For the past two years, the Bush administration has treated North Korea like a child throwing a tantrum. Rather than charm a crying child with a piece of cake or apply a switch to its backside, the current child psychology approach is the “time out”–separate the child from the group until it calms down. Similarly,… Continue reading Time-Out Method Doesn’t Work
“Responding to North Korea’s Surprises,” Foreign Policy in Focus, October 24, 2002 “Diversity Comes to the Meat We Eat,” Newsday, July 29, 2002 “The Politics of Dog,” American Prospect, June 2002 Korean Workers (Review), Korean Quarterly, Summer 2002 “Bush Policy Undermines Progress on Korean Peninsula,” Foreign Policy in Focus, March 2002 “Osama bin Laden’s Secret Strategy” Global Beat Syndicate,… Continue reading 2002 Archives
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)
Newsday, July 29, 2002
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
Gastronomica, Summer 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
Weapons, from handguns to fighter jets, are a profitable business. Generous government contracts, huge profit margins, and inevitable cost over-runs ensure spectacular dividends for weapons producers. Conflicts burning throughout the world guarantee plenty of buyers. After a post-cold war decline, global weapons purchases rose in 2000 to $800 billion. In the aftermath of the September… Continue reading Militarization in the Age of Globalization
The Bush administration faces challenges from allies and adversaries alike in East Asia. The recent submarine incident and rising anti-bases sentiment in Okinawa have put the U.S.-Japan “special relationship” on rocky ground. The war of words with Beijing about human rights and its relations with Iraq suggests that the Bush team’s downgrading of China to… Continue reading Bush Faces Challenges on the Korean Peninsula
Review of Han Sorya and North Korean Literature, Korean Quarterly, Winter 2000 North Korean Economy, Dollars and Sense, 2000 “Progress on the Korean Peninsula?” Foreign Policy in Focus, December 2000 “Gunboat Globalization: The Intersection of Economics and Security in East Asia,”Social Justice, vol. 27, no. 4 (2000) North Korea Reaches Out, FPIF, July 2000 “After… Continue reading 2000 Archives
The Seaview Hotel is the North Korean version of the “field of dreams.” The nearly completed luxury hotel and casino overlooks a beach along Rajin-Sonbong, the free-trade zone in the northeast corner of North Korea bordering China and Russia. It is not a particularly well-known or exciting place. Not yet, at least. The zone is… Continue reading North Korean Economy
Review of Brian Myers, Han Sorya and North Korean Literature: The Failure of Socialist Realism in the DPRK (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University East Asia Program, 2000) by John Feffer Han Sorya, the North Korean novelist, seems an unlikely subject for a book. He is little known outside his own country, and was purged and censored… Continue reading Han Sorya and North Korean Literature: The Failure of Socialist Realism in the DPRK (Review)
FPIF, July 2000
FPIF, December 2000
Social Justice, 2000
Panama City News Herald, June 25, 2000
Peace Magazine, Summer 2000 (with Karin Lee)
Key Points As North Korea has become more engaged internationally, new opportunities have emerged for Korean reunification and greater security in East Asia. Relations between the two Koreas have progressed at an official level, with the June summit, and unofficially through economic and civic contacts. The United States can play a key role in reducing… Continue reading A New Era for the Korean Peninsula
Containment Lite: US policy toward Russia and its neighbors If the US government had wanted to destroy Russia from the inside out, it couldn’t have devised a more effective policy than the so-called “strategic partnership.” From aggressive foreign policy to misguided economic advice to undemocratic influence-peddling, the U.S. has ushered in a cold peace on… Continue reading Containment Lite: U.S. Policy toward Russia and Its Neighbors, FPIF
Key Points The North Korean “threat” is a key justification for U.S. military spending, the presence of U.S. troops in Asia, and a new theater missile defense system. North Korea has criticized the U.S. for not lifting economic sanctions. The U.S. has criticized North Korean missile exports and has suspected Pyongyang of secretly developing a… Continue reading U.S.-North-Korea Relations
Peacework, October 1999 with Karin Lee
Asiaweek, July 2, 1999
Peace Review, 1999
1999 “The Northeast Asian Arc of Crisis,” Peacework, October 1999 (with Karin Lee) “Containment Lite: U.S. Policy Toward Russia and Its Neighbors,” Foreign Policy in Focus, August 1999 “Fist in a Velvet Glove,” Asiaweek, July 2, 1999 “U.S.-North Korea Relations,” Foreign Policy in Focus, May 1999 “North Korea and the Politics of Engagement,” Peace Review 11:3 (1999) 1998 Eric Lui: The… Continue reading 1983-1999 Archives
American Go Journal, Spring 1998