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China's bridgehead in North Korea

Last month, I spent nine days with a TV crew reporting along the China-North Korea border. After flying in to Shenyang, we stopped over in Dandong where, via Shinuiju across the Yalu River, some 80 percent of North Korea's trade with China passes. We then travelled east, to the town of Jian on the Yalu River, amid Mount Baekdu’s foothills.

2015-05-11 17:05

Is Korea a Great Nation?

Living in Korea, it is easy to be pessimistic. After all, among the natives, self-criticism is almost a fetish. Although nobody is able to articulate exactly what they are, everybody seems to take for granted that there are still “unanswered questions” hanging over the sinking of the Sewol and the failure to rescue more passengers.

2015-04-27 17:32

A war, a bank and Asian allies

To the U.S. soldiers, shivering in freezing positions among ruined villages and gaunt winter hills, the enemy appeared out of nowhere. Rallying to the eerie calls of bugles and cymbals, a mass of men surged forward, more like a crowd than a military unit.

2015-04-13 17:03

Fermenting fusion

I was recently in Tumen, the smallish town in Northeast China that sits on the river which demarcates the border between the Middle Kingdom and Kim’s Kingdom, on a reporting trip. It is no Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai: Although it offers gorgeous views into North Korea’s mysterious mountains, Tumen is light years off the beaten track for foreign tourists and expatriates.

2015-03-30 16:56

Are N. Korean reds going green?

Back in the 1980s, as a university student in the U.K., I got a lesson that combined Korean flag-hanging with geopolitical map-coloring. Prior to a taekwondo lesson, our (British) instructor asked us, the gathered students, if we had noticed anything remiss in our training environment. We looked around the gym - all appeared normal. After an uncomfortable minute or two, the instructor pointed out our error: The Korean flag, which we customarily hung at the front of the class, was upside down.

2015-03-02 17:02

Insightful new book on N. Korea

Having covered the Koreas for more than a decade, I am often exasperated by the stories editors demand about the sad state lying 35 miles north of my office. Like many Seoul correspondents, I find myself filing endless pieces about nuclear weapons, strategic missiles and speculation about the Kims, spiced with silly (and usually fictitious) rumors - traitors being eaten alive by dogs, dictators scoring holes in one, etc.

2015-02-16 17:00

Onward march of original hallyu

At an hour when most Koreans were bemoaning their loss to Australia in the Asian Cup late Saturday night, some overlooked the good news that arrived for local sport: The International Olympic Committee had agreed to include a Korean event in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

2015-02-02 17:00

Charlie Hebdo, 'The Interview' and Seoul

The Islamic-inspired terrorist attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has resounded around the world. In the aftermath of the bloodbath, Charlie Hebdo, in a bold and principled move, responded to the murder of its staffers by publishing a multi-lingual edition featuring a cartoon of the prophet on its front cover. By championing free speech and free expression, Charlie Hebdo's action rallied the democratic world, while simultaneously raising a firm finger to the terrorists by showing that when it came to these principles, at least one media organization refused to be intimidated.

2015-01-19 17:30

Justice or economics?

It's that time of year again: The time of year to recover from lingering hangovers; to implement those pesky new year's resolutions; and to, er, parole or pardon the depressingly long roster of corporate criminals. Voices have been rising in the ruling party and the administration for the president to exercise her right to grant paroles and/or pardons to these white-collar wrongdoers. And there are a lot of them - almost a "Who's Who" of Korea Inc's elite.

2015-01-05 17:09

Cho's in-flight wobbly: The upside

Two weeks ago, en route from Mexico City to Incheon, I had the misfortune to transit via LA International Airport (LAX). My flight times granted me two hours to disembark from aircraft A and re-embark onto aircraft B. “Easy,” you may think. In most airports - airports equipped with transit facilities - you would be right. But LAX is not “most airports.”

2014-12-22 17:06

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