by Cat on November 1, 2006
The six-party talks, that is.
After walking away from the negotiating table nearly a year ago, North Korea has agreed to return to six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program. Those talks, which the North is linking to resolution of the U.S. financial sanctions on it, could resume before the end of the year.
Reaction here seems to be mixed, with the Chosun Ilbo lambasting the South Korean government for essentially rendering the country’s interests irrelevant as other nations negotiate with the North.
[click to continue...]
by Cat on October 26, 2006
Journalist, and former Washington Post correspondent in Seoul, Peter Maass on the influence of Korean nationalism and recent “radioactive” developments on the peninsula.
Whatever happened to nationalism and the risky maneuverings of states? Nothing, actually. Kim Jong Il, entering from stage far-left, reminds us that new threats, like Islamic extremism, do not replace old ones.
The Korean peninsula is an ancient hothouse for nationalism and its offshoots; it is also a brilliant example of the uses, abuses and durability of national esteem.
From the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Read the rest here.
by Cat on October 9, 2006
Expat Jane wonders whether North Korea is making noise about testing a nuclear weapon to detract from the likely nomination of South Korea’s Ban Ki-Moon as its next Secretary General.
Whenever South Korea is doing well or is making positive strides the North makes noise to take from their achievement it seems. The good thing is it doesn’t matter at this point. If you didn’t know, both North and South Korea joined the UN in September of 1991.
If so, she adds, it would be pretty much par for the course.
South Koreans forget this, but the North tried to take away South Korea’s glory during the 2002 World Cup. Good for me, David Scofield remembered when he wrote N Korea’s military edge over S Korea:
In the closing days of the World Cup competition in 2002, a North Korean naval vessel attacked and sank a South Korean navy ship inside South Korean territorial waters. Two years later, not one politician from either the ruling or opposition camps attended the memorial for the six South Korean sailors who perished, and most of the nation’s media outlets relegated the story to the back pages, if they covered it at all.
Some other past examples:
- Feb 25, 2003: North Korea test fires a short-range cruise missile. The test comes hours before the inauguration of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and other international guests in Seoul for the event. Powell says the test is “fairly innocuous” but the White House calls it diplomatic extortion, aimed at forcing a compromise in the stand-off over Pyongyang’s suspected nuclear program.
- August 31, 1998 - North Korea test fires its Taepodong-1 missile, its first test in five years and fourth since 1984. The test comes as the United States and North Korea are 10 days into sporadic talks in New York about the North’s nuclear program, and ahead a September congress that confirms leader Kim Jong-il as holding the highest office of state.
- November 1987 - North Korean agents blow up a Korean Air passenger jet, killing 115 people, in what South Korea says is an attempt to disrupt Seoul’s hosting of the 1988 Summer Olympics.
The entire post is well worth heading over and checking out when you have the time.
