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Tue, September 25, 2018 | 17:45

Opinion > Columnists > John Burton >

When North Korea launched its new solid-fuel medium-range missile on Feb. 12, the U.S. cable news networks immediately gave the event full-blown coverage. They portrayed the launch as the first serious foreign policy test for the new Trump administration, highlighting the fact that the president was entertaining at that very moment Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the southern White House in Florida. Speculation was rampant whether the unconventional and mercurial Trump would take some type of dramatic action in response to what seemed to be a clear provocation by Pyongyang. Instead, Tr...

John Burton | 2017-03-08 17:20

Missile Mystery

North Korea’s launch of the Pukguksong-2 ballistic missile is another example of the steady advancement that Pyongyang has made in developing its nuclear and missile arsenal. But it also raises the question of how Pyongyang has been able to master such technology. Pyongyang’s propaganda proclaimed the test of the intermediate range missile as an example of “a new strategic weapon of our own style,” implying that North Korean technicians had developed the missile from scratch. But most analysts believe that North Korea has always received help from other countries in developing its nuclear an...

John Burton | 2017-02-22 17:55

Samsung's testing times

It is somewhat ironic that Lee Jae-yong, the de facto head of the Samsung group, has borne the brunt of populist public anger against the family-run conglomerates, or chaebol, unleashed by Choigate and its exposure of alleged corrupt ties between business and government. Since taking over leadership of the group after his father’s heart attack in 2014, Lee has done more than any other chaebol boss in restructuring holdings to the benefit of shareholders. This has primarily consisted of selling off some struggling businesses while forging entry into new sectors, such as automotive electronics...

John Burton | 2017-01-25 15:36

Trump's Korea contradictions

What is fascinating in analyzing the forthcoming Trump presidency is how many of his policy goals contradict each other, which makes it harder to achieve any or most of them. North Korea provides a perfect case in point.

John Burton | 2017-01-11 15:56

Trump's tax threat

When he was campaigning as a candidate for the U.S. presidency, Donald Trump vowed that on day one of his administration you would declare China to be a currency manipulator, which gives the U.S. the authority to restrict Chinese imports by slapping tariffs on its products.

John Burton | 2016-12-28 17:08

Bright side of Choigate

Although Koreans are complaining that Choigate has brought the state of the country’s democracy to its lowest point since 1987, there are also reasons for hope that it could trigger important and positive changes.

John Burton | 2016-12-14 16:18

Echoes of Watergate

I was a university student in Washington D.C. in the early 1970s and so witnessed at first hand the unfolding of the Watergate scandal that brought down the administration of Richard Nixon.

John Burton | 2016-11-30 16:50

Trump's North Korean test

North Korea represents a Rorschach test for President-elect Donald Trump on how he will conduct his foreign policy.

John Burton | 2016-11-16 16:26

Why Samsung should worry

If I was at Samsung Electronics, I would be worrying about how the issue of exploding batteries with the Galaxy Note 7 has become comic fodder for late night TV shows in the U.S. “There was a terrible terrorist attack last weekend in New York, New Jersey. No one died, that’s the good news. And, boy, were we lucky because the bomb was made from acid, ball bearings and electronic igniters. It was either that or a sackful of Samsung phones,” Bill Maher joked on his HBO show, Real Time.

John Burton | 2016-10-05 16:58

Where are Seoul-Beijing ties heading?

The recent explosion of North Korea's fifth and biggest nuclear bomb raises a key question of the whether the test will bring South Korea and China closer together or further apart. The test has hardened President Park Geun-hye’s determination to deploy the U.S. advanced missile defense system, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), with a majority of Koreans supporting the decision. Park recently said the deployment was an “inevitable defensive measure,” adding there would be no need for THAAD if Pyongyang abandoned its nuclear weapons program.

John Burton | 2016-09-21 16:50

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Inter-Korean Summit in Pyongyang