Hagen Koo, Korean Workers: The Culture and Politics of Class Formation (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001) Korean workers broke into the international headlines in August 1987 when tens of thousands of Hyundai employees poured into the streets of the South Korean industrial city Ulsan, demanding increased wages and independent unions. The authoritarian regime in… Continue reading Korean Workers (Review)
Korea Conflict Profile History The Korean peninsula, colonized by Japan from 1910 to 1945, was liberated and divided at virtually the same time. In the closing days of World War II, the Soviets moved in from the north and repatriated guerrilla leader Kim Il Sung as leader of the new communist state. After… Continue reading Korea Profile
Key Points North Korea has been trying both carrots and sticks to win deals from its neighbors and the United States. The recent admission that it has continued to develop a nuclear weapons program is most likely North Korea’s attempt to win a package deal from the United States. Although South Korea and Japan have… Continue reading Responding to North Korea’s Surprises
President Bush’s inclusion of North Korea in an “axis of evil” with Iran and Iraq is only the latest indication of Washington’s new hard-line approach to Pyongyang. Since taking office, the Bush team has deliberately distanced itself from the Clinton administration’s policy of engaging the former “state of concern.” Even North Korea’s condemnation of the… Continue reading Bush Policy Undermines Progress on Korean Peninsula
The line dividing acceptable from unacceptable meat is sometimes a fine one. While vegetarians naturally reject meat of all kinds, the rest of America maintains some form of double standard — chicken but not crow, beef but not horse, venison but not reindeer, lamb but not mutton, legs and wings and rumps but not hearts… Continue reading The Politics of Dog, American Prospect
The September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon may have been just the tip of the iceberg. What lies hidden is not a plan to hijack more commercial airliners and use them as bombs. Osama bin Laden’s secret strategy owes more to jujitsu than firepower. America’s most wanted criminal, who learned… Continue reading Osama bin Laden’s Secret Strategy
Militarization in an Age of Globalization, FPIF, November 1, 2001 “Food Fight”, Gastronomica, Summer 2001 “Bush Faces Challenges on the Korean Peninsula,” Foreign Policy in Focus, March 2001 (with Karin Lee) “Bush Fumbles with Korea Policy” Progressive Media Project, March 29, 2001
Bush Fumbles with Korea Policy George Bush is on the verge of making a big foreign policy blunder. Instead of running with the Clinton policy on North Korea, the Bush team appears to be bobbling the hand-off. At risk is not simply the slow process of detente between North Korea and the U.S. At their… Continue reading Bush Fumbles with Korean Policy