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Tong Kim

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

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Tong Kim

Ideological Divide

By Tong Km President Lee Myung-bak's approval rate has rebounded to the 30 percent range from a low of in the teens at the height of the massive candlelight protests only weeks ago. President Lee seems to have recovered his confidence to carry out his flagship agenda ― ``economic growth'' and ``national integration.'' However, he needs more support to become a successful president. The recovery of support for his ill-started presidency has come only after bruising through a series of political ordeals ― from appointing controversial figures to the Cabinet and Blue House positions and mishandling the issue of beef imports ― during which he apologized twice to the people for his mistakes. In response to the protest of hundreds of thousands of people who denounced the beef deal with the United States, the president fired almost all of his senior Blue House staff members, but he was able to retain most of the Cabinet members after the beef issue calmed down. People in the Blue House seem to think their earlier misfortune was largely due to failed communication and the negati

Aug 24, 2008By Tong Km
Tong Kim

Bush, Lee and Kim Jong-il

By Tong Kim The current state of inter-Korean relations seems to be at its lowest ebb in a decade. Last week in Beijing, athletes from the two Koreas marched separately in the Olympics opening ceremony. It broke the symbolic tradition of participating in Olympic ceremonies as a unified team under a single ``unification flag" representing both sides in hopes of eventual unification. The separation marked a clear setback for peace and harmony. North Korea's nominal head of state Kim Young-nam tried to avoid being at the same table as South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. During the lunch Lee approached Kim and there was an awkward handshake, but they did not exchange smiles or words. During his visit to Seoul, U.S. President George W. Bush made it clear that North Korea would remain a part of the ``axis of evil'' until it gives up its nuclear programs and that it would not be removed from the list of states sponsoring terrorism unless the North Korean leader agrees to a verification regime that can be trusted. A joint summit statement linked ``meaningful progress on No

Aug 10, 2008By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Problems With North Korea

By Tong Kim The suspended inter-Korean dialogue ― that began with the start of the Lee Myung-bak administration ― is causing serious concern. No breakthrough to the inter-Korean incommunicado is in sight. Further deterioration in North-South relations, if unchecked, could also halt the Gaeseong tourist program in addition to the already suspended Mt. Geumgang program. Since the fatal shooting of a South Korean tourist at Mt. Geumgang, the Seoul government has repeatedly called for North Korea to cooperate in a joint investigation. The North is yet to respond at a government level. Both sides are boxed in and there seems to be no easy way out. The suspended tourism is hurting the North's revenue by tens of thousands of dollars a day. Yet, the North, with fresh hopes of an economic turnaround with infusion of investment and aid from other countries, seems willing to accept financial damage in order to make a political point: The North will not talk to the South, unless the latter scraps its policy of ``denuclearization and opening 3000" and honor the two summit agreements

Jul 27, 2008By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Good News, Bad News

By Tong Kim Bad news first: The tragic accident in which a female South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean solider at the Mt. Geumgang resort last Friday may dampen rising hopes for inter-Korean dialogue following President Lee Myung-bak's shift in North Korean policy. That is unless the North Korean authorities fully cooperate with the South in an investigation into the incident. Unfortunately this incident occurred during the absence of official dialogue between the North and the South. The North Koreans told Hyundai Asan ― which has been running tourist programs since 1998 ― that ``the victim entered an off-limits area, and when she was told to stop she refused and started running before she was shot at 5 a.m.'' The Ministry of Unification immediately suspended the Mt. Geumgang tourist program until an investigation of the incident is concluded, while allowing continued operation of a similar program for Gaeseong. An investigation of this nature cannot be conducted without North Korea's cooperation, especially because there were no witnesses on the scene fro

Jul 13, 2008By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Crisis of Democracy in Korea

By Tong Kim The relentless candlelit demonstration is on its 52nd day in a row at this writing, and unfortunately it is turning violent. We have seen dangerous clashes between angry demonstrators and the police, yet nobody seems to have a good solution to end the populist anti-government protest that started after the government agreed to allow American beef imports. The street demonstrations have seemed to have effectively paralyzed the normal functioning of a representative government ― with the new 18th-term National Assembly several weeks overdue for convening and the administration's cabinet in limbo for 20 days now since its submission of resignations en masse. The roads to the Blue House are blocked and the presidential residence is heavily guarded every night. During the height of the candlelit demonstration, when hundreds of thousands of people across the country took to the streets to demand the safety of imported U.S. beef, the protests were hailed as the revival of ``direct participatory democracy" or a new form of ``cyber democracy" that would have a direct im

Jun 29, 2008By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Beyond Phase II Disablement

