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Tue, August 14, 2018 | 20:31

Opinion > Columnists > Donald Kirk >

Second-guessing Korean history

WASHINGTON - Uh oh. Watch for all the soothsayers putting in their two cents or two won worth on the future of the Korean Peninsula, post-PyeongChang. Beware of the cognoscenti with dire forecasts of capitulation to the evil Northers, with hopeful words of peace at last, with demands for cancellation of U.S.-South Korean military exercises, with pleas for more and bigger war games to show Kim Jong-un he can never “drive a wedge” between those “ironclad” allies, the U.S. and South Korea.

Donald Kirk | 2018-01-11 17:20

'Strategic ambiguity' versus 'strategic patience'

Here's another term for President Trump's North Korea policy. How about “strategic ambiguity” in place of the “strategic patience” of the Obama era? The Trumpsters persist in saying they've come up with a new and bolder and better way of putting Kim Jong-un in his place, applying “maximum pressure” to force him to give up his nukes and missiles, but that's not happening.

Donald Kirk | 2018-01-04 20:04

Darkest Hour': a film with a message

WASHINGTON - Historical comparisons can be terribly flawed. Bearing that in mind, I could not help but think of talk about talks with North Korea while watching a new British film, “Darkest Hour,” all about Winston Churchill in the darkest early days of World War II spurning pleas to negotiate with Hitler's Nazi Germany. Italy, Germany's axis ally, offered to mediate between the two.

Donald Kirk | 2017-12-28 18:03

Why North Korea wages cyberwar

WASHINGTON - Here’s a target the deadliest, most accurate missile isn’t going to touch: the computers in North Korea that are responsible for wreaking havoc around the world. It’s all very well to talk about “the military option” or even a “pre-emptive attack" on a North Korean nuclear and missile site. You can fantasize U.S. war planes, hefty B1 bombers, sleek stealth-like F22s and F35s, maybe a few F18s and F15s in the mix, staging day and night raids wiping out all the North Korean targets deemed capable of sending missiles tipped with nuclear warheads to targets in the U.S. That would be...

Donald Kirk | 2017-12-21 17:07

Playing the waiting game

By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON ― A lot of people here, from right to left politically, think war on the Korean peninsula is imminent. Kim Jong-un, they say, is eager to order a seventh nuclear test as well as test shots of intercontinental ballistic missiles. And would not President Trump love to stage a “preemptive strike” to frustrate Kim’s grand design ― or at least attack in retaliation after Kim had already gotten away with a few more tests?Maybe, but believe it or not the U.S. is in no position to risk Korean War II, to stage a “preemptive strik...

Donald Kirk | 2017-12-14 16:53

Trump's 'intelligence' problem

You have to wonder about Michael Flynn, the retired army lieutenant general who served as President Donald Trump's national security adviser for 24 days before he was forced to resign. He had spent his 33-year military career as an intelligence officer but was dumb enough to lie to the FBI about his contacts with Russians before Trump's inauguration.

Donald Kirk | 2017-12-07 16:33

Meaning of a missile test

He had to do it, didn't he? Just when the optimists were saying, well, it's been a few weeks since the last one, maybe he's learned his lesson.

Donald Kirk | 2017-11-30 17:39

To sanction or not to sanction?

The debate never stops. Pro -sanction people are saying the latest round of U.S. sanctions against the North may indeed bring enough pressure on Kim Jong-un to agree to talks about giving up his nukes and missiles. The anti-sanctionists say sanctions never work, and now, they say, Kim may be tempted to test still more missiles and nukes just to prove what a great and independent leader he is.

Donald Kirk | 2017-11-23 17:23

Trump's magical mystery tour

President Trump had to have had a great time during his 12-day journey to East Asian capitals. Everywhere he went he was treated like royalty. No hostile politicos taunting him, at least to his face, no nasty foes hurling epithets close range as he shuttled from one leader's center of power to another, no enemies in high places trying to cost him his job even if they disagreed with him. Oh, there were demonstrators here and there, candlelight vigilantes in Seoul trying to make themselves heard as his motorcade came and went, protesters in Manila battling police to let him know they wanted hi...

Donald Kirk | 2017-11-16 17:20

Trump talking tough

At least he gave it a shot. He really wanted to make it up to Panmunjom but was turned back by the weather. For most visitors, the fog that hung over the line between North and South Korea would not have been too much for a beautiful U.S. Air Force helicopter to navigate. It wasn’t as if there were high winds or a terrific downpour. The passenger in this case, however, was the president of the United States. Nobody wanted to take the remotest chance on the helicopter going down with the Trumpster himself on board.

Donald Kirk | 2017-11-09 17:28

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