Korea

Atoms for Peace

Those crazy North Koreans. They’ve promised in principle to give up their nuclear weapons, but they insist on generating nuclear power for peaceful purposes. With Pyongyang and Washington at loggerheads over this point, the Six-Party Talks to resolve the nuclear crisis in Northeast Asia have taken a recess after two weeks of promising discussions. U.S.… Continue reading Atoms for Peace

Korea

Korea’s Slow-Motion Reunification

Somenthing extraordinary is happening in Korea, and Washington appears to be paying no attention. The two Koreas have plunged headlong in to unknown territory: reunification. For 50 years, aside from the occasional defector, it was impossible to cross the demilitarized zone dividing the Korean Peninsula. Today a bus leaves the capital of South Korea every… Continue reading Korea’s Slow-Motion Reunification

Korea

Dealing with the Powers in Pyongyang

North Korea’s public declaration of nuclear status does not definitively prove that it possesses nuclear weapons. What’s clear is that Pyongyang expects no changes in Bush administration policy. The announcement and North Korea’s decision to stop participating in the international negotiations with the United States and its neighbors known as “six-party talks” was designed to… Continue reading Dealing with the Powers in Pyongyang

Korea

The Spirit of Kwangju

It happened nearly 25 years ago, but the old woman’s grief was still raw. We were queued up to lay flowers on the ceremonial table with its pyramids of fruit and platters of pounded rice cake. At the head of the line was a group of victims’ mothers, clad in white. Each lay a single… Continue reading The Spirit of Kwangju

Korea

Next Stop: Pyongyang

There is no Vaclav Havel of North Korea. Don’t expect to turn up a Solidarity-like trade union or a Democracy Wall movement on your next visit to Pyongyang. Nor, as far as anyone can tell, is a North Korean version of Boris Yeltsin or even Mikhail Gorbachev waiting in the wings to shake up the… Continue reading Next Stop: Pyongyang

Korea

Gulliver and the Lilliputians

Gulliver and the Lilliputians   Superpowers don’t like multilateralism.  They fear that smaller countries will gang up to tie their hands, as the tiny Lilliputians bound mighty Gulliver in the famous novel.   In the last four years, the U.S. Gulliver has defied the Lilliputians and projected an unprecedented amount of unilateral power – military,… Continue reading Gulliver and the Lilliputians

Korea

Second Act

American Prospect, February 14, 2004 The Bush administration has been at times dangerously ambiguous in its policy toward North Korea. With a second round of six-party talks likely for early 2004 and North Korea’s nuclear program chugging along, the upcoming debate on Capitol Hill over a new bill, the North Korea Freedom Act, may well… Continue reading Second Act

Book Reviews, Korea

The North Korean Revolution 1945-1950 (Review)

Review of Charles Armstrong, The North Korean Revolution, 1945-1950 (Cornell University Press, 2003)   Journalists almost ritualistically describe North Korea as the world’s last Stalinist hold out.   “Stalinist,” like “communist” or “totalitarian,” is used more for its damning than its descriptive power.  Indeed, in the same breath, journalists acknowledge that North Korea remains a profound… Continue reading The North Korean Revolution 1945-1950 (Review)

Korea

Wish List

Conflict-resolution professionals often say that to break a deadlock requires parties to shift from “positions” to “interests.” For the past year, the United States and North Korea have repeated their positions ad nauseum. The United States wants North Korea to give up its nuclear program; North Korea wants a guarantee that the United States won’t… Continue reading Wish List

Korea

Regime Change in North Korea?

A Different Kind of Regime Change     For the last year, the Bush administration has spoken with a forked tongue on North Korean policy.  The pragmatists in the Bush administration have wanted to negotiate a solution to the current nuclear stand-off.  The hardliners have been eager for Korean War II.  Now, according to Beltway… Continue reading Regime Change in North Korea?

Food, Korea

Seoul Food

Washingtonian, April 2003

Korea

Tug of War

The tug of war between the hawks and doves over North Korea policy continues within the Bush administration. In the latest move, the administration has unveiled its new, flexible negotiating position with Pyongyang: a willingness to provide security guarantees. Examined more carefully, however, this new dovish position appears to have the wing prints of the… Continue reading Tug of War

Korea

Hexagonal Headache

It is a testament to the absurdly low expectations attached to the diplomatic abilities of both North Korea and the United States that pundits have avoided the obvious conclusion concerning the recently concluded Six-Party Talks in Beijing. They were a disaster. Here’s the rub, though: the hardliners in Washington got exactly what they wanted and… Continue reading Hexagonal Headache

Korea

Eyes on Different Prizes

Roh Moo-hyun is coming to Washington with a public and a private message. Publicly, the South Korean president will affirm his government’s desire to strengthen its relationship with the United States and bring a peaceful end to the nuclear crisis with North Korea. The private message, which won’t appear in any newspaper headlines, will be:… Continue reading Eyes on Different Prizes

Korea

Is North Korea Next?

A serial invader is always looking over the horizon for the next target. The new U.S. rationale for invasion–the doctrine of “preventive war” that flies in the face of international law–justifies invasion anywhere, anytime. With the war launched in Iraq, the Bush administration appears to be laying the groundwork for its next move: an attack… Continue reading Is North Korea Next?