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Fri, October 20, 2017 | 16:11

Opinion > Columnists > Tong Kim >

Only way out is talks with N. Korea

Washington - The only possible way out of the current deadlock with North Korea is to negotiate and see if the North is prepared to suspend arming in return for satisfying some of its security concerns, a well-known American expert said.

Tong Kim | 2016-03-17 14:26

If the current escalation of tension continues, and if mutual hostility continues to mount on the Korean Peninsula, one should be legitimately concerned of the possibility of a costly confrontation between them, limited or all out. With all lines of communication cut off and the abrogation of all economic agreements between the North and South, Korea once again is in a crisis of war, perhaps the most dangerous one so far.

Tong Kim | 2016-03-13 16:25

Korea: back to fate of shrimp

Last week’s agreement between the U.S. and China to push for “a stronger U.N. Security Council resolution that goes beyond previous resolutions” to sanction North Korea for its nuclear and missile programs brings back to Koreans the memory of an adage that compares their country to the fate of “a shrimp that gets hurt in a fight of whales.”

Tong Kim | 2016-02-28 16:18

Korean situation getting worse

Pressure on North Korea has been mounting since its defiant nuclear test on Jan. 6, followed by a satellite launch last week, which is regarded by the West as a missile development test. While the UN Security Council has yet to adopt an additional resolution to sanction the North Korean provocations, a series of significant actions have been taken by Seoul and Washington.

Tong Kim | 2016-02-14 16:35

Living with a nuclear N. Korea

Three weeks have elapsed since North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6, and the U.N. Security Council has yet to agree on a new resolution for another set of sanctions against Pyongyang. This delay is largely due to differences in interest and policy between the two most powerful, veto-wielding permanent members of the Council - China and the United States.

Tong Kim | 2016-01-31 16:44

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.

Tong Kim | 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.

Tong Kim | 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.

Tong Kim | 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.

Tong Kim | 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.

Tong Kim | 2015-11-22 16:49

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Lunch with Navy sailors