The Korea Herald

[Brad Taylor] How to beat North Korea at nuclear blackmail

Aug 23, 2017

“Strategic patience” is out as the US approach to North Korea, and “strategic accountability” is the new term of art. That’s according to an op-ed article by Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. “The object of our peaceful pressure campaign,” they write, “is the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”While I heartedly approve of finally providing clarity beyond President Donald Trump’s bombastic statements, we should be realistic. I understand the reasons fo
[Ana Palacio] Guardian of liberal world order

Aug 23, 2017

The global financial crisis, which began 10 years ago this month, showed that the Western-led rules-based international order’s long-term survival is not inevitable. It is often assumed that if and when the United States loses its place as the global hegemon in that system, China will be the country to lead the world. But what would a Chinese-led order look like?Events this summer hinted at an answer. In June, a subsidiary of Spanish oil company Repsol began drilling an offshore well within Viet
[San Diego Union-Tribune] Why Iran nuclear deal is still historic challenge for Trump

Aug 23, 2017

In July 2015, The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board called the agreement that the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union had just reached with Iran a “historic gamble.” In exchange for reduced economic sanctions and the return of up to $150 billion in seized assets, Tehran agreed to sharp limits on its uranium enrichment program -- which could have been used to make nuclear weapons -- and to regular inspections of its nuclear facilities.We lauded the
[Doyle McManus] Is there anyone left willing to defend Trump?

Aug 23, 2017

When a van plowed into pedestrians in Barcelona last week, President Trump didn’t wait for investigators to determine who the attackers were. Within minutes of the first reports, he tweeted: “The United States condemns the terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, and will do whatever is necessary to help.”But when a car rammed into a crowd in Charlottesville, Virginia, five days earlier, Trump decried violence “on many sides” and explained that he needed to wait for the facts to come in. Later, under
[Bloomberg] The US Navy’s deadly collision course

Aug 23, 2017

The circumstances of the crash of the USS John S. McCain near Singapore, which killed at least one US sailor and has left nine missing, remain unclear pending a Navy investigation. The bigger picture, however, is already in focus: Four major accidents this year involving ships of the 7th Fleet highlight a systemic problem that imperils American dominance on the high seas.At any given time, about 100 of the Navy’s roughly 275 ships are deployed. Yet the fleet is half the size it was 30 years ago,
[Lee Joo-hee] Moon needs courage to be hated

Aug 23, 2017

It is literally impossible to please everyone, yet we constantly make the mistake of believing one should, or can.Imagine trying to please 51,744,948 people. That is what President Moon Jae-in set out to do, vowing to become “everyone’s president” as he was sworn in as the 19th leader of the fastidious crowd three months ago. With the dust of political chaos barely settling down, Moon’s inauguration promise seemed an invitation to criticism. It was comparative to, for instance, former US Preside
Clean energy scores a small victory

Aug 23, 2017

Government scientists worried that their long-in-the-works assessment of climate change would be suppressed. The concern hardly rates as overwrought. Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, says he does not believe that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming. What matters is that a draft of the climate report landed in the New York Times, the public learning that scientists from 13 federal agencies have concluded that Americans already are seeing the eff
[The San Diego Union-Tribune ] NAFTA negotiations a test for Trump’s troubled presidency

Aug 22, 2017

President Donald Trump faced such strong criticism for his unforgettably and unforgivably poor response to the horrific violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, that not even the firing of his chief strategist Steve Bannon on Friday will be enough for millions of Americans to turn the page.“We’re going to win so much you may even get tired of winning,” Trump said 15 months ago.Just plain tired, maybe.Still, many millions of Americans are steadfast in their support for the president, either because
[Kim Seong-kon] Declaration of independence from Confucianism

Aug 22, 2017

Recently, I read the controversial book “Confucius Must Die for This Nation to Live” by Professor Kim Kyung-il. The book is a de-facto declaration of independence from Confucianism, which has been the predominant and prevalent philosophy in Korean society for the past 600 years. In the book, the author strongly asserts that all social evils and chronic problems in Korean society stem from Confucianism. According to Kim, both China and Japan abandoned Confucianism a long time ago, but Korea unwis
[Caroline Freund] US needs China trade deals, not ‘remedies’

Aug 22, 2017

China is the largest market for General Motors, but there is no GM China. Instead, there is SAIC-GM, a joint venture between China’s largest state-owned auto company and GM.All auto companies operating in China have a similar partner, such as SAIC-Volkswagen, GAC-Toyota and Changan-Ford. And the partners are typically state-owned companies, and their names come first.Doing business in China requires such joint ventures in several other industries as well, including finance and telecommunications
[John Yoo] The new weapons we need

Aug 22, 2017

With threats, bribes, diplomacy and sanctions, American presidents of both parties have sought for 25 years to try to halt, or at least slow, North Korea’s quest for a nuclear arsenal -- to no avail.Though the brinksmanship of the last few weeks has subsided, President Donald Trump still faces the prospect of a madman -- Kim Jong-un -- in control of a nuclear arsenal. What the US and its allies must now do is find options between conventional war, or even nuclear holocaust, on the one hand, and
[Lee Jae-min] Peaceful, but not peaceful march

Aug 22, 2017

The June 24 incident should have never happened. This is the type of thing that wouldn’t happen in a country of law and order -- much less in a globalized metropolitan city like Seoul. Roughly 3,000 demonstrators “encircled” the US embassy in downtown Seoul marching with shouts and fist-raising, cutting off passage from the diplomatic compound to main streets. Demonstrations are part of daily life in Seoul, but such encircling (with the euphemism of “Human Belt”) has never happened in Seoul. Nor
[Doyle McManus] The trio that pulled US back from the nuclear brink

Aug 21, 2017

After threatening fire and fury, how does a superpower de-escalate? By scrambling its secretary of State, secretary of Defense and military chief to reassure foreign leaders that President Trump should be taken seriously, not literally.That’s what Rex Tillerson, James N. Mattis and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have been doing for the past week — and it seems to have worked.Only eight days ago, Trump warned that if North Korea made any more threats against the Unite
[Hal Brands, Francis J. Gavin] The sane way to live with North Korea’s nukes

Aug 21, 2017

Donald Trump’s threat to rain “fire and fury” on North Korea as punishment for its military provocations is the epitome of irresponsible leadership. By invoking the prospect of apocalyptic destruction, Trump risks alienating US allies, distracting attention from North Korean misbehavior, and escalating an already fraught situation. Yet even if the US wasn’t led by such an amateurish president, the North Korean crisis wouldn’t necessarily be easier to resolve. The standoff is driven most fundamen
[David Ignatius] Russia reaps blowback from covert campaign

Aug 21, 2017

Intelligence officers sometimes talk about “blowback,” when covert actions go bad and end up damaging the country that initiated them. A year later, that is surely the case with Russia‘s secret attempt to meddle in the US presidential election, which has brought a string of adverse unintended consequences for Moscow.The Kremlin is still issuing cocky statements accusing the US of “political schizophrenia” in its response to Russian hacking. And there are vestiges of the triumphal tone I encounte