my timesThe Korea Times
OpinionColumnsColumnists

Tong Kim

Tong Kim is a Washington correspondent and columnist for The Korea Times.

Read more

Tong Kim

'Abject failure' on North Korea

By Tong KimOne positive outcome of President Park Geun-hye’s recent visit to Washington was that it brought Washington’s attention back to the Korean peninsula issue, which had long been on the backburner due to other urgent issues around the globe _ including Crimea, ISIS, Iran, and Syria.In Asia, the Obama administration is struggling to prevent China’s hegemony over the so-called Nine Dash Line in the South China Sea, while exploring ways to insure a peacefully rising China that will comply with international law and the rules that were established largely by the United States after the end of World War II.  The American rebalance to Asia is based on the rationale that a state’s strategic interests are protected by the support of military strength and diplomatic effort. This is one reason why the United States is strengthening its alliances with Japan and South Korea and increasing cooperation with other nations of the Asia Pacific region.At the joint press conference with the South Korean president, President Obama dispelled concerns about Presid

Oct 25, 2015By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Stagnant US policy on Korea

By Tong Kim During his visit to Seoul last week, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken very much summed up what the current U.S. policy is toward the Korean Peninsula and the East Asian region and how it is being carried out. Nothing new, but an update of where the things are after the visits to Washington by the leaders of Japan and China and before the visit by the South Korean president. From his statements given at the Asan Institute Oct. 7 and a joint press conference with Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong Oct. 6, it is clear that the Obama administration is sticking to the same stance on North Korea:  the U.S. is open to “credible and authentic talks” with Pyongyang if they are serious about denuclearization. Washington will not remove the preconditions to talks.   When a U.S. official says, “If North Korea chooses a different path,” it means if the North gives up its nuclear programs, if it stops provocations to threaten its neighbors and the United States, if it changes its repressive system of government, if it respects

Oct 11, 2015By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

For inter-Korean relations

By Tong KimNorth Korea is expected to hold a large military parade, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of its Korean Workers Party on Oct. 10.  Through such show of force, the North Korean regime demonstrates the capabilities of its military equipment and personnel to defend the country and the military’s loyalty to its leader.Pyongyang’s typical parade mobilizes the best of its war assets, including short and long-range missiles, often revealing newly developed rockets and artillery pieces that become a very useful source of information for military planners in the South and the United States. The coming parade will probably not be different in purpose, but is expected to be the largest so far.The real focus of attention is whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will decide to go ahead with a fourth nuclear test in the name of defense or a rocket test for a long-range ballistic missile in disguise of a legitimate space exploration program.  The nuclear test site at Punggaeri reportedly is ready, and the expansion project of a missile launcher at

Sep 13, 2015By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Dialogue decreases tension

By Tong KimAnother crisis that could have caused an outbreak of war in Korea was avoided by a dramatic inter-Korean agreement reached on Aug. 25.  The two Koreas agreed to reduce tension and avoid a military confrontation, while pursuing dialogue to improve inter-Korean relations.   The leaders of both sides, President Park Geun-hye and Kim Jong-un, welcomed the breakthrough as a new opportunity to resolve their differences peacefully through dialogue.The latest agreement was reached after three days of intense negotiation between South Korean National Security Office chief Kim Kwan-jin and Unification Minister Hon Yong-pyo and North Korean General Political Bureau director Hwang Pyong-so and Unification Department Minister Kim Yang-gon.For immediate mutual benefit, the main part of the agreement has been implemented: to defuse an acute military standoff that stemmed from an exchange of artillery fire following the explosion of a “wooden-box” land mine that injured two South Korean soldiers south of the Military Demarcation Line in the heavily fortified Dem

Aug 30, 2015By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

US politics and Korea

By Tong KimPresident Barak Obama still has more than a year and five months left of his term, but the general mood of the American public treats him as a lame duck that cannot do much to turn around the country’s pessimistic state of affairs.To be fair, Obama’s domestic and foreign policy performances fare well in general. Yet his Republican opponents strongly disagree, and many Democrats are disappointed.The Obama Care hailed by Democrats as a landmark accomplishment for millions of uninsured Americans was painted as a spectacular failure of his domestic policy and the latest Iran deal as well as his military disengagement from Iraq as a major foreign policy blunders. Republican presidential candidates ― all 17 of them ― are committed to repeal Obama Care and abrogate the Iranian deal if they are elected in 2016, even if the nuclear deal goes into effect because of a presidential veto.Among most outstanding concerns, a national debt of $19 trillion and the share of the national budget for entitlements and debt service amounting to 71 percent are scary. Und

Aug 16, 2015By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Inconsistent foreign policy

