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Opinion

Columnists

Thu, April 15, 2021 | 16:22

Intelligence Experts Discuss Korea

Two top U.S. intelligence officials sat down recently to discuss developments in Korea and the region as part of the AsiaEast.Org discussion series. Ambassador Joseph DeTrani is president of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, and has a long and legendary career in U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, State Department and National Intelligence Council.

2015-08-24 16:38

Lee Hee-ho's sense of modernity

Madam Lee Hee Ho, widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, has been to North Korea. Although this has been the focus of many news stories in Korea and abroad, none seem capable of putting her journey or her impact on history into full perspective. Reports in both The New York Times and on the BBC noted the North’s drive to build nuclear weapons, but failed to remember why the South-North-U.S. rapprochement of the 1990s fell apart. They failed at this simple journalistic duty even though strategic mistakes at that time haunt the current U.S.-Iran nuclear deal, just as they mark the beginning o...

2015-08-10 16:34

US-Iran Deal Worse Than US-Korea Deal

The new deal between Iran and the P5+1, the result of years of negotiations led by the US, is a good deal, and should be supported. The complexity of the Middle East right now, and the multiple ways that Iran's actions in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere support terror and destabilization, are mind-boggling. The need to confront Iranian proxy forces in those locations will not go away with this agreement. So the follow-on work with allies and neighbors of Iran in years to come will be necessary and will require commitment from the US and the other P5+1 countries. But still the deal is over...

2015-07-31 16:12

China's Iron Silk Road

New thinking about China's One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiatives and the newly launched Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) shows why key rail and development projects will test and sort out companies, national interests, and leaders in the coming decades. Together with the Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative (NAPCI) from Korea and its Iron Silk Road predecessors, these initiatives may begin to bear fruit, now that their economic and development logic is pushing against the short-term security objections that have stalled them until now.

2015-07-14 16:24

International crisis group blunders on North Korea

The newest production on North Korea from the International Crisis Group (ICG) is strikingly unambitious, considering the organization is one of the few international NGOs in a position to speak truth to governments. The six-party talks are certainly dead in all but name, as Daniel Pinkston says, but they were never organized to reach realistic agreements. Non-governmental organizations and other non-state actors should certainly help keep North Korea connected as Tim Johnston urges, but they will never substitute for government action. Deterrence and containment are certainly necessary as P...

2015-06-29 16:39

US address President Park did not give

Dear Mr. President, Madam First Lady, political colleagues, media representatives, American friends, Thank you for your kind words. All Koreans, no matter what their different political or social views might be, are thankful for you and your unwavering support for our country and our future ambitions.

2015-06-15 16:35

Abe, Park, Obama and current debates

Recent commentary surrounding Prime Minister Abe's visit to the U.S. and the ongoing diplomatic strains among Japan, Korea and China have exposed several ongoing debates about events in the region. Several points are relevant. One, the success of Abe's U.S. visit could only occur during a time when China is seen as trying to push around its neighbors. If the agenda were to cover issues other than security and the anti-China TPP, other criticism of Abe may have been made. The success of the Abe visit could also only occur when U.S . officials are singularly concerned with the optics of streng...

2015-05-18 15:48

Korea stumbles diplomatically

Many Koreans are worried that their government is missing out as diplomacy surrounding the Northeast Asian region accelerates and Korea seems less relevant. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe completed a mostly successful visit to the U.S. last week. Should Korea try to outdo Japan by appealing even more to the U.S. administration's preferences and biases? Should it abandon hopes of improving relations with Japan, the U.S. and China for now, and concentrate on an opening with North Korea? Should it flood Washington with funding for new public relations firms, political consultants and NGOs?

2015-05-04 16:01

US-Iran deal - 10 lessons for Korea

The essence of the deal will not be about enrichment capacity, timelines or other technical details. It will instead be about the exchange of mutually valuable elements, and about the political will for implementation. In the case of North Korea, they will have to see a clear path to development, diplomatic relations and international interaction, and performance by the other parties. South Korea and the U.S. will have to see a cap on nuclear weapons work, WMD, and missiles, a rollback of plutonium and uranium possession, and verification. A deal cannot appear or be one-sided. There can be e...

2015-04-20 16:29

Why unlock North Korea?

Why do we care about North Korea? Why not let it stew in its isolation and wait - however long that might be - for some change there? Why should leaders in South Korea, Japan or the U.S. spend precious political capital on bringing about disarmament and development in that odd place?

2015-04-06 16:49

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