The Ivanka counter-charm offensive: Bracing for the Winter Olympics end game

The Ivanka counter-charm offensive: Bracing for the Winter Olympics end game

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Ivanka Trump’s upcoming weekend in South Korea is sure to set off another round of intense speculation while the vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party leads a delegation south at just about the same time. The big question is whether the presidential daughter […]

Opposition denounces Seoul’s plan to welcome N. Korean official tied to 2010 attacks

Opposition denounces Seoul’s plan to welcome N. Korean official tied to 2010 attacks

by WorldTribune Staff, February 22, 2018 South Korea’s main opposition party is furious that the Moon Jae-In administration agreed to host a top North Korean official at the Winter Olympics closing ceremony. Moon’s government announced that Kim Yong-Chol, a vice chairman of the Central Committee of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, will head an eight-member […]

Joshua Cooper Ramo, the Winter Olympics and NBC’s staggering conflicts of interest

Joshua Cooper Ramo, the Winter Olympics and NBC’s staggering conflicts of interest

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk The strange case of NBC sports commentator Joshua Cooper Ramo touched the sensitive nerves of millions of Koreans. Thousands responded with indignation, aggrieved feelings, even outrage to his on-air remark at the Winter Olympics to the effect that “every Korean will tell you that Japan as a cultural and […]

Get real: U.S. commander in Korea says Kim in hot pursuit of unified communist nation

Get real: U.S. commander in Korea says Kim in hot pursuit of unified communist nation

by WorldTribune Staff, February 15, 2018 Kim Jong-Un has put on a charm offensive at the Winter Games while extracting money from South Korea under the guise of reunification, the leader of U.S. Pacific Command said. But the North Korean leader’s goal goes beyond preventing regime change, he said. Rather, he is focused on the […]

Winter games delays yet another moment of truth in Korea

Winter games delays yet another moment of truth in Korea

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk American policy-makers appear highly uncertain and divided among themselves as to moves toward negotiation between North and South Korea in the wake of the Winter Olympics. The view from the White House, is that President Donald Trump has succeeded in forcing the hand of Kim Jong-Un, compelling him to […]

Olympics as N. Korea propaganda: Cheerleaders’ Kim Il-Sung masks outrage S. Koreans

Olympics as N. Korea propaganda: Cheerleaders’ Kim Il-Sung masks outrage S. Koreans

by WorldTribune Staff, February 12, 2018 Any doubts that Kim Jong-Un’s squad of cheerleaders was sent to the Winter Olympics for propaganda purposes may have been erased during the Feb. 10 women’s hockey game between the Korean unified team and Switzerland. During the game, which Switzerland won by a score of 8-0, the cheer group […]

Have the 2018 Winter Games become the ‘Pyongyang Olympics’?

Have the 2018 Winter Games become the ‘Pyongyang Olympics’?

Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — With a spectacular and sparkling opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympics, South Korea has predictably excelled in showcasing both sports and setting. Yet, given that security concerns on the divided peninsula dominated the nervous countdown to the Winter Games, the Seoul government at least in […]

NBC forced to apologize to the Korean people for the ‘ignorance’ of its Asia Correspondent

NBC forced to apologize to the Korean people for the ‘ignorance’ of its Asia Correspondent

by WorldTribune Staff, February 11, 2018 NBC issued an apology after one of its Olympics correspondents infuriated Koreans by saying “every Korean” is thankful for Japan’s key contributions in the resurgence of South Korea as a nation. NBC Asia Correspondent Joshua Cooper Ramo made the comment during the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 9, setting off […]

N. Korea showcases ICBMs on eve of Olympics charm offensive

N. Korea showcases ICBMs on eve of Olympics charm offensive

by WorldTribune Staff, February 8, 2018 As an all-female team of North Korean cheerleaders launched a Winter Olympics charm offensive down South, back at home dictator Kim Jong-Un was presiding over a massive military parade that rolled out the North’s ICBMs. In Washington, meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s request for a U.S. military parade was criticized […]

Korean protests at the Olympics, then and now

Korean protests at the Olympics, then and now

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk Mid-winter is not exactly the best time for mass demonstrations in South Korea. Protesters prefer to wait for spring, but the Winter Olympics leave them no choice. Flag-wavers are out there during the coldest ever Olympics, the rightists waving Korean and American flags, leftists and liberals those one-Korea flags, […]

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