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Tue, October 16, 2018 | 10:51

Opinion > Columnists > Tong Kim >

Six-party talks are futile

The six-party talks, aiming at a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, have been dormant for six years since December 2008. Pessimism prevails that the multilateral forum of six nations - China, the U.S., Russia, Japan and the two Koreas - is highly unlikely to resume any time soon. Even if it were resumed unexpectedly, it would not be able to achieve its stated goal.

Tong Kim | 2014-12-07 17:08

Human rights in N. Korea

The passage of a U.N. committee's human rights resolution on Nov. 18, recommending referral of the accountability of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged "crimes against humanity," has spurred a new wave of awareness and concern of the North Korean human rights situation as detailed in a powerful 400-page report that the U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) released last February.

Tong Kim | 2014-11-23 17:04

OPCON and peace for Korea

An agreement reached between the ROK and the U.S. to defer the transition of wartime operational control (OPCON) to South Korea indefinitely until "an appropriate date" in the future, by at least 10 years from now, reveals the extent of security and political problems on the peninsula to which there is no simple solution.

Tong Kim | 2014-11-09 16:23

Insecure path to peace

It appears that North Koreans will not attend a second round of “high-level contact” at Panmunjeom on Oct. 30, as proposed by Seoul. A delegation of three ranking DPRK officials agreed to do so, when they came to attend the closing ceremony of the Asian Games at Incheon on Oct. 4. Since their visit to the South, a series of portentous events has unfolded to impact inter-Korean relations as well as U.S.-DPRK relations. These include border clashes between the North and the South, release of an American detainee, a subtle semantic change in Washington's position on nuclear talks, and an indefi...

Tong Kim | 2014-10-26 16:55

Reading North Korean Intent

The surprise visit of the three most powerful officials serving North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the South on Oct. 4 caught most people off guard.

Tong Kim | 2014-10-12 15:46

Diminishing prospect of denuclearization

After watching the implementation of the Park government’s North Korea policy for the last one year and a half, many people express growing concern that the policy has failed to improve inter-Korean relations, and make progress for denuclearization or to lay “a foundation for unification.” Now the question is whether and how the policy should be transformed.

Tong Kim | 2014-09-28 15:50

Should food aid to North Korea continue?

Last week the Guardian, a well-known British daily, published a panel discussion of experts about whether the U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP) should end its humanitarian food aid for North Korea. The WFP has been the largest consistent food provider since the 1994 North Korean famine, at times feeding up to a third of the population.

Tong Kim | 2014-09-14 17:03

Cracks opening in North Korea

As information is tightly controlled in North Korea, we are often attracted to speculation about what is happening in the secretive state. Many stories that emerge, but not all them, have turned out to be untrue. Last week Seoul’s major Korean language dailies again published a couple of unconfirmed, but curiosity arousing, news stories related to the North Korean regime. One was about a slush fund manager for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who allegedly fled to Russia with $5 million.

Tong Kim | 2014-08-31 16:46

To keep peace in Korea

As many expected, President Park's Liberation Day address on Aug. 15 has only confirmed that the Seoul government is not considering any fundamental readjustment to its North Korean policy, which so far has not been working. It has offered no new policy proposal that would reduce tension and improve North-South relations.

Tong Kim | 2014-08-17 16:28

Praying for a miracle

Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church will bring a message of hope, peace and reconciliation to the divided Korean Peninsula, when he visits the South from Aug. 14-18. It will be a third papal visit to South Korea. The Pope is widely known as an advocate of support for the poor, peace and nature.

Tong Kim | 2014-08-03 16:15

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