By Tong Kim Under a presidential system, democratic states can enter treaties or agreements with sovereign foreign states on important security issues, normally with the consent of their legislatures.  However, the implementation of an agreement by an incumbent administration is not necessarily guaranteed by its succeeding administration.In the case of the United States, the president has constitutional power to make treaties with foreign states, but only ``by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur.”The requirement of a two-thirds vote also applies to most serious issues, like overriding a presidential veto, amending the Constitution and judging on an impeached president of the United States. During a series of hearings on the recent Iranian deal by the appropriate committees of both houses of Congress, a few lawmakers who oppose the deal asked why the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) should be treated as a treaty that would require the tougher bar of a two-thirds vote, despite the fact that Con

Aug 2, 2015By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Iran deal's impact on N. Korea

By Tong KimIn the wake of the Iranian nuclear deal ― a long-term, multi-faceted plan to prevent Iran from making a nuclear weapon ― attention is drawn to the North Korean nuclear issue.  Would Pyongyang or Washington try one more time to settle the denuclearization issue through negotiation? Iran and North Korea are certainly different cases in several ways. Yet, the process of negotiation and the substance detailed in the final agreement reached by P5+1/EU and Iran could suggest how a resumed nuclear negotiation with North Korea might lead to success.Iran did not develop a nuclear weapon and, if it did, it would pose a security threat to the U.S. and its allies and partners in the Middle East.  North Korea is a de facto nuclear weapons state, already threatening U.S. allies in Northeast Asia, and is a potential threat to the security of America.Washington says it is willing to engage North Korea only in an ``authentic and credible” talk, and only if it is serious about abiding by its commitment to denuclearization.  Pyongyang says it will never give up its

Jul 19, 2015By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Obama and Park Geun-hye

By Tong Kim Last Saturday U.S. President Obama was upbeat after he scored three political gains: passage of the Trade Promotion Authority, and Supreme Court decisions on the affordable care act and same sex marriage. Obama’s approval rate went up above 50 percent.Obama’s powerful healing eulogy for nine slain black church members in Charlestown, South Carolina was also well received across the country, as he ended by leading those assembled in singing “Amazing Grace.”Last week the Republican Congress, despite opposition by some Democrats, was able to pass the Trade Promotion Act, which will give him the authority to expedite Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations with Japan and 11 other trading partners to initiate a multilateral trade agreement of the highest standard that the world has not seen. TPP is a centerpiece of Obama’s design for rebalances in Asia.Before the passage of the important trade bill, many political analysts had predicted President Obama without trade promotion authority would fail in TPP. Success or failure of the Asian r

Jul 5, 2015By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Pyongyang's statement of position

By Tong KimOn June 15, marking the 15th anniversary of the joint inter-Korean summit declaration of 2000, the DPRK issued a special “government statement” of its latest position on inter-Korean relations.  This statement deserves scrutiny to shed some light on the possible evolution of North-South relations for the rest of President Park Geun-hye’s term.Among several levels of official statements issued by various North Korean agencies, “government statement” is regarded as the most authoritative and is used only rarely when the government makes grave decisions such as its intent to withdraw from the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1993 or its announcement actually to withdraw from NPT in 2003.In addition, the latest government statement said it was issued with “authorization” or “commission,” which only the supreme state leader can give, meaning Kim Jong-un personally endorsed the statement.  Therefore, any time a North Korean statement carries “authorization,” it represents highest leader’s intent.T

Jun 21, 2015By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Pyongyang's statement of position

By Tong KimOn June 15, marking the 15th anniversary of the joint inter-Korean summit declaration of 2000, the DPRK issued a special “government statement” of its latest position on inter-Korean relations.  This statement deserves scrutiny to shed some light on the possible evolution of North-South relations for the rest of President Park Geun-hye’s term.Among several levels of official statements issued by various North Korean agencies, “government statement” is regarded as the most authoritative and is used only rarely when the government makes grave decisions such as its intent to withdraw from the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1993 or its announcement actually to withdraw from NPT in 2003.In addition, the latest government statement said it was issued with “authorization” or “commission,” which only the supreme state leader can give, meaning Kim Jong-un personally endorsed the statement.  Therefore, any time a North Korean statement carries “authorization,” it represents highest leader’s intent.T

Jun 21, 2015By Tong Kim
previous page
1314151617
next page

Top 5 stories

Korea Times
About Us
Introduction
History
Contact Us
Products & Services
Subscribe
E-paper
RSS Service
Content Sales
Site Map
Policy
Code of Ethics
Ombudsman
Privacy Policy
Youth Protection Policy
Terms of Service
Copyright Policy
Family Site
Hankookilbo
Dongwha Group
FacebookXYoutubeInstagram
CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.