New president hails S. Koreans’ can-do, tech-based, spirit: ‘In the 21st century, culture is power’

New president hails S. Koreans’ can-do, tech-based, spirit: ‘In the 21st century, culture is power’

Special to WorldTribune.com Following is a transcript of the inaugural address of South Korea’s first female president, Park Geun-Hye: My fellow Koreans and seven million fellow compatriots overseas, As I take office as the 18th-term President of the Republic of Korea, I stand before you today determined to open a new era of hope. I […]

When world leaders talk about ‘human rights’ and when they do not

When world leaders talk about ‘human rights’ and when they do not

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com The spectacle of the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh did more to lay bare the problems, conflicts and paradoxes of relations among the region’s wildly different and widely scattered nations than to resolve them. The fact that at least three of the leaders at this year’s ASEAN summit […]

At confab on North Korea, not a single word about the hundreds of thousands in gulags

At confab on North Korea, not a single word about the hundreds of thousands in gulags

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com What are the experts thinking when they talk in learned tones, replete with facts and stats, about issues and conditions for North-South Korean reunification, the pitfalls and problems, but omit passing mention of one of the most awful obstacles? At a conference this week bearing the portentous title, […]

Report: South Korean president approves major missile buildup

Report: South Korean president approves major missile buildup

Special to WorldTribune.com Geostrategy-Direct.com Seoul has approved an ambitious missile upgrade plan for additional 500-600 cruise and ballistic missiles during the next five years, according to a May 22 report in the Chosun Ilbo. “Given the mounting threat of provocations from the North since Kim Jong-Un took power, the [ROK] Defense Ministry reported to President […]

Seoul food: From mad cows to madder N. Koreans who might kill for any kind of beef

Seoul food: From mad cows to madder N. Koreans who might kill for any kind of beef

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — The sequence is simple: One more sick American cow, and the government here is in big trouble. The government here gets into trouble, and the North Korean regime can exploit the differences and make good on its dire threats, e.g., the one about “special actions” lasting […]

China tends to its universally-despised, never-say-die Communist ally

China tends to its universally-despised, never-say-die Communist ally

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — China is mending fences with North Korea after signing off on “condemnation” of North Korea’s failed missile launch while the North ratchets up the decibel level of invective against South Korea and the United States. The confluence of revived warmth between North Korea and China and […]

China finally feeling heat over its ‘repatriation’ of N. Korean defectors to their doom

China finally feeling heat over its ‘repatriation’ of N. Korean defectors to their doom

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — Star power, political pressure and diplomacy may be forcing the Chinese into second thoughts about their much reviled policy of sending North Korean defectors back to uncertain fates in North Korea whenever they catch them. In the face of pleas by well known performers and South […]

The Kim is dead, long live the Kim!

The Kim is dead, long live the Kim!

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — The death of bouffant-coiffed, platform-heel wearing North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il on Saturday ushers in a new era of rampant speculation, pontification and no doubt obfuscation about what’s really going on inside the Hermit Kingdom. The fact is that Kim Jong-Il late last week appeared just […]