Opinion - The Korea Times

ED High-stakes diplomacy at APEC

Korea has entered a week of high-stakes diplomacy with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting slated for Friday and Saturday. The host city of Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, which has updated its facilities and adopted several high-tech features to welcome international guests, will show its full autumn splendor. The path to APEC has seen encouraging signs. With signs of a slight deescalation of tension between the U.S. and China on trade issues at the recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Malaysia, world stock markets rallied. The main Korean bourse KOSPI surpassed the 4,000-point mark on Monday, as semiconductor stocks rallied. Preparing for a major international meeting such as APEC entails a multitude of challenges and tasks. With security and trade issues reshaping the global order, the APEC summit may well be a barometer for the nations attending, but particularly for Korea's economy and security. U.S. President Donald Trump is set to arrive in Korea on Wednesday and meet with President Lee Jae Myung the same day. A much-anti

Oct 28, 2025

ED China must act on transnational cybercrime

For a long time, transnational cybercrime was of little concern to Korea. That changed recently. The tragic death of a young Korean university student in August, found near a criminal compound in Cambodia’s Bokor Mountain area, was a chilling reminder that Korea is no longer safe from transnational cybercrimes such as romance scams, “pig butchering” scams (a long-running scam involving escalating financial contributions) and illegal online gambling operations. The student’s body, bearing severe bruises from brutal torture before death, has come to symbolize the harsh reality of the online scam industry that has flourished in parts of Southeast Asia — particularly Cambodia and Myanmar — since the COVID-19 pandemic. Following news reports of the incident, many survivors began speaking out online about their own harrowing experiences after being lured to Cambodia by fraudulent job offers and detained in criminal compounds. The Korean government, caught off guard by the growing crisis, rushed to implement a series of reactive measures to protect its citizens abroad. However, do

Oct 27, 2025

[ED] China must act on transnational cybercrime

Korea’s 5-dimensional diplomacy at APEC summit

Throughout its history, Korea has been burdened by a stark geographic challenge: being surrounded by multiple challenging, even adversarial neighbors. The struggle to navigate complex, multidimensional geopolitics has been a recurrent feature of Korea’s foreign policy. Contemporary Korea’s challenge is similar. On the surface, the geopolitical landscape appears simpler: a bipolar divide between its continental adversaries (Russia, China, North Korea) and its maritime allies (the United States and Japan). The region’s contemporary geopolitical environment, however, is far more complex. It is difficult for South Korea to confront North Korea and China unequivocally, not only because of economic and security risks, but also because of hopes for cooperation with the latter on the North's denuclearization and inter-Korean reconciliation. Korea’s strategic partnerships with Japan and the United States are also complicated, marked by diplomatic tensions over historical grievances and disputes about equitable alliance benefits and burden-sharing. To add to the geopolitical complexity, K

Oct 27, 2025By Lee Jong-eun

Korea’s 5-dimensional diplomacy at APEC summit

ED China’s illegal maritime structures in West Sea

Recent revelations about Chinese activity in the Korea-China Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ) in the West Sea have reignited concerns over Beijing’s growing maritime assertiveness. Newly released photographs show divers and maintenance personnel operating on steel structures that China installed without prior consultation — facilities Beijing claims are “deep-sea aquaculture platforms.” Yet their scale, equipment and guarded nature strongly suggest that these are not innocent fishing installations but instead are part of a broader attempt to entrench a Chinese presence in contested waters. The PMZ was established under the 2001 Korea-China Fisheries Agreement as a temporary arrangement until the two sides negotiate a permanent maritime boundary. The agreement explicitly permits fishing activities but prohibits the construction of fixed structures. Nevertheless, China began erecting steel facilities, dubbed Shenlan 1 and Shenlan 2, in 2018 and has steadily expanded them since 2022. Korean authorities report that Chinese vessels have blocked access to the area and that Beijing uni

Oct 26, 2025

[ED] China’s illegal maritime structures in West Sea

ED Korea must join global rare earth alliance before it’s too late

The global race for resource security is accelerating. As strategic minerals become the lifeblood of advanced industries — from semiconductors and electric vehicles to batteries and defense technologies — nations are scrambling to secure stable, diversified supply chains. In this new era of resource weaponization, where raw materials are used as tools of geopolitical leverage, the United States, Japan and Australia have taken decisive steps forward. Their newly launched Critical Minerals and Rare Earth Supply Chain Framework marks a concerted effort to reduce dependence on China and fortify collective resilience. These nations understand that rare earth elements are not mere industrial commodities. They are strategic assets essential to national security and economic sovereignty. By pooling their technological, financial and geological strengths, the U.S., Japan and Australia are building an alliance that will define the balance of power in the global industrial order. Korea, a manufacturing powerhouse deeply integrated into global tech supply chains, cannot afford to remain on th

