Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON – U.S. officials and so-called “Korea experts” look with clearly mixed feelings on the prospects of North Korea sending hundreds of performers, artists and officials to the upcoming PyeongChang Olympics. Conservative forces in Washington share the misgivings of Korean conservatives over athletes from the two Koreas parading together […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia ― How quickly we forget. Memories, dates and events fade away, only to be revived on anniversaries. A lot of historical events are barely recalled. I was in a country named “South” Vietnam 50 years ago when North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attacked almost every […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON – Koreans may not believe it, but the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics are not uppermost on the minds of Americans. In fact, no one in the upper reaches of the U.S. government, including President Trump, is worrying about whether North Korea is using the Games to drive a […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON ― Ah, let the games begin! The fun and games, that is, of seeing how the clever North Koreans play the Winter Olympics for all they’re worth. For sure, North Korean strategists are looking for a diplomatic and political triumph regardless of who wins what at PyeongChang and […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk This article by WorldTribune.com columnist Donald Kirk was first published today at the South China Morning Post. The timing of the Winter Olympics, in the South Korean mountain district of Pyeongchang in February, could not be better – or worse. By hinting at sending a team, North Korea’s leader […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON ― Here’s a target the deadliest, most accurate missile isn’t going to touch: the computers in North Korea that are responsible for wreaking havoc around the world. It’s all very well to talk about “the military option” or even a “pre-emptive attack” on a North Korean nuclear and […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON ― A lot of people here, from right to left politically, think war on the Korean peninsula is imminent. Kim Jong-Un, they say, is eager to order a seventh nuclear test as well as test shots of intercontinental ballistic missiles. And would not President Trump love to stage […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON – The CIA has struck alarm bells here with a top-secret report to President Trump telling him he has just three months to stop North Korea from having the ability to fire a nuclear warhead at the United States. The report has deepened the bitter divide between hawks […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON ― He had to do it, didn’t he? Just when the optimists were saying, well, it’s been a few weeks since the last one, maybe he’s learned his lesson. What lesson? Kim Jong-Un (aka, “Rocket man”) sails on, oblivious to the fuming and fussing in capitals from Beijing […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON – America’s top leaders are clearly uncertain as to how to retaliate for North Korea’s latest long-range missile test without resorting to a military option. President Donald Trump pledged, “We will take care of it” but showed no sign of unleashing the “fire and fury” that he had […]
