Tim Beal Archive
A selection of my work relevant to the site.
For the most recent articles and interviews go to the bottom of the indexpage
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Books
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Articles, presentations, chapters
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On the Eve of the Kim-Trump Summit – Facts, Fantasies and Prospects
Zoom in Korea Jun 11, 2018
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“Election Defection” of 12 N Korean Restaurant Workers: Challenge and an opportunity for Moon
Zoom in Korea 6 June 2018
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The NYT gives me the key to unlocking the JFK assassination
Unpublished satire
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Korea’s Complicated Response to Imperialism: Resistance, Collaboration and Moon Jae-in
Global Research 6 March 2018
- Hegemony and Resistance, Compellence and Deterrence
Deconstructing the North Korean ‘Threat’ and Identifying America’s Strategic Alternatives
Journal of Political Criticism, Seoul, December 2017
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The Clown and the Rock
Trump’s incompetence and posturing threaten US credibility, with potentially dire consequences.
Korea Policy Institute, December 21, 2017
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Abe Pulls It Off, But It Will End In Tears
Zoom in Korea, 24 October 2017
A Korean Tragedy
The Asia Pacific Journal – Japan Focus
August 15, 2017
North Korea’s Deterrent and Trump’s Options
Zoom in Korea
Jul 26, 2017
Pig Peril: the Real Threat to America!
Counterpunch April 3, 2017
Trump, TPP and the Implications of the Squandering of America’s Soft Power Advantage
Zoom in Korea Mar 17, 2017
The Deployment of THAAD in Korea and the Struggle over US Global Hegemony
Journal of Political Criticism, Seoul
December 2016
It’s time to stop trying to predict North Korea’s collapse
Choi Sun-sil's collapse theory was rooted in Shamanism, many analyst's predictions are just as shaky
NK News December 7th, 2016
North-South Competition for Legitimacy (3/3) – Diplomatic Recognition
Zoom in Korea Nov 16, 2016
Diplomatic recognition is an acknowledgement of the legitimacy of a foreign government, and legitimacy is a key concept in political theory stretching back at least as far as Mencius in about the 4th century BCE.
The Korean Peninsula within the Framework of US Global Hegemony
The Asia Pacific Journal Japan Focus November 13, 2016
On 8 July 2016 it was announced in Seoul that the US would, as had long been anticipated, deploy an initial unit of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea.
North-South Competition for Legitimacy (2/3) – Race to the Stars
The two Koreas are rather special in that they also compete in space exploration, or more specifically, the launching of satellites
Zoom in Korea, Nov 2, 2016
North-South Competition for Legitimacy and its Implications, Part 1
The two Koreas, like other divided countries, have long competed in a variety of ways, but now the nature of the competition is shifting in a disturbing direction.
Zoom in Korea, Oct 24, 2016
Fallout: S. Korea as collateral damage in U.S.’ struggle with China
THAAD and the South China Sea ruling shift Chinese attitudes, raising concerns in the South
NK News
September 14th, 2016
Shenanigans in the South China Sea – Implications for Korea
Zoom in Korea, Aug 16, 2016
The Dangerous Year, 2017 – Part 2
Zoom in Korea Jul 28, 2016
The Dangerous Year, 2017 – Part 1
A look ahead at US Korea policy after the election
Zoom in Korea 20 July, 2016
Wendy Sherman hints at Hillary Clinton’s Korea policy
Sherman may be the next secretary of state and her speech suggests 2017 may be a dangerous year
NK News May 19th, 2016
Looking in the right direction: Establishing a framework for analysing the situation on the Korean Peninsula (and much more besides)
Korean Policy Institute
April 23, 2016
North Korean satellites and rocket science
Deconstructing the hysteria over the satellite launch that now appears imminent
NK News February 3rd, 2016
The North Korean threat – the myth and its makers
Stories of Pyongyang’s relative military capability are much exaggerated – for a variety of reasons
NK News January 21st, 2016
The myth of the North Korean threat
A military balance between North and South – despite the uncertainties the evidence is overwhelming
NK News January 13th, 2016
From pilgrimage to profit: N. Korea’s search for tourism revenue
Opening of new terminal at Sunan airport a new step in tourism infrastructure – but will tourists come?
