Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk The prospect of a missile war between North and South Korea poses a threat to regional stability that previously seemed unimaginable. Images of North and South Korean gunners firing ballistic missiles at one another from redoubts far north and south of the demilitarized zone are edging closer to reality […]
by WorldTribune Staff, August 17, 2016 A North Korean diplomat based in London has defected to South Korea. Thae Yong-Ho, who fled the London embassy with his family, is the highest-ranking diplomat ever to defect from North Korea to the democratic South, officials in Seoul said on Aug. 17. Thae, who lived in the UK […]
by WorldTribune Staff, August 15, 2016 America’s major allies are calling on President Barack Obama not to change U.S. nuclear weapons policy. Japan, South Korea, France and the UK have all signaled their opposition to Obama’s planned “no first use” policy for the United States. Obama’s “last-minute drive for a foreign-policy legacy is making U.S. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Robert Morton June 21, 2016 WASHINGTON — If there was ever a moment when America needed a book about Gen. Douglas MacArthur, “this is definitely the time,”Hudson Institute Fellow Arthur Herman said yesterday. The author of “Douglas MacArthur: American Warrior” was at pains to explain why the towering American military legend continues […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com JEJU ― Ask an expert analyst how to deal with North Korea, and the responses range from getting tough to massaging gently. Nobody has the real answer ― though some people like to talk with absolute certainty ― and there’s no proof that anything’s going to work. The […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By EastAsiaIntel.com On April 29, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi issued a joint statement objecting to the contemplated deployment in South Korea of the U.S. Theater High Altitude Area Defense [THAAD] missile interceptor system. But what is unusual is that the joint Russian-Chinese objection to THAAD […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com GWANGJU ― The ghosts of the uprising of May 18, 1980, hover over this old but new city in a restive spirit that shows the disunity, the factional splits and the regional hatreds that persist in undermining the ability of South Korea to stand effectively against challenges from […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com We keep hearing about all the influence the Chinese have over North Korea. If only they’d exert their power, maybe cut off or slow down the flow of oil that’s the lifeblood of the country, then the North Koreans would start talking seriously about giving up their nukes. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com Kim Jong-Un celebrates his “coronation” in Pyongyang Friday while forgetting about one unpleasant reality that deepens North Korea’s isolation in an already hostile world. He presides over North Korea’s biggest-ever party, the Seventh Workers’ Party Congress, while Iran, his longtime partner in nuclear crime, vastly improves its ties […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Iran has increased oil exports to South Korea fourfold since January and now hopes to triple its yearly trade with Seoul, Iranian leaders have said. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said Tehran had quadrupled its oil exports to the world’s fifth-largest importer of crude, sending Seoul […]
