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The Korea Times

Entertainment & Arts

SCMP
Asia

The Korea Times

Opinion

Columnists

Donald Kirk

England versus the pandemic

LONDON - The Brits just don't get the idea. Even as COVID cases proliferate, you still see lots of people here not wearing face masks. Bars and restaurants remain open while Prime Minister Boris Johnson hems and haws on whether to tighten constraints. Meanwhile, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, adopting their own rules, have banned social gatherings and public events, making athletic teams play before empty stadiums.

2021-12-30 17:00

Making much of human rights

Talk of “human rights” presents South Korea with a terrific headache. No way could President Moon Jae-in go along with U.S. President Joe Biden's decision not to send a bunch of bigwigs to consort with Chinese officialdom at the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics. South Korea is too close to China on a number of levels to have joined the U.S. and its Anglo-Saxon soulmates, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, in spurning China's big show.

2021-12-16 15:59

'A shrimp among whales'

The notion that South Korea should adopt a “neutral” position between the U.S. and China has been gaining traction as President Moon Jae-in looks for equilibrium between these two giant powers, near and far. It all goes back to that image of Korea as “a shrimp among whales” and the old line, “In a fight between whales, the shrimp's back gets broken.”

2021-12-02 16:41

Lessons from history: the Taft-Katsura meeting

The names of pivotal dates and places in history should appear fairly clear. Korea's history, however, is not so simple. Take the meeting in July 1905 between the U.S. secretary of state, William Howard Taft, and Katsura Taro, who served as the prime minister of Japan during the period in which Japan assumed control of Korea in 1905, and then in 1910, made the entire peninsula a colony.

2021-11-18 16:45

Debating who nukes whom

The prospect of any kind of nuclear war is frightening beyond imagination. We talk in the abstract about the millions who would die, but are reluctant to accept the reality that the worst might someday come true. Such talk echoes through the media whenever the question arises of who might strike first. We're accustomed to hearing aggrieved expressions of doubt and wounded sensitivities. Loose talk assumes urgency as the U.S. considers whether to adopt a policy of “no first use,” meaning that the U.S. would not initiate a nuclear holocaust.

2021-11-04 17:00

Powell, a man of war and peace

WASHINGTON - South Korea's pursuit of a declaration that the Korean War is over is an exercise largely unknown to virtually all Americans, aside from those with a stake in the debate. Ask just about any U.S. citizen if anyone's waging war in Korea, and the response will be one of bewilderment. “What war?,” What are you talking about?” and “Is there a war going on over there?” are typical answers.

2021-10-21 17:00

Rising risks in China

WASHINGTON - U.S. relations with China seem to be going from bad to worse at a dizzying pace. That's not to say war is about to break out at any of the obvious flashpoints, from the South China Sea to Taiwan to the Korean peninsula, but the signs of impending conflict are clear.

2021-10-07 17:05

Asia's deepening standoff

The acronym, “AUKUS,” when you try to pronounce it, sounds like some weird wild animal, an AUKUS. The initials stand for Australia, the U.K. and the U.S., but to the North Koreans and their Chinese supporters, they might as well be spelling the exotic name of one of those strange beasts that only inhabits Australia. Maybe a new breed of kangaroo or wombat with particularly sharp claws and mean teeth, poised to spring and strangle and tear apart enemies near and far.

2021-09-23 16:45

History's 'what if' questions

WASHINGTON - Millions remember exactly what they were doing when first hearing about awful events. The day John F. Kennedy was shot, Nov. 22, 1963, I'd been sleeping after an overnight shift for a paper in New York. For some reason I had to call about paying a parking ticket. The woman who took the call was weeping. I asked her what was wrong, and she told me Kennedy had been shot. I forgot about the parking ticket while pursuing on-the-street stories for the paper.

2021-09-09 17:00

Afghanistan's meaning for Korea

This nightmare scenario comes to mind: the Chinese have invaded South Korea in the name of the North Koreans, who are sort of an auxiliary force, and the wobbly, weak-kneed American president decides the South Koreans can fight on their own with no American troops, no U.S. air or naval power, just the arms the Americans have been selling them for billions.

2021-08-26 17:00

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