NK News August 26th, 2015
Will North Korea make Obama’s trifecta? Don’t bet on it
Obama’s moves to improve relations with Cuba, Iran lead to speculation that North Korea may be next
NK News 9 June, 2015
North Korea and Singapore: Two families, two nations
The Kims, the Lees and the curious parallels between a leader eulogized and a nation demonized
NK News, April 6th, 2015
‘The Interview’ as anti-North Korean propaganda
As subversive propaganda, attention-grabbing Sony-produced movie flops
NK News March 9th, 2015
The Sony hack: A brave new world of cyber confusion
The U.S. government narrative blaming North Korea faces an unprecedented level of scrutiny from experts
NK News January 16th, 2015
What was Panetta thinking?
Former U.S. defense secretary's revelations about going nuclear raise disquieting questions
NK News, November 20th, 2014
Jackpot Unification and dangers of fantasies of collapse and the ‘German Solution’
Korean Quarterly, Summer, 2014
Engagement and its geopolitical context
Consider assymetrical power relationship when broaching U.S., N. Korean dialogue
NK News 10 September 2014
Engaging with engagement: Preferring to talk only to God
It’s not just North Korea; U.S. has long history of not talking things out with opponents
NK News 8 September 2014
The Great Illusion – South Korean version
Park Geun-hye talks of ‘peaceful unification’ but her actions belie a peaceful process
NK News 30 July 2014
The transformation of the nuclear weapons calculus
Why North Korea’s Byungjin policy makes good sense, but has a sting in the tail
NK News 19 June 2014
Why won’t the U.S. negotiate with North Korea?
Would another nuclear test make Obama's strategy more proactive?
NK News 25 May 2014
The contradictions of Dresden
Park’s position on joint military drills, denuclearization doom her proposal
NK News 25 April 2014
Satellites, Missiles and the Geopolitics of East Asia
In
North Korea: Political, Economic and Social Issues, edited by Marvin Harrison
Nova Publishers, New York, 2016
Theatre of War and Prospects for Peace on the Korean Peninsula on the Anniversary of the Yeonpyeong Incident
An expanded, and illustrated, version of Theatre of War for The Asia Pacific Journal, 19 December 2011
The new Korean border wars – a global flashpoint?
A shorter version of Theatre of War written for the Pluto blog
This also appeared on 4th Media, Beijing as The First Anniversary of Contested Memories in Korean Peninsula
Theatre of War: Smoke and mirrors on the Korean peninsula on the anniversary of the Yeonpyeong Incident
Pyongyang Report V13 N2 6 December 2011
Beyond lips and teeth: the economics of the China-North Korea relationship
Korea Yearbook 2011, edited by Rüdiger Frank, James E. Hoare, Patrick Köllner and Susan Pares Leiden, Brill, 2011
From one Cold War to Another – the role of Korea
Presentation at National University of Singapore, 31 October, 2011
The United Nations and the Korean peninsula; Critical perspectives, positive suggestions
Peace Forum, Vol. 27 Issue 2 No. 36, December 2011, The Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, Kyung Hee University, Seoul
the published version has some typographical errors
Russian chess
Russia moves to use economics to promote peace in Northeast Asia
Simmering tension in Korea originally posted on Pluto blog, 16 August 2011
Lee Myung-bak, Cheonan, and the New Cold War
Paper presented at the 19th New Zealand Asian Studies Society International Conference
2011, 2 – 4 July 201, Massey University, Palmerston North
Statistical tables on the China-DPRK relationship
Blast from the past
Short comments in the Evening Standard of London by Steven Casey and Tim Beal
[Clash] [Korean War]
Korean Brinkmanship, American Provocation, and the Road to War: the manufacturing of a crisis
Tim Beal
Revised version of Pyongyang Report V12, N1, December 2010
Minjog21 interview: on the current situation
Tim Beal was interview by Chung Young-chul for Minjog21 in Seoul in October 2010. This is the front page of the journal, and the first page of the interview
In Korean
Fire Fight at Yeonpyeong: The Manufacturing of Crisis
Korean brinkmanship, American strategic paralysis, and the road to war
Tim Beal
Summary of Pyongyang Report V12, N1, December 2010
The artillery clash between North and South Korea around the Island of Yeonpyeong on 23 November has been portrayed as an unprovoked attack by the North which involved indiscriminate fire on a civilian area. The reality is very different,. This reality can only be reached through a careful reading of the public reports combined with an understanding of the context.
