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Opinion

Columnists

Tue, September 17, 2019 | 02:13

Shooting down war-crazy hawk

Kim Jong-un must be happy now. What could have made him feel better than for his friend President Donald Trump to dump John Bolton as national security adviser? As Trump made clear, he and Bolton disagreed on many things, notably the Middle East, Iran and Afghanistan. Bolton's hawkish instincts would have appeared to fit in perfectly with Trump's views, but Bolton was considerably more extreme.

2019-09-11 15:39

Corruption in high places

Corruption is so endemic in Korean ruling circles that it's hard to remember a time when one politico or another wasn't mired in accusations of fraud, bribery, influence-peddling and all that. In fact, cases come and go with such regularity that we often forget them soon after they dominated the headlines.

2019-09-05 17:34

Flag-waving for Trump

More American flags fly on a typical Saturday afternoon in central Seoul than in an American downtown on the Fourth of July.

2019-08-29 17:35

Waging rhetorical war

MANILA - The Philippines president, Rodrigo Duterte, has a lot in common with President Donald Trump. He upsets people with tough talk, flays his foes with harsh words, and is accused of numerous offenses against women, against the media, also against the U.S.

2019-08-22 17:14

Stocking up on missiles

So much is said and written about North Korea's missile tests that it's possible to forget they are hardly the most dangerous threats posed by flying “projectiles.”

2019-08-15 17:38

'Improving human rights in North Korea can lead to unification'

American silence on Jeju 4.3

JEJU - You have to wonder what a typical U.S. embassy does with a petition pleading a cause that some people don't want to know about. That's the question asked by activists crusading for the families of victims of “4.3,” the revolt that began on April 3, 1948, in which about 30,000 died in clashes with the Korean army and police. Two years ago, members of the 4.3 Victims' Family Association dropped off their petition with 100,000 signatures at the American embassy in Seoul blaming the U.S. for backing the revolt and demanding reparations.

2019-08-08 16:48

Hong Kong and democracy

Mass protests on the streets of Hong Kong are provoking distinctly mixed responses in countries that would seem to place the highest priority on democracy.

2019-08-01 17:28

'It can't happen here'

War is actually never that far away in this corner of the world. We've grown so accustomed to near-crises and mini-crises that we tend to shrug and say, “It can't happen here,” which, as it happens, is the name of a bitterly satirical novel by Sinclair Lewis published in the 1930s.

2019-07-25 17:12

South Korea versus Japan

TOKYO - Korean and Japanese relations have plunged to their lowest depths since the Korean War, and there's apparently no reconciliation in sight. The governments in Seoul and Tokyo are engaged in a game of dare and double-dare in which each tries to out-threaten the other with hurtful measures and harmful results.

2019-07-18 17:40

Undiplomatic bad-mouthing

LONDON - You can hardly imagine the embarrassment of the Brits over one of the all-time tempests in diplomatic teacups. It was one thing for the highly proper British ambassador to Washington, Sir Kim Darroch to send a memo back to the foreign ministry in London calling President Donald Trump's White House “dysfunctional,” “unpredictable,” “faction-riven.” “clumsy and inept” but quite another for the whole world to know what he had written.

2019-07-11 17:36

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