Seconds before I appeared on Al-Jazeera International Sunday night, the producer informed me that South Korea, despite pleas from both Russia and China to cancel the live fire artillery drills, had in fact started the exercises. Having been to North Korea several times, and knowing how their worldview centers on the right to defend their sovereignty, I feared the worst.
Rather than waiting patiently for reunification to take place through negotiations, South Korea’s Lee Myoung-bak administration wants to accelerate the process, by force if necessary.
North Korea may feel that the time has come to establish relations with the United States as a hedge against unpredictable future relations with Beijing.
WikiLeaks puts the government through a full body scanner to reveal many dirty secrets. U.S. officials, not surprisingly, have responded with anger. They don’t want their “junk” exposed or touched. No one, from emperors to excursionists, likes to be naked in public. And the latest revelations are the most intrusive yet.
Despite the publication of the Joint Investigation Group’s definitive account of the sinking of the South Korean naval corvette, Cheonan, the South Korean public remains skeptical over its conclusion. Opposition politicians, academics, and members of the scientific community have pointed to flaws in the final report, which damage its credibility and throw doubt on its findings.
North Korean motives for attacking Yeonpyeong Island remain unclear, but U.S. South Korean military exercises run the risk of escalating the situation.
If responsible for the computer worm, there’s a less controversial end to which Israel can put it than Iran’s nuclear program.
The Pentagon has more on its plate but, because of domestic factors, will have comparatively less money to deal with it all. Washington has concluded that the only way to solve this particular dilemma is to rely more on partners in the region. The United States has always emphasized its partnerships with Japan, South Korea, and (less so) Taiwan. At times of austerity, Washington is putting more emphasis on burden-sharing. Today, however, the United States will be pushing for more than just additional resources from its allies. More and more, these allies will have to do the heavy lifting themselves.
On the night of March 26, 2010, the South Korean naval vessel ROKS Cheonan split in half and sunk. Forty-six sailors lost their lives. In order to determine the cause, the South Korean government created the Joint Investigation Group (JIG), with representatives from the United States, United Kingdom, and Sweden, among others. The JIG has since issued its findings in stages, culminating with the release of the official report on September 12, 2010, concluding that a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine sank the Cheonan. Despite the JIG’s goal of providing definitive proof of the cause of the incident, public skepticism has only increased.
Even sending Bill Murray to negotiate with North Korea is preferable to Obama’s Bush-like hard line, complete with sanctions.