's reported that Philip Goldberg, a Latin American expert who's been ambassador to Colombia and Bolivia and worked on U.N. sanctions on North Korea more than 10 years ago, is the ambassador-designate.What's taken so long to advance his name and when is he coming to Seoul? Are President Joe Biden and his team so consumed by Ukraine that they have not had time to ask, 'What are we going to do about conveying our confused thoughts to outgoing President Moon Jae-in, barred as he is by Korea's Democracy Constitution from running for a second five-year term?' And how worried should we be about whoever's next in the Blue House, the left-leaning Lee Jae-myun

Jan 27, 2022By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

Talking about talks with North Korea

By Donald Kirk Survival under the threat of a North Korean missile strike is like living with the danger of COVID. One takes all precautions, but there's no guarantee anything will work.When it comes to what to do about North Korea, the obvious first answer is negotiations, and then more negotiations, and then an agreement of some sort. Looking back on the history, all these negotiations have failed to produce lasting deals.That doesn't mean, though, that we should stop looking. Sure, why not? Christopher Hill, the lead American negotiator on those six-party talks that got nowhere, loved talking about progress until the talks fizzled out and the North went on testing missiles and nukes.The most optimistic moment probably was the deal reached in 1994 when the U.S. and North Korea reached an elaborate “framework” agreement under which the North would give up its nuclear program in exchange for construction of twin light-water reactors to provide nuclear power for the North's dilapidated electricity network. South Korea would provide $2 billion for the reactors, Japan anothe

Jan 13, 2022By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

England versus the pandemic

By Donald KirkLONDON ― The Brits just don't get the idea. Even as COVID cases proliferate, you still see lots of people here not wearing face masks. Bars and restaurants remain open while Prime Minister Boris Johnson hems and haws on whether to tighten constraints. Meanwhile, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, adopting their own rules, have banned social gatherings and public events, making athletic teams play before empty stadiums.The contrast in responses may be hard for a foreign visitor to understand. The first lesson to remember is that England is one “nation” within the United Kingdom. The Scots, Welsh and Irish in Northern Ireland also claim nationhood. Got that? For sure, England is the dominant element, and London, in southeast England, is the capital of the kingdom. The U.K. is an agglomeration ― “confederation” might not be the right word ― formed in times of raging strife going back centuries.You wonder, considering the differing responses to COVID, if the United Kingdom might someday fly apart. The Scots narrowly voted to stay in the U.K., and

Dec 30, 2021By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

Making much of human rights

By Donald KirkTalk of “human rights” presents South Korea with a terrific headache. No way could President Moon Jae-in go along with U.S. President Joe Biden's decision not to send a bunch of bigwigs to consort with Chinese officialdom at the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics. South Korea is too close to China on a number of levels to have joined the U.S. and its Anglo-Saxon soulmates, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, in spurning China's big show.The sad fact is “human rights” inspires as much controversy and debate as any other issue in diplomatic relations. Abuses are one big reason why Biden ordered the diplomatic boycott of the Games, and they're the reason, among others, for the latest U.S. sanctions against North Korea.Luckily, of course, the U.S. is not boycotting the Games as such. That is, American athletes will be doing their thing as will Brits, Australians and Canadians. The millions glued to TV and mobile phone screens around the world will still get to see all those glittering and gleaming leaps and jumps, mad dashes and bruising collisio

Dec 16, 2021By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

'A shrimp among whales'

By Donald Kirk The notion that South Korea should adopt a “neutral” position between the U.S. and China has been gaining traction as President Moon Jae-in looks for equilibrium between these two giant powers, near and far. It all goes back to that image of Korea as “a shrimp among whales” and the old line, “In a fight between whales, the shrimp's back gets broken.”That's understandable when you consider the geographical position of the Korean Peninsula between China, Russia and Japan and the proximity of U.S. air and naval power on bases in South Korea, Japan and Guam. There are, however, reasons to question this search for neutrality, beginning with the simple reality that South Korea is a long-time U.S. ally while North Korea relies on China for security.The division of the Korean Peninsula, however wrong it was, means that neither North nor South Korea can pretend to be neutral for long. North Korea may be proud of its nukes and missiles but can't make a real move, beyond testing, without the approval of China and maybe Russia too. Kim Il-sung c

