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The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Columnists

Sandip Kumar Mishra

Repercussions of 'confident' diplomacy

It was not unexpected that South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Chinese President Xi Jinping could not meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco. The Chinese president had time to meet the U.S. leader for four hours and the Japanese leader for 65 minutes but he did not give South Korea's leader more than three minutes. The Chinese leader also met leaders of Brunei, Peru, Fiji, and Mexico but South Korea was not on his priority list. It is indicative of the fact that South Korea and China have drifted away from each other. It could also mean that China does not consider So...

2023-11-29 16:30

Advantage North Korea

It was reported that an Ilyushin IL-62 M Russian Air Force jet traveled from Moscow to Pyongyang on July 31 and stayed there for 36 hours. That happened just a few days after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's visit to Pyongyang and his participation in a military parade hosted by North Korea on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement.

2023-08-21 16:30

Costs of contesting China

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in an interview with Reuters on April 18 that the increased tension around Taiwan is because of China's attempt to change the status quo and expressed his disagreement with any such Chinese move.

2023-04-27 16:35

Korea's proactive move and Japan's reluctance

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited Tokyo for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on March 16. It was a bilateral meeting that happened after a gap of almost 12 years. Despite the Japanese leadership, which kept repeating that no bilateral dialogue is possible without South Korea resolving the forced labor issue, Yoon has been consistently working to reach out to Japan and restore good relations.

2023-03-21 16:45

'Enemy' North Korea: Do labels help?

South Korea in its Defense White Paper released on Feb. 16 again referred to North Korea and its military as an enemy. The label hardly surprised anyone and it was quite expected. Actually, after coming to power, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration adopted a tit-for-tat approach toward North Korea and his policies, statements and behavior clearly indicate that South Korea considers North Korea as an enemy country.

2023-03-01 16:40

China's role in making Indo-Pacific Strategy possible

The idea of an Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS), which was initially considered to be an impossible proposition, appears to be increasingly becoming more real. Although it is still not a definite strategy and there are multiple names for it such as strategy, outlook, vision, idea or framework, in recent years there are more and more countries which have declared their IPS and South Korea is going to join the club very soon.

2023-01-01 16:40

Tokyo confronts Beijing in more explicit way

Japan appears to be more explicit in its contests with China in recent years. At the East Asian Summit in Cambodia, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida asserted that China's actions are “infringing on Japan's sovereignty” and “escalating tensions” in the region.

2022-11-24 14:13

North Korea needs urgent attention

North Korean nuclear and missile capabilities have grown alarmingly. In 2022, North Korea conducted several missile tests and according to South Korean Unification Minister Kwon Young-se, these tests seek to “tame South Korea.” The unification minister feels that there are two other reasons for North Korea's incessant missile tests. One, North Korea wants to upgrade its weapons and two, North Korea wants to draw the attention of the U.S. government.

2022-10-17 17:45

North Korea's 'new' nuclear posture

North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) passed a new law regarding its nuclear posture. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in his speech at an Assembly session elucidated the law Sept. 8, saying that his country would launch an “automatic” and “immediate” nuclear strike if it is attacked by “hostile forces.”

2022-09-20 16:21

'Vendetta politics' in Korea

Is it true that Korea's people and economy are of the highest grade but its politics is disappointing? The question is posed as the current Korean administration has been allegedly trying to find faults with the previous Moon Jae-in administration.

2022-08-18 16:45

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