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Tong Kim

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

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Tong Kim

Troop Dispatch to Afghanistan

By Tong Kim While President Barrack Obama is yet to announce his new strategy on Afghanistan and has yet to determine whether to increase the number of U.S. troops fighting the emboldening Taliban insurgents in the world's worst shooting battle today, the South Korean government has decided to dispatch military troops to support the troubled U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan. President Lee Myung-bak's decision to send troops to Afghanistan was a politically difficult one. However, the decision was an overdue corollary of his vision of ``the strategic alliance with the United States" and his policy of expanding Korea's roles in global and transnational issues. He has often said Korea should carry out its international responsibility commensurate to its enhanced status in terms of national capacity. According to the Seoul government's plan, about 270 to 280 ``police" and military troops will be sent to Afghanistan to protect a Korean Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) that will be established with about 180 civil affairs specialists within a six-month period. The governmen

Nov 1, 2009By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Hostility and Denuclearization

By Tong Kim While North Korea continues its ``charm offensive," Washington has repeated for a month now that it is ready to talk directly to Pyongyang. The direct talks are likely to be preceded by an announcement only a day or week before they commence. Through direct talks, Washington hopes to bring the North Koreans back to the six-party talks. A bigger question that is haunting policy makers in Washington and Seoul is: Will North Korea really eliminate its nuclear weapons at the end of negotiations? It is clear by now that North Korea has shifted its security policy to reliance on nuclear weapons from security assurances through improved relations with the United States. Is there still a chance to reverse Pyongyang's path to a better future? The North has been using the tactic of obscuring its true intentions. On several occasions, Pyongyang has reaffirmed its pledge for denuclearization, but on other occasions, it has conveyed its defiant determination to keep its nuclear weapons. Pyongyang has been sending conflicting messages of denuclearization and nuclear ar

Oct 18, 2009By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Is Denuclearization Possible?

By Tong Kim The United States has repeated its readiness for direct talks with North Korea, but it does not seem to have decided whether, when, or under what conditions to send Ambassador Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang. The North Koreans are holding their breath to see if Bosworth will come to their capital. If the U.S. administration had decided, it has not yet made an announcement. Is denuclearization still possible, given North Korea's security policy of nuclear deterrence and its stated objective of seeking U.S. recognition of the status of a nuclear armed North Korea? Since January this year, the North Koreans have reiterated that while ``not opposing denuclearization,'' it would never give up its nuclear weapons as long as ``U.S. hostile policy'' remains. The North's definition of the ``hostile policy'' stretches out to include nonexistent U.S. nuclear weapons in South Korea, a U.S. nuclear war plan, and ``U.S. policy to isolate and stifle North Korea.'' After 15 years of a vicious cycle of crisis, negotiation, agreement, negation, return to the status quo, the pr

Oct 4, 2009By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Still Split on North Korea

By Tong Kim After a new opportunity for direct talks between the United States and North Korea emerged, the Obama administration seems to be going through a deliberation process to determine whether to send Steve Bosworth, the top representative on North Korea, to Pyongyang and what he should say to the North Koreans if he is sent. It is likely that they have already completed such an internal policy review. According to the Nelson Report, a sometimes juicy daily email widely read with interest among North Korea watchers, a Deputies Committee meeting ― chaired by the deputy national security advisor and participated in by key under secretaries from the State and Defense Departments as well as the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency ― was supposed to meet at the end of last week to discuss the timing and the message for Bosworth to convey to the North Koreans. Judging from a flood of reports on this development, the administration is ready to start bilateral talks prior to the resumption of the six-party talks. The Obama administration had insisted that any dir

Sep 20, 2009By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Kim Jong-il’s Fallibility

By Tong Kim Despite Chairman Kim Jong-il's conciliatory steps toward Seoul and Washington, there is no sign of moving toward serious negotiations for denuclearization. By keeping pressure on North Korea with sanctions, both the United States and South Korea want the North to reaffirm its commitment to denuclearization and return to the six-party talks. Kim has not done it and it is not certain he will do so under the present circumstances. Recently, Kim released two American reporters and a South Korean detainee, and returned four fishermen with their boat to the South. Kim normalized traffic and access to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, reopening hotlines across the heavily armed Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The North and the South agreed to hold reunion meetings between separated families. During the mourning period for the late former President Kim Dae-jung, a North Korean delegation delivered the North Korean leader's verbal message to President Lee Myung-bak that the North wants to mend relations with the South. Lee told the North Korean envoy his government is different

