Review of Kim Il Sung and Korea’s Struggle by Won Tai Sohn John Feffer A casual observer of the United States in the 1950s might conclude that Dwight D. Eisenhower was a genial war hero who, as the 34th president, presided over a decade of unprecedented prosperity. Even my father, a World War II… Continue reading Kim Il Sung and Korea’s Struggle
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)
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
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 gossip in Washington, the pragmatists have bested… Continue reading North Korea: A Different Kind of Regime Change
TomPaine, December 2003
TomPaine, September 3, 2003
TomPaine, November 24, 2003
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?
It’s the Rural Economy, Stupid On the strength of two wars and a barrage of patriotic propaganda, George Bush once looked invulnerable on foreign policy issues. Today, as stability eludes Iraq and Afghanistan and crisis continues to dog the Korean peninsula, the world seems less willing to go along with the president’s reelection plans. … Continue reading Fields of Battle
If the laws of physics apply as well to geopolitics, the U.S. empire will continue to march forward until met with an equal but opposite force. The Bush administration sees no such hindrances on the horizon. No matter that the Chinese outnumber us five to one, the European Union’s economy nearly rivals ours, Russia still… Continue reading Reining U.S. In
Albany Times-Union, April 3, 2003
Greensboro News and Record, July 27, 2003
The Progressive, October 2003
Vegetarian Times, August 2003
Washingtonian, April 2003
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
The war against terrorism is entering its third year, but the U.S. has already lost the most critical battle. The Taliban have been booted from power. Saddam Hussein is on the run. The Bush administration is tightening the noose around the remaining two members of the “axis of evil,” North Korea and Iran. But the… Continue reading We’ve Lost Their Hearts and Minds
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
War so far has not returned to the Korean peninsula. Negotiators from six countries–North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States–are about to sit down in Beijing to keep it that way. In a world dominated by military “solutions” to obdurate problems, even the muted vote for diplomacy represented by the upcoming… Continue reading Six Countries in Search of a Solution
The streets of the capital are broad and the buildings monumental. Inside the grand state offices, a power struggle rages among the political elite, and the side that seems to have the upper hand is insulated, single-minded, and shamelessly belligerent. This clique supports a military-first policy that doesn’t shrink from the first use of nuclear… Continue reading Fearful Symmetry: Washington and Pyongyang
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
At the Sunday market at the Place de la Bastille in Paris, the produce proudly announces its origins. There are bananas from Martinique, olives from Spain, artichokes from Brittany and broccoli from Saint-Malo, the place names written just above the prices. Signs tell which family dairies the cheeses come from and whether the lamb grazed… Continue reading Trans-Atlantic Food Fight
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?
Roh Moo Hyun, the incoming South Korean president, is part of a trend that raises the hackles of the Bush administration. America now has another outspoken and uncowed “ally.” Roh joins an axis of independence that includes France’s Jacques Chirac and Germany’s Gerhard Schroeder. With friends like these, the Bush team laments, who needs an… Continue reading South Korea Joins the Axis of Independence
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