Dec 2, 2021By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

Lessons from history: the Taft-Katsura meeting

By Donald KirkThe names of pivotal dates and places in history should appear fairly clear. Korea's history, however, is not so simple. Take the meeting in July 1905 between the U.S. secretary of war, William Howard Taft, and Katsura Taro, who served as the prime minister of Japan during the period in which Japan assumed control of Korea in 1905, and then in 1910, made the entire peninsula a colony.The Taft-Katsura meeting is hardly mentioned in U.S. history texts, but in their discussion in Tokyo, they vaguely agreed that Japan would hold sway over the Korean Peninsula, while the U.S. would retain the Philippines free from Japanese interference.That understanding, well known in Korea though not in the U.S., came up again when Lee Jae-myung, running to succeed President Moon Jae-in in the March presidential election, gave a lesson in history to Jon Ossoff, the winner of a run-off election last January for the U.S. Senate. Ossoff's victory in Georgia was crucial in insuring the Democratic Party's tenuous hold over the Senate. In Korea, Lee, as the candidate of the ruling Democratic Par

Nov 18, 2021By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

Debating who nukes whom

By Donald KirkWASHINGTON ― The prospect of any kind of nuclear war is frightening beyond imagination. We talk in the abstract about the millions who would die, but are reluctant to accept the reality that the worst might someday come true.Such talk echoes through the media whenever the question arises of who might strike first. We're accustomed to hearing aggrieved expressions of doubt and wounded sensitivities. Loose talk assumes urgency as the U.S. considers whether to adopt a policy of “no first use,” meaning that the U.S. would not initiate a nuclear holocaust.This debate strikes a special chord among Americans considering the U.S.'s place in global history, as the first country to use nuclear weapons. The atom-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 led Japan's Emperor Hirohito to call on his people “to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable.”With those immortal words, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally, giving up all the territories they had conquered, f

Nov 4, 2021By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

Powell, a man of war and peace

By Donald KirkWASHINGTON ― South Korea's pursuit of a declaration that the Korean War is over is an exercise largely unknown to virtually all Americans, aside from those with a stake in the debate. Ask just about any U.S. citizen if anyone's waging war in Korea, and the response will be one of bewilderment. “What war?,” What are you talking about?” and “Is there a war going on over there?” are typical answers.Of course, there is no war, but some people seem hell-bent on convincing everyone that the Americans and South Koreans are fighting the North Koreans and maybe the Chinese. Unless you've been following the discussion, which virtually no one here has been doing, aside from diplomats and think-tankers and activists, you wouldn't know or care. Often, talking to ordinary folk out of “the loop,” you have to explain, “Yes, we were waging war in Korea seven decades ago,” and, “No, we don't want to have to fight another war there.”That should end the conversation, other than maybe for a few questions from people who've se

Oct 21, 2021By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

Rising risks in China

By Donald KirkWASHINGTON ― U.S. relations with China seem to be going from bad to worse at a dizzying pace. That's not to say war is about to break out at any of the obvious flashpoints, from the South China Sea to Taiwan to the Korean Peninsula, but the signs of impending conflict are clear.Most dramatically, China has been intimidating Taiwan, and indirectly the U.S., by flying dozens of fighter planes into Taiwan's air defense identification zone. That may not be as frightening as it sounds. These planes are not buzzing the island state, which China has been claiming as its own ever since the Communist victory over the mainland in 1949, and Taiwan isn't rising to the challenge by threatening to shoot any of them down. Still, while two U.S. aircraft carriers and one British carrier plus a Japanese helicopter carrier were churning the waters off nearby Okinawa, Japan's southernmost island prefecture, you have to believe this show of military force on all sides is alarming, to say the least. Add the U.S.-China trade imbroglio to this military confrontation, and you have an admixture

Oct 7, 2021By Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk

Read more

Rising risks of war for Taiwan

Awaiting Washington's new man in Seoul

Talking about talks with North Korea

England versus the pandemic

Making much of human rights

'A shrimp among whales'

Lessons from history: the Taft-Katsura meeting

Debating who nukes whom

Powell, a man of war and peace

Rising risks in China

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