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Tue, April 24, 2018 | 23:13

Opinion > Columnists > John Burton >

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

Keep it simple, Mr. Moon

It’s no secret that there is considerable skepticism in Washington, D.C., about the durability of the inter-Korean detente that has led to North Korea agreeing to participate in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Most U.S. analysts believe that even if the Olympic Games go ahead without a hitch, further progress will flounder in the spring as the U.S. and South Korea resume joint military exercises and North Korea conducts more missile tests. The challenge for President Moon Jae-in is to keep the spirit of reconciliation alive in the face of daunting odds and that means managing expectations. ...

John Burton | 2018-01-22 17:30

Grasping the olive branch

Many things divide North and South Korea. But the two appear to share the same growing fear that a possibly mentally unstable U.S. president could plunge the Korean peninsula into a horrendous conventional war and even a nuclear one.

John Burton | 2018-01-08 17:31

Moon's economic balancing act

This past weekend marked the 20th anniversary of Seoul’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund to expedite financial reforms and open its domestic financial markets. It was part of a $10 billion support package to help rescue the economy from the ravages of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Although the IMF measures that Korea agreed to were heavily criticized at the time by many and inflicted sharp short-term economic pain, in retrospect they made the country more resistant to many subsequent economic crises, including the 2008 global financial crisis. Seoul’s willingness to relax r...

John Burton | 2017-12-25 14:57

Eve of destruction

“We had to destroy the village in order to save it,” is a famous quote from the Vietnam War. It referred to the bombing of a village by the Americans in the Mekong Delta during the 1968 Tet Offensive that called into question U.S. war aims.

John Burton | 2017-12-11 16:23

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Missile attack on Syria