North Korea Archives - Page 14 of 40 - Foreign Policy In Focus

Contested Waters – Contested Texts: Storm over Korea’s West Sea

by Gavan McCormack | Feb 28, 2011

This is the story of a text, which was briefly posted at The Asia Pacific Journal on 6 February, and almost immediately (within hours) withdrawn. The author was Kim Man-bok, who from November 2006 to January 2008 was Director of the South Korean National Intelligence Service (Korean CIA) under the Government of President Roh Moo-hyun. His text was entitled “Let Us Turn Korea’s West Sea (the Sea of Dispute) into a Sea of Peace and Prosperity.”

New Year 2011, Okinawa and the Future of East Asia

by Gavan McCormack, Norimatsu Satoko, Mark Selden | Jan 18, 2011

The mood across East Asia as 2011 dawns is one of foreboding. Can the militarization and confrontation that gathered momentum through 2010 in the spiral of incidents (Cheonan in March, Senkaku in September, Yeonpyeong in November) and massive regional war rehearsals by the US and its allies be halted and reversed? The fear that events might slide during 2011 into catastrophe is hard to resist.

Negotiating with Evil

by John Feffer | Jan 4, 2011

Given the title of this week’s World Beat, perhaps you expected an essay on North Korea or another vilified U.S. adversary and violator of all human decency.

Actually, I was referring to Jon Kyl. Those who dismiss the value of negotiating with North Korea insist that the country makes unreasonable demands, never has any intention of compromising, and violates any agreement that it ultimately signs. Funny, this sounds a lot like the hard-line Republicans in the last Congress.

Korean Brinkmanship, American Provocation, and the Road to War

by Tim Beal | Dec 26, 2010

The exchange of artillery fire between South and North Korea on 23 November, 2010 had predictable results – a great increase of tension on the peninsula, a show of force by the United States, and a torrent of uninformed media articles and pontificating from the security industry.

Resolving the Face-Off in Korea

by Christine Ahn | Dec 22, 2010

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.

South Korea: Seeking Reunification by Live Fire?

by John Feffer | Dec 20, 2010

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.

WikiLeaks XII: If It Had Its Druthers, Would North Korea Take the U.S. Over China?

by Michael Busch | Dec 3, 2010

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.

Transparency Fundamentalists

by John Feffer | Nov 30, 2010

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.

Joint U.S.-South Korean Military Exercises in Yellow Sea Raise the Ante

by Peter Certo | Nov 28, 2010

North Korean motives for attacking Yeonpyeong Island remain unclear, but U.S. South Korean military exercises run the risk of escalating the situation.

Turning Stuxnet to More Constructive Ends

by Russ Wellen | Nov 24, 2010

If responsible for the computer worm, there’s a less controversial end to which Israel can put it than Iran’s nuclear program.