Pluto books blog
Fire fight at Yeonpyeong: the manufacturing of crisis
Korean brinkmanship, American strategic paralysis, and the road to war
Decoding Korea: Using Context to Explain the Artillery Clash
Tim Beal
Reading an obituary of Chalmers Johnson – the American East Asia expert who moved from being a Cold War warrior to a trenchant critic of US imperialism – I was taken with his stress on the importance of context. Talking about the need to strip away the lies of government he wrote ‘The concept ‘blowback’ does not just mean retaliation for things our government has done to and in foreign countries. It refers to retaliation for the numerous illegal operations we have carried out abroad that were kept totally secret from the American public. This means that when the retaliation comes—as it did so spectacularly on September 11, 2001—the American public is unable to put the events in context. So they tend to support acts intended to lash out against the perpetrators, thereby most commonly preparing the ground for yet another cycle of blowback’.
As with 9/11 so with the latest incident on the Korean peninsula..
[Clash] [Context]
On the Brink. Prospects for US-DPRK Settlement Dim, Yet Again
Tim Beal
Every time it looks as if US-DPRK negotiations are on the verge of a breakthrough someone in Washington throws a spanner in the works. This is what happened in 2005 as the Chinese were forcing through the Joint Statement of 19 September which seemed to put the negotiations, under the aegis of the Six Party Talks, on a course for a successful resolution. The US Treasury designated the Macau bank used by North Korean entities (and British companies and joint ventures in DPRK), Banco Delta Asia, as a “Primary Money Laundering Concern under USA PATRIOT Act”. [1] Although the allegations were subsequently discredited, partly through the investigative reporting of the US chain McClatchy Newspapers, the action put the Six Party Talks in limbo for over a year, as well as having a serious impact on DPRK foreign trade, and hence on the economy itself, which reportedly shrank 1.1% in 2006. [2] Negotiations between US Under Secretary of State Christopher Hill and DPRK Vice Minister Kim Kye-gwan resulted in a couple of agreements in 2007, one in February the other in October, which seemed to offer a way forward.[3]These hopes have been dashed and prospects at the moment look dim.
[Agreement071003] [Dissension] [Syria] [HEU]
State, Globalisation and Imperialism: the case of North Korea
Paper presented at the
58th Political Studies Association Annual Conference
University of Swansea, 2 April 2008
Definitions and debates
There has been much talk of empire in recent years, even challenging for a while the less loaded word hegemony, at least until failure in Iraq and Afghanistan became more apparent. Perry Anderson has commented that ‘its [the Bush Administration] performance in the Middle East has aroused an international furore, giving rise to now familiar rival depictions of the unconcealed emergence of an American empire, or the precipitous decline. of one. Niall Ferguson is probably the most prominent contemporary celebrant of the ‘benign empire’. But the word imperialism was not much used. This was significant because imperialism is what empires do, and, more important, why they do it. It is perhaps no accident that we had talk of empire without imperialism; empire could be celebrated without an analysis of its driving forces and rationale.
The United Nations and the North Korean
missile and nuclear tests
NZ Journal of Asian Studies, 9, 2 (December 2007), pp. 104-25
The North Korea-China Relationship:
Context and Dynamics
Tim Beal
Centre for Asia Pacific Studies, Lingnan University,
Hong Kong
Working Paper No. 184 (Jun 07) CAPS
The Road to Peace in Northeast Asia – Prospects and Pitfalls
Tim Beal
The shutdown of the DPRK plutonium reactor, the New York Times noted angrily recently, shows that ‘real nonproliferation diplomacy can produce real results’ as long as it is stripped of ‘empty, ideological posturing’.[1] The target of the Times’ fulminations was not, as is usually the case, and as it will probably be again tomorrow, the government in Pyongyang, but that in Washington. Tearing up the agreement it had inherited from the Clinton administration had only produced an ‘embarrassing outcome for the hard-line tactics favored by Vice-President Dick Cheney’. The Bush administration, recalled the Times, had ‘walked away from Mr. Clinton’s deal in 2002, with sensational charges, from which it has since retreated, that North Korea was pursuing a second, secret bomb-making program based on uranium enrichment.’ We might recall that the newspaper had itself published an embarrassed mea culpa that the administration’s ‘sensational charges’ about Iraq, subsequently proven fraudulent, had misled it into enthusiastically supported the disastrous invasion. Were the charges against the DPRK equally fraudulent? Probably, but since they cannot be disproved – and there’s the rub – the Times is left with nagging doubt, and anger about ‘the six bombs’ worth of nuclear fuel Pyongyang produced – and the nuclear test - while Washington strutted and postured.’[2]
(This is an expanded and annotated version of the commentary to Pyongyang Report V9 N3 July 2007)
North Korea - prospects for peace
United Nations Association, Wellington branch
12 July 2007
PowerPoint presentation
The North Korea-US agreement - prospects for peace
NZ Institute of International Affairs, Canterbury branch
27 March 2007
PowerPoint presentation
Armageddon averted or just postponed?
