my timesThe Korea Times
OpinionColumnsColumnists

Tong Kim

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

Read more

Tong Kim

Approach to Peace Regime

By Tong Kim Since the inter-Korean Summit declaration of Oct., ― in which President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il agreed to pursue a trilateral announcement among the two Koreas and the United States to end the Korean War, albeit they said a peace process would involve "three or four" countries ― there has been a heated discussion with respect to who the "three" would be and how and when such agreement could be reached. Last week President Roh and his foreign policy advisors publicly discussed their preferred approach: to declare "an end to the war" first before the start of negotiation for a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. By now it is clear that China will be included in the negotiation of a peace system, but it's still not clear whether a war ending declaration will be announced by a tripartite summit without China. The Korean government has publicized this approach based on U.S. President George W. Bush's interest in ending the war with Roh and Kim Jong-il ― presumably upon denuclearization ― that was expressed to President Roh in Hanoi a year ago.

Nov 4, 2007By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Unexciting Presidential Race

By Tong Kim Unlike the three previous elections that chose Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung, and Roh Moo-hyun as presidents, the Korean voters hardly seem to be excited about this year's presidential election that is less than two months away. They are not excited about the candidates to vote for or against. This election is not about "democratization versus authoritarian rule." Major candidates include Lee Myung-bak of the conservative Grand National Party (GNP), Chung Dong-young of the liberal United New Democratic Party (UNDP), Rhee In-je of the Democratic Party (DP), and independent Moon Kook-hyun, a business executive who is yet to form a party. Maybe the voters are still waiting for a final unified candidate who will represent all the liberal pro-government forces to run against the opposition candidate Lee Myung-bak, who has been the consistent front runner in polls for months. According to a poll conducted by The Korea Times jointly with a research firm right after Chung Dong-young was confirmed as the UNDP's candidate, GNP's Lee still was way ahead with a suppor

Oct 21, 2007By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

US Impact on Presidential Poll

By Tong Kim The big election that will determine who will be the next president of South Korea is only two and a half months away. The battle will be fought between former Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak of the Grand National Party (GNP) and the final winner from the three primary contenders of the pro-government United New Democratic Party (UNDP) _ Chung Dong-young, Lee Hae-chan and Sohn Hak-kyu. The recent flap over Lee Myung-bak's mistakenly announced schedule for a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush made me reflect on the impact of the U.S. preference or support for a particular candidate on Korean voters. U.S. influence in Korea has waned over the decades of turbulent U.S.-Korea relations partly because of the inevitable security-first U.S. policy _ which led many Koreans to believe that the United States did not care about democracy in Korea until the 1980s _ and later more because of the natural evolution of a sounder bilateral relationship. Preoccupied with its security interest during the Cold War era, Washington reluctantly or helplessly chose to support two

Oct 7, 2007By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Semantics of Awkward Summit

By Tong Kim President Roh Moo-hyun did it again when he tried to put words into the mouth of U.S. President George W. Bush last Friday in Sidney. This happened when Roh said, he did not hear Bush mention ``a declaration to end the Korean War" during a joint press appearance following their meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. ``Did you say so, President Bush?" Roh challenged. Bush had just said in his opening remarks that they had a ``friendly and frank discussion" and that ``when the North Korean leader fully discloses and gets rid of his nuclear weapons programs, we can achieve a new security arrangement in the Korean Peninsula." At Roh's urging, Bush replied, ``I said it's up to Kim Jong-il as to whether or not we're able to sign a peace treaty to the Korean War. He's got to get rid of his weapons in a verifiable fashion." With a broad smile, Roh still demanded a further clarification, ``I believe they are the same thing, Mr. President. If you could be a little bit clearer, please?" The irritated Bush awkwardly chuckl

Sep 9, 2007By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Renegotiation of Operational Control

By Tong Kim After two years of sojourn in Seoul, I am returning to Washington Friday this week. But I plan to continue to write this column from Washington, where I will keep my affiliation with the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) as a fellow at the newly created U.S. Korea Institute. I will teach a course at SAIS in the 2008 spring semester. In addition to teaching and researching at Korea University, I have been writing and giving talks extensively on the North Korean nuclear issue and U.S. relations with the two Koreas. I have participated in many conferences and seminars on these topics, and learned a lot from them. Korean specialists who watch U.S. policy on the Korean Peninsula are clearly divided into two groups _ conservative and liberal. During my stay the conservatives have been much more vocal and have outnumbered the liberals in a rough ratio of four to one. The conservatives, while supporting the security alliance with the United States, strongly disapprove of the engagement policy of the Roh Moo-hyun governmen

Aug 26, 2007By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Lying Ahead of Nuclear Talks