Sep 6, 2009By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Tribute to Kim Dae-jung

By Tong Kim The funeral of former President Kim Dae-jung brought a high-level North Korean condolence delegation to Seoul, making it possible to hold the first cabinet level meeting to discuss inter-Korean relations since the start of the Lee Myung-bak administration. As of this writing, the North Korean delegation has extended its stay in Seoul by one day to deliver Chairman Kim Jong-il's message to President Lee. Dialogue has resumed. Former President Kim is also known to have influenced Bill Clinton's visit to the North that freed two American reporters. The North is easing up on tensions through a series of conciliatory moves, including the release of a South Korean detainee and the lifting of restrictions on access to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex. Kim Jong-il made promises to Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun for more positive measures. A North Korean official has also visited Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico, to convey Pyongyang's desire for talks with Washington. Kim Dae-jung will undoubtedly go down in Korean history as one of the

Aug 23, 2009By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Clinton’s Visit to N. Korea

By Tong Kim After former president Bill Clinton's dramatic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il ― resulted in the freeing of the two American journalists who have now joined their families back in the United States ― attention has been drawn to what may flow from that first high-level contact between Washington and Pyongyang since the start of the Obama administration. The White House and the State Department emphatically portrayed Mr. Clinton's trip as ``a humanitarian mission" that had no direct bearing on the administration's policy on North Korea. Nevertheless, many watchers do not readily accept that explanation. Without the release of the two American journalists, it would have been impossible to consider revising the administration's pressure policy. Although not much is yet known, more will be unfolded or leaked on the actual exchanges between Kim and Bill Clinton. Their meeting may eventually have a far-reaching impact on the future of U.S.-North Korea relations from the perspective of what has long been known correctly or incorrectly. The White Hous

Aug 9, 2009By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Containment or Denuclearization

By Tong Kim After a recent barrage of U.S. policy statements and North Korea's negative reactions to them, the North is back on the center stage, despite public fatigue from a seemingly endless stalemate in denuclearization. This is an ironic development against the U.S. intent ― as expressed by U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton on July 20 ― to deny North Korea's ``constant demand for attention." Given the grave nature of the nuclear issue, it would not be prudent to ignore the North Koreans. Now it appears clearer that the United States wants to pursue a two-track approach to North Korea with an expanded set of tough sanctions under the UNSC resolution 1874, while offering a new ``comprehensive package" of nuclear dismantlement that ``would be attractive to North Korea" in the words of Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell on July 18. At the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Thailand, the South Korean foreign minister Yu Myung-hwan said the U.S., China, Russia, South Korea and Japan all agreed to keep the door open for a dialogue with the North, while enforcing

Jul 26, 2009By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Lesson Learned From Dokdo

By Tong Kim ``Accurate history should be based on facts (and) evidence as to what really happened … Whether the past was pleasant or tragic, history must be understood for what it is. And (shared) truth will contribute to building trust and peace between nations." These are the words of Kim Yong-deok, president of the Northeast Asian History Foundation, who spoke at a recent conference on the issue of the island of Dokdo. The conference was held at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C. Dokdo, consisting of two rocky islets, has been called several different names in the past, but today the island is called Dokdo by Koreans and Takeshima by the Japanese. The standard name by the U.S. Board on Geographical Names (BGN) is Liancourt under the country category of South Korea and Take-shima under that of Japan. However, the BGN makes it clear that its geographical names do not necessarily reflect ``the U.S. view of the sovereignty over geographical features." These names reflect differences among Korea, Japan and th

Jul 12, 2009By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Advent of Centrism

By Tong Kim In response to calls for a fundamental change in government policy and leadership style, President Lee Myung-bak has proposed for the broadening of ``pragmatic centrism" as a way of social integration to rise above the political divide between progressivism and conservatism. This proposal came after his successful summit with President Obama on June 16 in Washington. The results of the summit were good news to the conservatives who constitute the major support base for the Lee government. But success in foreign policy seldom enhances a president's standing at home, whereas failure in foreign policy often brings it down. The conservatives were especially pleased by the reaffirmation of the U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea, with ``extended deterrence, including the U.S. nuclear umbrella," a ``joint vision" for ``peaceful unification on the principles of free democracy and a market economy," and a joint commitment to the elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, and to ``promote the fundamental human rights of the North Korea

Jun 28, 2009By Tong Kim
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