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Hither and Yon

North Korea triggers a U.S. missile defense showdown among major powers

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
North Korean rocket launches and nuclear tests risk getting boring.
The pattern is familiar: expressions of outrage, loud condemnation ― then nothing. Has the latest one-two punch of nuclear test and rocket launch changed a thing? The easy answer is not really ― but think again. The  Read More 
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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 
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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 
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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 
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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 
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Obama welcomes Xi: A matter of ‘optics’ and not much else

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
WASHINGTON -- China President Xi Jinping’s meeting with President Obama Friday is sure to be an exercise in double-and-triple talk that will sorely test the skills of both of them in papering over, covering up and otherwise evading issues that neither of them is going  Read More 
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China’s loud signal to North Korea reminded Kim Jong-Un he’s not his own man

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com
Conflict with South Korea is a gambit that North Korea cannot afford.
Much as leader Kim Jong-Un may have yearned to humiliate the South by ordering gunfire against the mega-loudspeakers broadcasting music, news and invidious commentary into the North from below the Demilitarized Zone, he  Read More 
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Shared Pain of War and Colonisation Does Little to Heal Korea's Bitter Divisions

COMMENT›INSIGHT & OPINION
Donald Kirk sees no sign of a breakthrough in North-South relations, despite efforts to bridge the gap, as they separately mark their liberation from colonial rule

The tragedy of Korea is that "liberation" on August 15, 1945, was the prelude not to lasting peace and freedom but to the division of the peninsula  Read More 
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One man is eating hearty up in Pyongyang

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com
You have to wonder what Kim Jong-Un is eating these days.
Every time his picture appears visiting a military unit or a factory or an agricultural cooperative, he seems to have gained a kilogram or two. What’s he feasting on? What’s his favorite  Read More 
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Junket for peace: Gloria and ‘sisters’ feel good, stay on message — Pyongyang’s talking points

Special to WorldTribune.com
By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com
The crusade of WomenCrossDMZ for peace on the Korean Peninsula had certain defined boundaries.
Don’t talk about human rights and nukes. Say all you want about American sanctions on North Korea and the need for a peace treaty to end the Korean War.
The  Read More 
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