Oct 23, 2025

[ED] Korea must join global rare earth alliance before it’s too late

ED Japan's 1st female PM

Sanae Takaichi, the 64-year-old chief of Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has become Japan's first-ever woman prime minister and the country's 104th leader since 1885. The hard-line conservative won with 237 votes in Japan's lower house, a slight majority. She did face a runoff in the upper house, but came out the winner. A successor of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's stimulus-focused economic policies, Takaichi made history after the LDP broke with its moderate former coalition partner, the Komeito Party, to join forces with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party. The two parties together do not have a majority in the Japanese parliament. For now, Takaichi has time to demonstrate domestically and internationally that she is a pragmatic leader committed to efforts to "build a strong Japan economy and protect its interests." Stressing that the significance of Seoul-Tokyo ties are "now greater than ever," Takaichi said, "I want to move our ties forward in a stable, future-oriented way, building on the foundation laid by past administrations." Despite expectations for

Oct 22, 2025

ED Possible Trump-Kim meeting?

The feasibility of a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this time around is unlike the situation that led to their historic 2019 meeting at the truce village of Panmunjeom, located between the two Koreas. Pyongyang is less isolated and more secure economically and diplomatically than before, as its coffers have been replenished by Moscow in return for arms exports and North Korean troops sent to fight in Russia's war against Ukraine. China has also tapped North Korea as a major partner nation amid its intensifying rivalry with the United States, as demonstrated by Kim's attendance at the September military parade in Beijing to mark 80 years since the end of World War II. On the other hand, Trump has more specific reasons for seeking a summit, as a meeting with the North Korean leader could boost his reputation, especially ahead of the U.S. midterm elections next November. Nevertheless, both Kim and Trump have brought up their chemistry, and Trump has been mentioning meeting with Kim in earnest since August. CNN recently reported that Trump a

Oct 21, 2025

ED Koreans trafficked in Cambodia

The total number of Koreans in Cambodia who are involved in online romance scams or investment schemes known as "pig butchering" — either as perpetrators working with international crime rings or as victims of trafficking and forced labor — may significantly exceed the previously estimated figure of around 1,000, according to the Ministry of Justice. In these scams, criminals create fake online identities to gain their victims' affection and trust. Once a close relationship is established, the scammers manipulate victims into sending money. "Pig butchering" refers to investment scams where fraudsters build trust over time before convincing victims to invest in fake cryptocurrencies or other fraudulent assets. There are broadly two groups of Koreans involved in online scams in Cambodia: those who are complicit and those who are being exploited. Some voluntarily traveled to Cambodia to participate in fraud operations targeting fellow Korean nationals. These individuals often work under the control of Chinese criminal syndicates operating in the region. Others, however, were deceived w

Oct 20, 2025

ED US’ alliance rhetoric rings hollow

The U.S. Donald Trump administration’s recent denunciation of China’s rare earth export restrictions as a “coercive act against the world” is laced with irony. Urging allied nations to form a united front, U.S. officials have framed the issue as not merely an economic concern, but a geopolitical challenge that demands solidarity. Yet this sudden call for collective action exposes a glaring contradiction in Washington’s approach to its alliances, especially under Trump. For much of his presidency, Trump has treated allies not as strategic partners but as economic competitors. His declaration that “in many cases, our allies are worse than our so-called enemies” translated into sweeping tariffs imposed not only on adversaries, but on key allies including Korea, Japan, the European Union and Canada. These measures were often unilateral and abrupt, reflecting a coercive, even hostile, view of diplomacy. In one notable incident, U.S. immigration enforcement agents stormed a Korean battery factory in Georgia without prior notice, detaining hundreds of Korean workers. Such actio

Oct 19, 2025

ED Gov. Kemp of Georgia should address Korea's collective sense of betrayal

The governor of the U.S. state of Georgia, Brian Kemp, is expected to arrive soon in Korea. This state, had it not been for the events of Sept. 4, would have not been well-known to Korea. But Koreans have seen how U.S. immigration officials searched, shackled and then detained more than 300 Korean nationals during a raid on a plant under construction in a joint venture by Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution (LGES) in Ellabell, Georgia. The plant is part of a massive $7.6 billion investment, and LGES was in the process of constructing a battery factory at the site when the immigration raid took place. Korean nationals, including those directly employed by LG and its suppliers, were shackled and then held at a detention facility. Immigration officials said the Korean nationals were not working with proper visas or had overstayed their visas. The detained workers were mostly in Georgia on a B-1 (temporary business visitor) visa or through the visa-free Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), the latter of which was a gray area that was suddenly and unexpectedly deemed imprope

Oct 16, 2025

Editorial