By Tong Kim Given the slow ― albeit important ― progress that has been made in the process of North Korean denuclearization, it is clear by now that the task of finding a final verifiable resolution will inevitably be handed over to the next U.S. administration. Simply there is too much work to be done and not enough time left for the Bush administration. Perhaps one of the toughest hurdles in the path to complete denuclearization is the same lack of trust between Washington and Pyongyang that triggered the first nuclear crisis in 1994 and the second crisis after a nuclear test in October 2006. Since an about-face in North Korean policy after the last midterm Congressional elections, the Bush administration has been working hard on the nuclear issue. Yet the light at the end of the tunnel is not in sight, and the prolonged nuclear saga continues amid the unyielding skepticism of the anti-engagement conservatives who do not believe that the DPRK will ever give up its nuclear weapons. It would probably take at least three or four more years of ``action for action" e

Jun 15, 2008By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Lee Myung-bak in Trouble

By Tong Kim It's hard nowadays to find any good news for President Lee Myung-bak. Having just returned from a summit visit to China he now faces a political crisis at home. Tens of thousands of people rallied Saturday following week long nightly candlelit vigils to protest the opening of the beef market to US imports. Opposition parties stand together; demanding renegotiation of the deal, while the press from both the left and right continues its harsh criticism of the Lee government's performance during its first three months. The government has failed to effectively address public concerns over the safety of U.S. beef. Its failure may be attributed to its callous bureaucratic way of handling the issue at the beginning. The public has refused to accept the president's apology or to listen to the government's arguments proclaiming the safety of U.S. beef. It wasn't the sovereignty issue of food inspection or anti-American sentiments that fed the spread of these candlelit vigils. Nor was it the credibility of beef safety. What it is that has angered these demonstrators who

Jun 1, 2008By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Former Presidents

By Tong Kim Of the five living former presidents of Korea ― including Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo Kim Yong-sam and Roh Moo-hyun ― Kim Dae-jung (DJ), is still actively advocating his ``sunshine policy." It is DJ's lifetime commitment to ``conflict resolution through dialogue, exchange and peaceful cooperation to achieve a win-win situation." DJ's immediate successor Roh Moo-hyun is becoming a popular former president after he returned to his native rural village, which has become an attractive tourist point of interest. He joins other villagers in cleaning the streets and streams of the village, runs a homepage to communicate with the public, and meets groups of visitors who come in busloads. Unlike when he was in office he is careful not to make politically explosive comments. Chun Doo-hwan is credited for a successful control of inflation and a positive trade surplus during his presidency, and Roh Tae-woo for opening relations with the Soviet Union and China. But these two former generals have a humiliating record of serving prison terms as former presidents and they are yet

May 18, 2008By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Advice to President Lee

By Tong Kim An unexpected outburst of public discontent with the fresh government of President Lee Myung-bak ― over the threatening impact of soaring prices, the impropriety of some presidential aids in their pursuit of wealth and the most recent controversy over the alleged risk of mad cow disease ― is not exactly a harbinger to a political crisis in Korea. But mishandling of public concerns could lead to a crisis. President Lee's approval rating has sharply fallen to a record low of 35 percent with a majority of 55 percent of the people saying ``he is not handling his job well.'' Lee is still doing better than President George W. Bush, who has a 27 percent approval and the highest disapproval rate of 71 percent among modern American presidents. In a website portal, over 600,000 netizens have signed up in a campaign to impeach President Lee who began his job only a little over two months ago, and 10,000 citizens participated in a candlelight demonstration last Thursday in Seoul to protest the government's complete beef market opening to the United States. Lee's predecess

May 4, 2008By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Success Before Start

By Tong Kim WASHINGTON ― I am writing this column before President Lee Myung-bak leaves for Camp David on the afternoon of April 19, Washington time. His visit is already a huge success. His priority on strengthening and expanding Korea's ties with the United States was greatly welcomed by Washington before Lee's arrival here. No doubt, his summit with President Bush will be one of the most successful U.S.-Korea summits, probably the most successful in terms of symbolism. In summitry, symbolism is important, although it does not always translate into practical interest to either side. Symbolism is often demonstrated by diplomatic protocols, which in the case of Bush's practice includes hosting a summit at Camp David or at Crawford and other choreographed, friendly gestures for a warm welcome and an exchange of pleasantries. Symbolism can serve as a building block for serious dialogue to pursue shared goals between allies and even adversaries. It seems to take this kind of symbolism to rebuild the trust between the United States and Korea, that had been damaged largely due t

Apr 20, 2008By Tong Kim
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