Political Economy Research Centre, University of Sheffield
14 December 2006
PowerPoint presentation
Using India to Keep China at Bay
December 12, 2006
Foreign Policy in Focus www.fpif.org
Editor: John Feffer, IRC
U.S. attempts to construct and consolidate an alliance to contain China's seemingly inexorable rise registered another milestone in November when the U.S. Senate passed a bill to allow the government to transfer nuclear fuel and technology to India. The nuclear deal with India flies in the face of long-standing U.S. rhetoric about nuclear proliferation and is yet another blow to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Annotated, pre-publication version.
North Korea's Nuclear Test—Bush's Godchild?
By Tim Beal
[Japan Focus 6 November 2006]
The nuclear test by the DPRK has led to a predictable deluge of hype and hypocrisy, amidst a dearth of informed and sensible comment. Politicians, and journalists, have reveled in the situation. North Korea is a convenient whipping boy, with few friends. It tends to be excoriated across the political spectrum. Since it is a small country targeted by the world’s superpower, which, though hemorrhaging and perhaps in relative decline, still possesses such formidable political, economic and military power that no country, or international civil servant for that matter, dares openly speak up, even if they so desired. Politicians have hastened to express moral outrage even if, and perhaps especially if, they come from countries which have many nuclear weapons and have conducted tests. Journalists have been having a field day, many delighting in the opportunity to write lurid stories unencumbered by the need to check facts and qualify opinions. Under the circumstances, it is more necessary than ever before to keep a clear head and try to disentangle fact from fantasy, to unearth what has been going on, and what is likely to happen.
[Camouflage]
This essay is an expanded and annotated version of the commentary which appeared in Pyongyang Report V8 nos 4-5, November 2006. It was subsequently also posted on Z-net
US, China, and the Korean Peninsula: Implications for Argentina Center for Korean Studies, Department of Asian and Pacific Studies, National University of La Plata, La Plata, Argentina Second National Congress on Korean Studies, 24-5 August 2006
Presentation
Missile condemnation reeks of double standards
The DominionPost, Wellington,
12 July 2006
opinion piece
Interview with Chuck Mertz
Our interview will be broadcast live over-the-air here in Chicago on Northwestern University's WNUR 89.3 FM, live online via our station's web site at http://www.wnur.org, and it will also be archived at our site, http://www.thisishell.net.
8 July 2006
Archived programme
Their Rockets’ red glare
TomPaine.commonsense,
6 July 2006
opinion piece
North Korea and the Boundaries of American Hegemony
Institute for Policy Studies, Washington DC
20 June 2006
Building bridges for understanding
The DominionPost, Wellington,
7 June 2006
opinion piece
Convoluted Contestations: The United States, China and the Two Koreas
Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast, annual conference, Pullman, WA, USA ,
16 June 2006
Presentation
Discordant Beijing Sextet Plays in Harmony:
But for How Long?
New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies,
December 2005, 71-108
paper
North Korea, American Power, and China
, Beijing Bookworm, Beijing, China
23 February 2006
PowerPoint presentation
Multilayered Confrontation in East Asia: The North Korea-Japan Conflict,
Asian Affairs,Vol XXXVI, no III,
November 2005, pp. 368-404
Japan-North Korea Relations and the Realignment of Power and Policy in Asia
16th New Zealand Asian Studies Society International Conference, Waikato University, 21-23 November 2005
Japan's Soft Power Dilemmas Globalization, Localization and Japanese Studies in the Asia Pacific Region,
The Department of Japanese Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and
International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan,
Chinese University of Hong Kong,
30 September -2 October 2005
The Logic of Empire,
Korean Quarterly ,
Fall 2005, Vol 9 No 1, pp. 10-11.
