Opinion - The Korea Times

Obamas Options on N. Korea

By Tong Kim Since U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's election, Korea watchers have eagerly debated what the new administration might do about the North. Obama inherits the unfinished business of North Korean denuclearization during the worst economic recession in decades and more urgent foreign policy issues in Afghanistan and the Middle East ― Iraq and the recently renewed warfare in Gaza ― will dictate his priorities. And yet, the importance of pursuing a denuclearized Korean Peninsula does not change as long as the United States has continuing strategic interests in maintaining peace and stability in Asia and in ensuring that Pyongyang keep a lid on the further proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Many conservative analysts believe ― or want to believe ― that Obama will be little different from current U.S. president George W. Bush in terms of his approach to North Korea and continue with the six-party process that the Bush administration has pushed forward with noteworthy success in the last two years. On the other hand, many progressive thinkers wishful

Jan 11, 2009By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Deja Vu in Korean Politics

By Tong Kim During my recent visit to Seoul, I confirmed the reemergence of a widening division between conservatives and progressives in Korea on major national issues. (I use ``progressive" instead of ``liberal," as ``liberal" has come to entertain a negative connotation beyond dictionary definition in the United States as a result of Republican attacks against Democrats.) Conservatives in the right wing describe the 10 years of progressive government by Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun as a ``lost decade." They support the efforts of the Lee Myung-bak government to undo what its two predecessors did. They favor the rewriting of text books for public education, taking a tough stance on North Korea, and they support government control over the press and restrictions on demonstrations. They want President Lee to take strong and decisive action in carrying out his policies in order to prevent the return of a ``leftist" government in the future. On the other hand, progressives ― many of whom fought for democratization in Korea ― accuse President Lee of turning back the cloc

Dec 28, 2008By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Two Views on North Korea

By Tong Kim The year 2008 is eclipsing into history with the latest failure of multilateral nuclear talks in Beijing to agree on a verification protocol to check North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Now the North Korean nuclear issue, as incomplete and unsatisfactory as it may be, will be turned over to the incoming Obama administration in January. The process of denuclearization began in 2003, when the Bush administration did not want to seriously engage the North. During the last two years ― after Bush's policy shift from confrontation to negotiation ― there has been significant progress toward denuclearization. Today all parties of the six party talks ― the DPRK, ROK, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan ― are still committed to the complete, verifiable dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear programs as agreed in the Sept. 19, 2005 joint statement, a good foundation for further negotiations. In compliance with the 2007 February 13 agreement, North Korea stopped producing fissile material, but it is yet to complete a final phase of disablement at Yongbyon. The DPRK has c

Dec 14, 2008By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Timing of FTA Ratification

By Tong Kim The Lee government seems to have come to realize, albeit belatedly, that its attempted push for early enforcement of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) was a non-starter from the beginning. The FTA was a top priority for President Lee Myung-bak, who believed it would help turn around the nation's declining economy. President Lee has pushed hard, unsuccessfully thus far, for a ``preemptive ratification" by the National Assembly since he took office ― ``preemptive" in the sense that ratification by Korea first would prevent a possible reopening of the trade agreement. Proponents of this approach hoped that Korea's ratification would have a positive impact on the U.S. Congress, which has traditionally approved free trade agreements only after other parties have ratified them. Even if Seoul had ratified the FTA, the U.S. Congress, under the control of Democrats, skeptical of U.S. benefits from the deal, would not have been ready to approve the bill during the election year of 2008. Neither Lee's investment in winning President Bush's friendship, nor the

Nov 30, 2008By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Obama and North Korea

By Tong Kim For the incoming Obama administration, North Korea will not be the top priority foreign policy issue but it will certainly remain as one of the flash points around the world ― along with a few other hot spots, including Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, a Bush legacy that the next president will inherit on January 20. The North Korean nuclear issue is in a worse shape today and it will be much more challenging to deal with than eight years ago when President Bush took over from President Clinton. After Bush refused to follow Clinton's engagement path, North Korea significantly increased its plutonium stockpile, tested a nuclear bomb and announced itself a ``nuclear weapons state." Whether the Obama administration will forge a different direction from Bush's path or continue with the six-party process with some modifications remains to be seen. President-elect Obama has not spelled out the details on how he would approach the North Korean issue. But he made it clear that his goal would be a complete and verifiable denuclearization. Fortunately Obama has enlisted se

Nov 16, 2008By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Impact of Leaflet Operations

