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Tong Kim

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

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Tong Kim

Signs of peace for the Peninsula

By Tong Kim Careful reading of the New Year’s statements by leaders of the two Koreas and the subsequent direction of inter-Korean relations, although appearing hesitant and tenuous, gives a rational basis for optimism that both sides would work together this year to reduce tension and to move toward mutual accommodation.  On Jan. 12, President Park Geun-hye issued a guarded response in a positive tone to the Jan. 2 proposal by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un calling for ending confrontation and “the threat of a nuclear war” and mentioning a possible summit. Park said she would not impose any condition to a summit, but it should be held to help the processes of denuclearization and peaceful unification. In recent months, Seoul seems to have clarified its basic approach to unification as one of mutual consultation and common endeavor with Pyongyang, finally discarding the long-held, unrealistic concept of absorbing the North by way of “a sudden change” or implosion.  This contributes to removing one of the greatest impediments to the i

Jan 18, 2015By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

A possible North-South summit

By Tong Kim As 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, the leaders of the two Koreas have expressed their wishes, at least in rhetoric, to end outdated Cold War confrontation and resume dialogue and engagement to improve inter-Korean relations towards a durable peace and eventual unification.   Through a 29-minute New Year’s address, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un proposed to “hold the suspended high-level talks with South Korea and other talks in various areas.”  Speaking flawlessly in a fast-paced delivery, he said, “If the right atmosphere and conditions are there, we would have no reason not to hold a summit on the highest level.” On the following day Jan. 2, President Park Geun-hye made a cautious, indirect response: “the North should first come to the high-level talks,” which Seoul proposed last month through the Unification Preparation Committee.  She appears to favor a gradual approach to the holding of a summit. She “does not want a summit for its o

Jan 4, 2015By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Cyber terror a new challenge

By Tong Kim A few significant events developed last week, which will affect North Korea immediately or eventually.  In Washington, the U.S. FBI identified North Korea as the culprit that conducted a cyber-attack on Sony causing it to cancel the release of a comedy film, “The Interview,” which is the tale of a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.  Two days earlier, President Obama announced a decision to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba. In Moscow, President Putin’s chief secretary extended an invitation to Kim Jong-un to visit Russia in May. Kim has not visited a foreign country since he came to power in 2011.  In Seoul, some media reported that President Park Geun-hye is also invited to attend the 70th anniversary of the May 9 Victory Day in Moscow with other foreign leaders including Kim Jong-un.   Also in Seoul, the Constitutional Court dissolved the Unified Progressive Party, known as a pro-North Korea organization with a membership of 30,000 followers, in the midst of a public trend turning ag

Dec 21, 2014By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Six-party talks are futile

By Tong Kim The six-party talks, aiming at a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, have been dormant for six years since December 2008. Pessimism prevails that the multilateral forum of six nations ― China, the U.S., Russia, Japan and the two Koreas ― is highly unlikely to resume any time soon. Even if it were resumed unexpectedly, it would not be able to achieve its stated goal.North Korea has declared itself in its constitution as a nuclear weapons state and pursues a "policy of parallel development of nuclear deterrence and economy,” showing no interest in negotiating away its nuclear leverage that it has built at a high price of scarce resources and international sanctions. It wants to keep its nuclear weapons as a survival kit to safeguard its regime and system.    Pyongyang still talks about nuclear talks ― but not for denuclearization ― in return for political or economic rewards in which it once seemed interested before it broke off the talks. Now it wants to be recognized as a nuclear state that possesses a minimum of eight bombs with plutonium and u

Dec 7, 2014By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Human rights in N. Korea

By Tong KimThe passage of a U.N. committee’s human rights resolution on Nov. 18, recommending referral of the accountability of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged "crimes against humanity,” has spurred a new wave of awareness and concern of the North Korean human rights situation as detailed in a powerful 400-page report that the U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) released last February.The U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) is also likely to adopt the resolution next month. The assembly can request that its resolution be endorsed by the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) ― which has the sole authority to refer the case to the ICC. However, there is only a very slim chance that the North Korean human rights case will be sent to the ICC.China and Russia, as permanent members of the security council, would veto the referral. Only one veto is needed to kill a proposal. China and Russia were among the 19 countries that voted against the U.N. committee’s resolution seeking ``targeted sanctions” against North Korea, while 119 cou

