Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com The people who write for the Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang must be having fun. How else can you account for some of the great turns of phrase that show up in the English-language versions of their harangues? It wasn’t enough that the KCNA quoted an otherwise […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Miles Yu, Geostrategy-Direct.com India’s longtime low profile in East Asia is ending. The world’s largest democracy is being vigorously courted by virtually all the countries in the volatile and dynamic region. In the past decade, Vietnam, the Philippines and Burma have moved significantly closer to India. But in the last two […]
Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com South Korea on Dec. 8 announced the extension of its air defense identification zone [KADIZ] to cover the Ieodo rock that was under the Chinese ADIZ coverage and disputed by the two countries. China’s Nov. 23 announcement of the establishment of an ADIZ was deemed “unacceptable” to South Korea. President Park […]
Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com In a shocking poll, 69 percent of South Korea’s high school students believed that it was the South that started the Korean War in 1950. President Park Geun-Hye expressed dismay on June 17 during a cabinet meeting in the Blue House, the presidential office/residence complex in Seoul. “This kind of wrong […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Ok, the North-South talks fizzled when neither could agree on who was truly “ministerial.” Now the question is when, how, or if the talks will happen. No matter, the Xi-Obama summit has to be viewed as a success in view of the post-summit sideshow between negotiators of North […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Amid much fanfare, North Korea has advanced to the brink of the dreaded Second Korean War. Now the question is whether there’s a face-saving way to bring about dialogue. Can’t North Korea, at some stage, declare a rhetorical victory and go into negotiations? U.S. Secretary of State John […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Memories and images of Margaret Thatcher and her legacy as displayed in the media this week evoke an obvious question: What would the Iron Lady have done about North Korea? The answer would seem clear. It’s hard to imagine the woman who dispatched troops to the Falklands in […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com North Korea’s ceaseless provocations against South Korea throughout the Lee Myung-Bak government for the past five years are a carefully designed maneuver to force his successor to opt for appeasement, a government official here said. In a great departure from his progressive predecessors who offered unconditional aid to […]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — “Oops, they did it again,” to paraphrase the old Britney Spears song. Indeed North Korea’s baby-faced dictator Kim Jong-Un decided to test another nuclear weapon, and thrust his reclusive but reckless country back into the headlines. In terms of political disruption, Kim’s tantrum seemed to have worked, but in […]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Shortly after the Security Council unanimously condemned the recent North Korean missile launch and demanded that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea abandon nuclear testing, Pyongyang’s rulers decided to up the political ante. They announced that they are on the verge of a third nuclear test and for good […]