By Tong Kim The six party talks have definitely picked up momentum after the constructive July meeting of their chief negotiators in Beijing. U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill is still hopeful that the remainder of the February 13 agreement will be completed by the end of the year, an ambitious but not impossible goal. The last meeting was held after a series of positive steps toward denuclearization, including the complete resolution of the BDA issue, Hill’s surprise visit to Pyongyang, which no remaining Neocons in Washington were able to stop as they did in 2006, and most importantly the actual shutdown of the nuclear facilities at Youngbyon that was officially verified by an IAEA inspection team on the site. Seen from North Korea’s position the closure on the BDA issue was a demonstration of U.S. will to remove hostile policy. Hill’s visit to Pyongyang affirmed the recently transformed U.S. bilateral approach to the point of no return. Washington had refused to talk directly to North Korea for six years. These are two significant political gains for the North. S

Jul 29, 2007By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Political Consensus on North

By Tong Kim As the heads of delegations for the six-party talks meet in Beijing this week to discuss the progress of implementation of the February 13 agreement, all the political parties of South Korea now seem to support a more active engagement with North Korea. The recent policy shift by the Grand National Party (GNP) from opposition to accommodation of the engagement policy of the Roh Moo-hyun government should not be a surprise to many political analysts. There are several important variables that will impact the outcome of the December 17 presidential election. Progress of nuclear negotiation would certainly be one variable, which would favor a final single candidate representing the pro-government forces of all factions. The GNP had until recently maintained a policy of reciprocity of give and take in dealing with North Korea, strongly opposing a unilateral provision of economic aid, while supporting the hard-line approach of the Bush administration. Last November Bush suddenly dropped his coercive containment policy on the North, which led to the February

Jul 15, 2007By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Gaesong & Industrial Park

By Tong Kim Recently I visited Gaeseong with a South Korean humanitarian group that provides anthracite for fuel to underprivileged people in both Koreas. The group carries out a voluntary campaign in the name of ``sharing love and anthracite.’’ It so far has provided the poor with over ten million pieces of processed anthracite. Our trip to Gaeseong was to deliver another 50,000 pieces of processed anthracite in five large trucks. From Seoul we drove only about 45 minutes to reach the southern border of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). I had passed through the Panmunjeom Joint Security Area a couple of times traveling to Pyongyang before, but it was the first time for me to travel on the paved direct highway to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex. Upon arrival at the Bongdukni railroad station _ about a few miles north of the complex _ we were welcomed by the vice chairman of the Gaeseong People’s Committee, who appreciated the provision of anthracite as well as our offer to help North Koreans unload the anthracite. From Bongdukni we went to Gaeseong City, where we visited

Jul 1, 2007By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Dirty Politics and North Korea

By Tong Kim As most people are busy going about their business, the presidential election is getting nasty and even vicious in South Korea. Dirty politics _ employing the means of mudslinging and malicious slander _ is not new in democratic elections. But it appears to be getting worse this year. It is hard to deny that a negative attack, if planned and executed well, can be very effective as a tactic of deception and distraction to tarnish an opponent’s image or to discredit an opponent’s policy platform. A negative campaign attack may or may not have a factual basis to be effective. It often stirs up old suspicions or creates new ones without presenting clear evidence or a smoking gun. This game is often played by an underdog against the frontrunner. The objective of this strategy is not so much to elevate the underdog’s standing but to exploit the failing record and other vulnerabilities of the opponent, especially when the underdog’s strength is not readily recognizable. In this sense, it is not surprising that Lee Myung-bak, still the front runner among all active a

Jun 17, 2007By Tong Kim
Tong Kim

Implications of Inner Geumgang Tourism

By Tong Kim Last week I had the rare opportunity to join a group of prominent citizens and celebrities from South Korea to visit Geumgangsan (Mt. Diamond) known to be the most beautiful mountain in Korea. Although I visited Pyongyang 17 times, I had never been to Geumgangsan before. It was a two-night-three day preview tour arranged by Hyundai Asan to introduce an additional prime attraction _ Inner Geumgang _ to its Geumgangsan package. Inner Geumgang is located about 44 kilometers further north of Outer Geumgang, which has been open to South Korean visitors since 1998. We left Seoul by bus 9:20 in the clear morning of May 27 to arrive before noon at the last rest stop on the south side of DMZ. After a lunch we went through exit procedures at the Goseung Observatory _ where I was told no reentry visa was needed. On the other side of the building there were different buses driven by North Korean drivers waiting for us. Our bus rolled across the DMZ, a no man’s land where wild life thrives as if in a preserved environmental zone. The ride was smooth on the paved ro

Jun 3, 2007By Tong Kim
previous page
3132333435
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.