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Tue, June 19, 2018 | 06:11

Opinion > Columnists > John Burton >

What to look for at the summit

No one believes anymore that the summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will lead to Pyongyang immediately giving up its nuclear and missile programs. Many thorny issues remain such as what is meant by “denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula. Does that mean just that North Korea would eventually dismantle its nuclear and missile programs or that the U.S. will also withdraw its nuclear umbrella from the peninsula?

John Burton | 2018-06-11 17:46

If the Trump-Kim summit has gone off the rails, blame it on the bad blood between Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea's first vice foreign minister, and John Bolton, the new U.S. national security adviser, who have confronted each other over North Korea's nuclear program for years.

John Burton | 2018-05-28 16:45

Moon's economic gamble

With the euphoria surrounding President Moon Jae-in's detente with North Korea and his resulting sky-high approval ratings, it is sometimes difficult to remember that he was elected a year ago primarily on his promises to fix the economy. On that score, Moon has failed to deliver much.

John Burton | 2018-05-14 17:12

Hope springs eternal

In 1992, when I was appointed Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, my editors and I thought I would be covering the end of the Cold War on the Korean Peninsula, following the demise of the Soviet Union just months earlier. After all, the two Koreas had just signed in December 1991 a basic agreement on reconciliation, non-aggression and cooperation and exchanges.

John Burton | 2018-04-29 16:38

Korea's terrible DC blunder

The Korean government has done itself a great disservice in cutting funding to the US-Korea Institute (USKI), which will force the think tank's closure. There is no upside, only downside in the decision.

John Burton | 2018-04-16 16:22

Topsy-turvy Washington

It has been interesting to see the topsy-turvy reaction in Washington, D.C. over the past month to the proposed summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un.

John Burton | 2018-04-02 16:46

'Korea asserting'

Will Moon Jae-in become the second Korean president to win a Nobel Peace Prize after Kim Dae-jung? If the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un comes off successfully, he could well be an award recipient. It would also be an example of how “Korea passing” has suddenly become “Korea asserting.”

John Burton | 2018-03-19 16:54

America's Sewol moment

Weeping children. Distraught parents. Those images have played across American cable news channels over the last two weeks following the shooting at a Florida high school that killed 14 students and three teachers. It also brought back memories of the emotional scenes we saw on Korean television in the wake of the sinking of the ferry Sewol in 2014 that killed 304 people, most of them high school students and teachers.

John Burton | 2018-03-05 17:41

American paternalism

The U.S. has been doing itself no favors in its rather paternalistic response to the thawing relations between the two Koreas at the Winter Olympics.

John Burton | 2018-02-19 18:28

Crypto craze in Korea

Korea is not normally known to be a big player in international financial markets. But there is one major exception: its trading in cryptocurrencies. Korea's importance as the world's third largest cryptocurrency market has been highlighted in recent weeks when a government threat to ban local cryptocurrency exchanges triggered a global crash in the prices of bitcoin and other digital currencies. But the cryptocurrency saga also provides insights into the sharp divisions emerging in Korea about the role of technology in society and the response of regulators to rapid change.

John Burton | 2018-02-05 17:17

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