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Opinion

Columnists

Tue, November 19, 2019 | 04:12

Nuclear bomb test and consequences

It is not difficult to identify multiple consequences of North Korea's fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 - aside from the question of whether it was a hydrogen bomb test, as Pyongyang claimed, or a boosted nuclear fission test as Western experts suspect. However, it is not easy to understand North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's reasoning for conducting the test. Contrary to speculation from several analysts, the motivation does seem to have been to get attention or gain increased leverage for negotiations or acquire the status of a nuclear weapon state.

2016-01-17 17:00

Repercussions of Dec. 28 accord

The Dec. 28 agreement between South Korea and Japan to end the decades-long issue of comfort women should only be the beginning of a resolution, not the “final and irreversible” resolution. In Seoul, survivors of Japan’s wartime sex slavery and representatives of the relevant civic organizations called it “a diplomatic humiliation,” and the major opposition party said it was “void” because the legislature was not consulted.

2016-01-03 16:45

US presidential election 2016

The two Koreas have traditionally shown great interest in an American presidential election, because, depending on who is elected, it can affect U.S. policy on the Korean Peninsula. Next year's presidential election is no exception, even if its outcome will not make much difference. No candidate has spoken of a radical departure from the current North Korea policy of the Obama administration.

2015-12-20 17:04

No big expectations for talks

Vice-ministerial talks between the two Koreas scheduled for December 11 at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, are without a fixed agenda. The objective set is to have dialogue on a range of issues within inter-Korean relations, but this is not expected to break new ground. It is still possible to make a positive step toward mutually beneficial cooperation by moving away from tension and volatility to stability and peaceful coexistence.

2015-12-06 16:54

N. Korea: forget-me-not

In the midst of an unending series of ferociousattacks by ISIL and other “extreme Islam terrorists” - in Paris, Turkey, and most recently in Mali - that keeps shocking a divided international community with respect to how to eliminate the sources of global terrorism, North Korea refuses to be forgotten.

2015-11-22 16:49

South Korea's balancing act

South Korea continues to play a delicate balancing act in its increasingly complicated relationships with China, Japan and the United States. At the ASEAN defense ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur last week, the South Korean defense minister supported the U.S. secretary of defense in proposing a statement for inclusion in a joint statement that called for restraint from further militarization of reclaimed islands in the South China Sea and the protection of the conventional freedom of navigation as guaranteed by international law.

2015-11-08 16:14

'Abject failure' on North Korea

One positive outcome of President Park Geun-hye’s recent visit to Washington was that it brought Washington’s attention back to the Korean peninsula issue, which had long been on the backburner due to other urgent issues around the globe _ including Crimea, ISIS, Iran, and Syria.

2015-10-25 17:29

Stagnant US policy on Korea

During his visit to Seoul last week, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken very much summed up what the current U.S. policy is toward the Korean Peninsula and the East Asian region and how it is being carried out. Nothing new, but an update of where the things are after the visits to Washington by the leaders of Japan and China and before the visit by the South Korean president.

2015-10-11 16:53

For inter-Korean relations

North Korea is expected to hold a large military parade, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of its Korean Workers Party on Oct. 10. Through such show of force, the North Korean regime demonstrates the capabilities of its military equipment and personnel to defend the country and the military's loyalty to its leader.

2015-09-13 16:58

Dialogue decreases tension

Another crisis that could have caused an outbreak of war in Korea was avoided by a dramatic inter-Korean agreement reached on Aug. 25. The two Koreas agreed to reduce tension and avoid a military confrontation, while pursuing dialogue to improve inter-Korean relations. The leaders of both sides, President Park Geun-hye and Kim Jong-un, welcomed the breakthrough as a new opportunity to resolve their differences peacefully through dialogue.

2015-08-30 16:58

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