icon caret-left icon caret-right instagram pinterest linkedin facebook twitter goodreads question-circle facebook circle twitter circle linkedin circle instagram circle goodreads circle pinterest circle

Hither and Yon

Healing history’s bitter Japan-Philippines wounds

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
MANILA -- No city suffered more in World War II than this sprawling metropolis of more than 10 million people.
No enemy was more cruel, more hostile, more destructive than the Japanese after defeating U.S. forces in the Philippines at the outset of the war in  Read More 
Be the first to comment

Conflicting U.S. views on conflict resolution with N. Korea: What if there is no solution?

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
Donald Gregg, U.S. ambassador to Korea as the country was making the transition to democracy in the early 1990s, did not take kindly to my column [A former U.S. diplomat’s inexplicable defense of Kim Jong-Un] in which I quoted him, accurately, as  Read More 
Be the first to comment

A former U.S. diplomat’s inexplicable defense of Kim Jong-Un

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
Donald Gregg, former U.S. ambassador to Korea, makes an astounding statement in a piece published after North Korea’s fourth nuclear test.
Striking “a very positive note,” he praises “the performance of Kim Jong-Un in improving the North Korean economy and downplaying nuclear threats  Read More 
Be the first to comment

Writer calls for bright light, untainted by politics, on comfort women issue

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
WASHINGTON ― Park Yu-Ha, under fire in Korea for writing “Comfort Women of the Empire,” offers what she believes may be a way to reach an understanding with Japan on the whole controversy.
Why not, she suggested in a panel discussion at the Woodrow Wilson Center,  Read More 
Post a comment

Stephen Bosworth, ‘consummate diplomat’ brought his values to the table

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
American ambassadors to South Korea pursue a fine line between defense of the U.S.-Korean alliance and pursuit of North-South reconciliation.
If they seem hell-bent on military goals, they’re accused of trying to push Korea into a war that nobody wants. And if  Read More 
Be the first to comment

‘Comfort woman’ statues serve as permanent reminder of Japan’s past

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
The Koreans are using art to upset the Japanese.
That’s in the form of statues of innocent young girls ― reminders of the suffering of Korean and other Asian women in the service of Japanese soldiers in World War II. They’ve got these statues  Read More 
Be the first to comment

Media freedom on trial in Seoul

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
The zeal with which the Korean government pursued the case of Tatsuya Kato, charged with criminal libel, bears disturbing parallels to the records of other countries that prosecute critics. The charge of libel is a favorite weapon of authorities in Singapore and Malaysia, to name  Read More 
Be the first to comment

Bush and Obama didn’t have the answers; Now Americans take a look at Trump

Bush and Obama didn’t have the answers; Now Americans take a look at Trump
Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
WASHINGTON ― First he was talking about kicking out all 12 million “illegal immigrants” in the U.S., and now he wants to exclude Muslims from the right to enter the U. Read More 
Be the first to comment

Koreans are free to vent bottled-up fury on the southern side of the DMZ

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
SEOUL — Freedom will ring on the streets of Seoul Saturday, when demonstrators denounce the government for numerous transgressions beginning with the scheme to impose state-edited, state-published school textbooks in place of those by independent scholars.
People by now are so accustomed to the sounds of  Read More 
Be the first to comment

South Korean president walks tightrope on North-South strategy, left-right domestic politics

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
President Park Geun-Hye is pursuing a fight-talk strategy.
On Monday, South Korean gunners staged a live-fire exercise in waters well within hearing range of North Korea’s southwestern coast. Next, North and South Korean negotiators were planning to meet at Panmunjom.
The contrast between military  Read More 
Be the first to comment