By Tong Kim The North Korean People's Army (KPA) has strongly reacted to balloon-born leaflets from the South dropping on their side across from the Demilitarized Zone. The mode of leaflet dissemination and its content readily remind me of the psychological warfare campaign that the United Nations Command (UNC) in Korea aggressively conducted in the mid 1960s. The difference now is it's led by a small, determined group of North Korean defectors. In protest, the KPA's representative has met twice in October with his ROK Army counterpart at working level meetings of the inter-Korean military talks, demanding that the South Korean government stop the civic organization's leaflet operations. These propaganda leaflets demonize North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as a ``devilish killer'' and effectively exploit the North's economic vulnerability. The North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) ― through which North Korean propagandists often vilify President Lee Myung-bak as a ``national traitor'' ― have issued a consistent warning several times already that if the leaflet disseminat

Nov 2, 2008By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Worsening Relationship

By Tong Kim Since President Lee Myung-bak took office, virtually all official channels of inter-Korean dialogue have been shut down, and it seems that the strained relations between Seoul and Pyongyang are likely to continue for an indefinite period of time. If confrontation replaces dialogue, it would further ratchet up the tension on the Korean Peninsula. Only a few days after the Seoul government welcomed Washington's de-listing of North Korea as a terrorist sponsor, Pyongyang issued a renewed warning that it may cut off all ties with the South, unless Seoul withdraws its ``hostile policy'' toward the North. The warning appeared in an article published by Rodong Shingmun, the DPRK's Workers' Party organ. The article was full of slander and threats against the Lee administration. The latest warning came two weeks after a working level inter-Korean military meeting, in which the North protested balloon drops of propaganda leaflets by a civic group of the South. The North also threatened that if the leaflet dissemination did not halt, it might deny South Korean civilians' ac

Oct 19, 2008By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Four Power Diplomacy

By Tong Kim The timing of President Lee Myung-bak's recent visit to Moscow ― where he ``upgraded" South Korea's relations with Russia to the level of a ``strategic partnership" ― may not have been appropriate from the perspective of Seoul's ``strategic alliance" with Washington. His visit was carried out at a time when U.S.-Russian relations are at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War. Their relations are seriously strained by increased tensions due to their mutually provocative behaviors, including Russia's recent military attack on Georgia and subsequent talk in Washington of expelling Russia from the G-7 and WTO, not to mention the U.S. interest in eastward expansion of NATO encircling Russia and missile defense shields in Eastern Europe formerly under the control of the old Soviet Union. Washington was not happy to see a democratic setback in Moscow that allowed Vladimir Putin to remain in power after changing his title from president to premier. The Bush administration, as well as both American presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama who promi

Oct 5, 2008By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Kim Jong-il on Spotlight

By Tong Kim Last Friday's pronouncement by North Korea that it has begun reassembling plutonium production facilities and no longer wishes to be removed from the U.S. list of terrorism sponsors has created a new setback to the prospect of denuclearization. It also proves that at this point Kim Jong-il is firmly in control of his government, making the tough decision to reject international verification of Pyongyang's nuclear declaration. Kim Jong-il seems to have made up his mind in mid-August following Bush's visit to Seoul and the subsequent U.S. deferral of delisting to forgo further progress on denuclearization and to wait until after the American presidential election. In a foreign ministry statement of Aug. 26, North Korea said it had suspended disablement and ``would consider" rebuilding its disabled nuclear facilities at Yongbyon. A recent flurry of press reports regarding Kim Jong-il's ill health raised concern about the stability of the North Korean regime, prompting a guessing game of who will be his successor and a discussion of what to do in the event of a Nor

Sep 21, 2008By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Anatomy of Leadership

By Tong Kim Having stumbled through the first six months of his presidency, President Lee Myung-bak is still undergoing a litmus test of leadership. His scheduled ``dialogue with the people'' on television tomorrow night (Tuesday) will be an opportunity to restore some public confidence in his leadership for ``reviving the economy.'' In his August 15 address, the president said his government was starting anew. Recently I read an interesting analysis published in the Chosun Ilbo, which was based on a survey of political scientists and some senior staff members at the Blue House of their observations of the first six months of President Lee's governing. His leadership was characterized as ``an able economic leader but lacking capacity to unite the people,'' ``determined to control and carry out policy but morally blemished and authoritarian,'' ``plain, friendly and resolute without governing philosophy and poor in judgment of personnel action,'' ``open-minded and reformative but lacking political leadership and uninterested in listening to others,'' ``unswervingly consist

Sep 7, 2008By Tong Kim

Tong Kim

Read more

Obamas Options on N. Korea

Deja Vu in Korean Politics

Two Views on North Korea

Timing of FTA Ratification

Obama and North Korea

Impact of Leaflet Operations

Worsening Relationship

Four Power Diplomacy

Kim Jong-il on Spotlight

Anatomy of Leadership

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