Nov 23, 2014By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

OPCON and peace for Korea

By Tong Kim An agreement reached between the ROK and the U.S. to defer the transition of wartime operational control (OPCON) to South Korea indefinitely until “an appropriate date” in the future, by at least 10 years from now, reveals the extent of security and political problems on the peninsula to which there is no simple solution.Since the1990s, successive Korean presidents have wanted to retrieve OPCON from the U.S. and relocate the U.S. Yongsan Garrison base to a location outside of Seoul, partly as for reasons of political symbolism, an assertion of political sovereignty and to show self-reliance in defense, by trying to assume more responsibility for the ROK’s own defenses, not by weakening or ending the alliance with the U.S. but by maintaining it. The U.S. has exercised OPCON control over the ROK forces since July 14, 1950, when President Syngman Rhee turned it over to General MacArthur, UNC commander, by a letter of authorization that said, “In view of the fact that … all U.N. forces fighting in Korea and in the neighboring areas hav

Nov 9, 2014By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Insecure path to peace

By Tong Kim It appears that North Koreans will not attend a second round of “high-level contact” at Panmunjeom on Oct. 30, as proposed by Seoul.  A delegation of three ranking DPRK officials agreed to do so, when they came to attend the closing ceremony of the Asian Games at Incheon on Oct. 4.  Since their visit to the South, a series of portentous events has unfolded to impact inter-Korean relations as well as U.S.-DPRK relations. These include border clashes between the North and the South, release of an American detainee, a subtle semantic change in Washington’s position on nuclear talks, and an indefinite deferment of the transition of operational control to the ROK. On the 7th, a North Korean patrol boat intruded south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) ―a borderline in the West Sea which the North has never accepted. This caused an exchange of gunfire. No damage was inflicted, but the purpose of the boat’s intrusion was never established. On the 15th, a rare military meeting was held at the request of the North Korean side between

Oct 26, 2014By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Reading North Korean Intent

By Tong KimThe surprise visit of the three most powerful officials serving North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the South on Oct. 4 caught most people off guard.Yet it was not the first time the North has orchestrated an unexpected move toward the outside world. During their stay of less than 12 hours, the delegation had a luncheon with ranking South Korean officials of comparable responsibility, including Prime Minister Chung Hong-won, Presidential Security Adviser Kim Kwan-jin, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae and Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports Kim Jong-deok.The North Koreans congratulated their athletes who finished in seventh place at the Asian Games with 36 medals, including seven gold, before the trio attended the closing ceremony with the South Korean officials sitting side-by-side in the same row of seats. The North Koreans then thanked the South Korean spectators for their support for the DPRK athletes.The visit also coincided with pervasive rumors that the young North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has a serious health problem. He has been seen limping, and the official

Oct 12, 2014By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Diminishing prospect of denuclearization

By Tong KimAfter watching the implementation of the Park government’s North Korea policy for the last one year and a half, many people express growing concern that the policy has failed to improve inter-Korean relations, and make progress for denuclearization or to lay “a foundation for unification.”  Now the question is whether and how the policy should be transformed.At a public forum last week, Unification Minister Ryoo Gil-jae defended the current policy to pursue a “genuine dialogue,” not a repeat of previous dialogue that leads to empty promises.”  He makes it clear that the South is prepared to discuss all matters of concern to both sides, once the North side comes to the table, accepting Seoul’s still valid proposal for high-level exchanges.North Korea has rejected an offer from South Korea for support on humanitarian, social, cultural, environmental, and infrastructure-building projects detailed in the Dresden Statement and the last August 15 address made by President Park.  The North describes this is a ploy to defeat

Sep 28, 2014By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Should food aid to North Korea continue?

By Tong KimLast week the Guardian, a well-known British daily, published a panel discussion of experts about whether the U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP) should end its humanitarian food aid for North Korea.  The WFP has been the largest consistent food provider since the 1994 North Korean famine, at times feeding up to a third of the population. Food provision to the North, whether by WFP, humanitarian NGOs or the South Korean government, has typically involved controversy over the North Korean government’s priority in allocating resources to military armament ― including its nuclear and missile programs that threaten its neighbors ― instead of investing in agriculture, food production or importing food to feed its people.Critics further argue that giving food aid or any other economic assistance frees the North Korean regime to use more resources ― which might have helped feed its people ― to further bolster its nuclear and missile programs. To survive the earlier famine crisis that resulted from multiple causes ― including the regime’s heavy emphasi

Sep 14, 2014By Tong Kim
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