The Korea Times - Home

Site Map PDF Subscription Register LogIn
Site Map PDF Subscription Register LogIn

Fri, August 17, 2018 | 20:59

Opinion > Columnists > Andrew Salmon >

Who deserves credit for summit?

So: A sitting U.S. leader will meet a sitting North Korean leader for the first time, ever. The promise is colossal; so is the risk. Regardless of how cynical you are about the end result, the summit alone will, if it happens (as seems likely), be a historic diplomatic landmark.

Andrew Salmon | 2018-03-12 17:41

Gangwon performs, Korea matures

I have just returned from four days reporting on the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. It was a revelatory trip. First impressions? Dodgy. I checked into the “hotel” I had booked online and paid 250,000 won ($230) per night for. It squatted down a side street in a red-light district. Yep: My hotel was a 70,000 won per night love motel with hotel aspirations. Still: it was clean, hot water was plentiful, and the TV worked sometimes. From there, it was all uphill.

Andrew Salmon | 2018-02-12 17:41

Bow to North Koreans - but don't bend

Pre-Olympic inter-Korean relations are galloping ahead at a breakneck pace. No sooner had North Korean leader Kim Jong-un offered a conciliatory message in his New Year's speech, than the Moon Jae-in administration responded. Squadrons of doves were unleashed over the DMZ; olive branches were thrust over the frontier. The alacrity of Seoul's response was appropriate, given the urgency of the broader situation.

Andrew Salmon | 2018-01-29 18:34

Pyongyang to PyeongChang

So, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, firmly backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, have granted us an Olympic breathing space amid the tensions roiling the peninsula. With Pyongyang abruptly announcing that it will come to PyeongChang _ something Moon has long been pressing and hoping for _ spiraling tensions look to, at least temporarily, evaporate.

Andrew Salmon | 2018-01-15 17:21

Korea's Christmas spirit: then and now

It is that time of year again - the time of year to tie one on, to get three sheets to the wind, to get tipsy, drunk, smashed, hammered, legless, befuddled. Yet, every year in Korea, it seems more difficult to do so in a socially acceptable manner. What happened? Let’s turn the clock back 30 years - to the ghosts of Seoul’s Christmas past.

Andrew Salmon | 2017-12-18 17:16

Cass still sucks

Good news: A global food-and- beverage A-lister is endorsing a Korean product. Bad news: The product is hardly A-grade. In fact, it is bland, undifferentiated and - bar the fact that it is manufactured here - barely “Korean” at all. In case you have been in hibernation or on the moon in recent weeks: Badass restaurateur and TV personality Gordon Ramsay is promoting Korea’s popular Cass lager. Fair enough. The Briton is a world-famed celeb specializing in cuisine, so his push may be worth whatever Cass is paying.

Andrew Salmon | 2017-12-04 14:17

[POLL] Do you like Korean beer?

Grim and ghoulish spectacle

In recent days, South Koreans have been transfixed by a gruesome and unusual drama: The fate of an unnamed hospital patient fighting for his life.

Andrew Salmon | 2017-11-20 17:37

Mr. President: What is your red line?

Today, you landed in the country which lies closest to - and has the most to lose from - the biggest foreign policy conundrum facing your presidency: North Korea and its strategic arms programs. You need to bring cool, clear, focused, principled and possibly ruthless thinking to bear on this issue. Above all:“What is your red line?” The stakes are high. You like winners, and South Korea is arguably the greatest national success story of the 20th century. Assuming a zero-to-hero trajectory, this nation mastered global commerce and adopted democratic governance. These are empowering forces tha...

Andrew Salmon | 2017-11-06 17:29

America first in Korea?

In recent weeks, several editorials by South Koreans have appeared in U.S. media. Their overall thrust is South Koreans’ fear of U.S. President Donald Trump’s unpredictability; of possible American military action on the peninsula; and of resultant devastation. Doubtless, these articles reflect a legitimate body of South Korean opinion. And they make an important case against war. Absent from these pieces is mention of North Korea’s vileness - its lethally self-centric hereditary dictatorship; its massive restrictions on individual freedoms; its hideous human rights abuses; its frequent bout...

Andrew Salmon | 2017-10-23 17:58

Chuseok: a curmudgeon's Guide

The Chuseok holiday is over for another year - and thank God for that. I can barely wait to get back to work… “What?!?” you exclaim. “What could possibly be wrong with a days-long, family-centric, traditional holiday?” Well actually - quite a lot. Allow me to don my curmudgeon’s hat and brief you fully. Chuseok is when every man, his cousin and their dog travel home to visit old Mom and Dad. If you are blessed, Mom and Dad live somewhere civilized and accessible - in, say, a luxury Gangnam apartment. But if they reside in your ancestral village deep in rural Middleofnowhere-Namdo - good luck.

Andrew Salmon | 2017-10-09 17:21

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Italy Bridge Collapse