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Fri, October 20, 2017 | 21:34

Opinion > Columnists > Tong Kim >

Delicate shift in East Asia

During a week-long trip that wound up in Seoul last Friday, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden had to spend a good deal of time in his meetings with the leaders of Japan, China and South Korea to discuss the U.S. position on China's newly proclaimed Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

Tong Kim | 2013-12-08 17:11

Japan's collective security

What was unthinkable for the Japanese for decades is now about to become a reality: Japan’s participation in collective security by way of circumventing its constitution that renounces use of force to settle international disputes. After its defeat in the Pacific War that it started at Pearl Harbor without a declaration of war, Japan chose the pacifist constitution

Tong Kim | 2013-11-24 17:02

Cross-strait relations and Korea

By Tong Kim As the prospect of inter-Korean relations still looks bleak, we may want to look at how Taiwan has made progress in its relations with mainland China in non-political areas to stabilize peace and security, while maintaining the status quo and transforming confrontation into cooperation. Taiwan as represented by the Republic of China (ROC) and mainland China by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) still do not recognize each other as legitimate states. However, the two ideological opponents, one democratic and the other Communist, each claiming its sovereignty...

Tong Kim | 2013-11-10 16:56

Hurdles to trust building

Eight months have passed since the Park Geun-hye government was inaugurated, but none of its ambitious agendas that would “bring happiness to people” - by democratizing the economy at home through a fair, balanced growth between big corporations and small businesses and by carrying out a “trust-building process” with North Korea - has made much progress.

Tong Kim | 2013-10-27 17:01

Uncertainty and Korean paradox

Recent bolstering of U.S. alliances with South Korea and Japan was undertaken to meet new security challenges from North Korea's increasing nuclear and missile threats and China's growing influence in the region, for which no diplomatic solutions are readily available. An uncertain, fast-changing security environment has begun to unfold, affecting all countries in the region.

Tong Kim | 2013-10-13 17:21

If Obama calls Kim Jong-un

President Obama's call to Iranian President Rouhani on Friday marked the first direct talks between the leaders of the United States and Iran in three decades. This reminds me of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's wish of March, as relayed by former basketball star Dennis Rodman who met with him, that he would like Obama to call him to lay the ground for a diplomatic resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue.

Tong Kim | 2013-09-29 17:35

Sex, power and politics

Korea's top prosecutor Chae Dong-wook's resignation last Friday did not end the repercussions of an alleged newspaper story that he had fathered an 11-year-old boy out of wedlock with a bar manager. In protest to the pressure that led to his resignation, an executive level prosecutor also quit and complaints are rising from other prosecutors.

Tong Kim | 2013-09-15 16:50

Political paralysis in Korea

By Tong Kim The contemporary history of South Korean politics is rich with incredible tragedies, including the ousting of Korea’s first president by a student revolution, the assassination of one president by his intelligence chief, and the arrest, conviction and amnesty of two former presidents, whose penalties of monetary restitution are yet to be executed. The continuing saga of Chun Doo-hwan, who is suspected of hiding his money in various forms of assets, including high-priced pieces of artwork and real estate, dispersed among his children and relatives, has drawn the at...

Tong Kim | 2013-09-01 16:32

Seoul's N. Korea policy refined

“The trust-building process on the Korean Peninsula” was known as one of the four main policy platforms of the Seoul government, but it had never been explained in detail for public understanding. Last week it finally started taking shape when Unification Minister Ryoo Khil-jae expounded on the topic before an audience of acute interest and exuberant expertise in Seoul, hours prior to an inter-Korean breakthrough in the suspended operations of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) on July 14.

Tong Kim | 2013-08-18 17:24

Japan regressing to militarism?

Tension between the two neighboring countries of South Korea and Japan is rising at a time when their bilateral relations are at an all-time low. Recurring trouble between the two are deeply rooted in history, confrontational in territorial claims over the Dokdo islets, and emotionally sensitive in the politics of both nations. This tension, if unchecked, has the potential of developing into a new variable that may affect the intersecting interests of other players in the region, particularly the United States and China.

Tong Kim | 2013-08-04 16:31

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Lunch with Navy sailors