Japan, North Korea and the East Asia confrontation
British Association of Japanese Studies, University of Kent at Canterbury, 6-8 September, 2005
The mysterious death of the Pyongyang Declaration
Korean Studies Association of Australasia, University of Auckland, 14-15 July, 2005, pp. 324-337
The abductee issue and the looming East Asian crisis: Japan-North Korea relations within the Six Party context,
Japanese Politics Colloquium, Clare College, Cambridge, 12-13 April 2005
Preliminary discussion paper[..]Presentation
Crisis on the Korean Peninsula
Briefing for Scholarship Students, Asia:NZ Korean Studies Programme
Wellington, 17 February 2005
Positions, Policies and Prospects:
A view from outside the Six [with postscript]
in The North Korean Crisis and Beyond ,
edited by Stephen J. Epstein, Asian Studies Institute, Victoria University of Wellington, December 2004
North Korea- Building Bridges
Asian Studies Institute, Victoria University of Wellington and NZ Institute of International Affairs, 21 July 2004
PowerPoint presentation
Things familiar, things different: Easter in Pyongyang
Presentation for Wellington Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa/New Zealand, St Mathews Church, Brooklyn, 20 July 2004
Pyongyang goes to market; Marketization of the North Korean economy
Paper for Academy of Marketing conference, Cheltenham, England, 7 July 2004
paper
The Contrived Korean Crisis
Presentation for Service Civil International, Seoul, 11 December 2003
Positions, Policies and Prospects -
a view from outside the Six
Paper for
Moving Forward on the Korean Peninsula
11th Meeting of the CSCAP North Pacific Working Group
November 13-15, 2003
Renaissance Hotel, Seoul, Korea.
paper..............presentation
Giving as Good as You Get: North Korea and the Bush Doctrine
Nuclear Weapons Proliferation, With a focus on North Korea and the USA
A Public Seminar sponsored by the National Consultative Committee on Disarmament
Friday 9th of May 2003
presentation ...Maps
Crisis in Korea: Causes and Prospects
Asia Forum, Wellington,
19 March 2003
presentation
Democratic People's Republic of Korea:
Current situation, its background and future prospects
NZ Defence Force Junior Staff Course No 66,
Wednesday 12 February 2003
presentation
E-unification of Koreas: Dreams, Plans, and Realities Information Technology Revolution and National Security on the Korean Peninsula Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, Hawai'i 8-10 October 2002
presentation
Information and Communications Technologies in the two Koreas: Contrasts, Commonalities, Challenges
Global Economic Review(Seoul), Vol 30, No. 4, 2001, 51-67
Digital Divide on the Korean Peninsula: Constructive Engagement Offers Solutions
Institute for Corean-American Studies, ICAS Special Contribution No. 2002-0218-TxB, (posted 10 June 2002)
Missed opportunities and blighted promise: Problems and prospects for DPRK tourism
International Journal of Korean Unification Studies (Seoul), Vol. 10, No. 2 , 2001 pp. 165-197
Pre-publication version
Ghosts of the Past: The Japanese History Textbook Controversy
NZ Journal of Asian Studies, Vol 3, No 2, December 2001, 177-188 ( with Yoshiko Nozaki and Jian Yang}
North Korea and the new strategic industries of the future: the case of ICT and tourism
NZ Asian Studies Society, 14th International Conference, University of Canterbury, 28 November-1 December, 2001
presentation
Back to Business on the Korean Peninsula?
This appeared in the NZ National Business Review 14 September 2001 under the title 'Innovation is the key to North Korea for Kiwi firms'
Is Kumgangsan the beginning or end of the road?
Prospects and Problems for the development of DPRK inbound international tourism
Korean Studies at the Dawn of the Millennium
Korean Studies Association of Australasian 2nd biennial conference, 24-25 September 2001, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
North Korean crisis continues amidst signs of progress
The Evening Post, Wellington, 25 July 2001, p.15
Bush clouds Korean sunshine
NZ Journal of Asian Studies, Vol III, No. 1, June 2001, pp 128-133
Crossing boundaries: prospects and challenges for DPRK tourism
Conference New Economic Policies of DPRK (North Korea), and Reconciliation Strategies between DPRK and USA ,Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., 7-8 June 2001
The Opening of North Korea after The Summit: Opportunities and Challenges for International Business
International Quarterly Journal of Marketing , Vol. 1, No. 1, January-March, 2001, pp. 67-72
The Peace Process on the Korean Peninsula: Agenda for the New Administration
Harvard Asia Quarterly, Spring 2001
Korean Peninsula: Developments since the Pyongyang summit
NZ Journal of Asian Studies, Vol II, No. 2, December 2000, pp. 143-146
Milestones of peace and reconciliation
Newsletter of International Institute of Asian Studies (IIAS), October 2000
NZ Journal of Asian Studies, Vol II, No. 1, June 2000
Window of Opportunity: Progress towards détente and normalisation on the Korean peninsula?
Draft of an article written for NZ Strategic Review
The developing dialogue between North Korea and New Zealand
NZ Journal of Asian Studies, Vol 1, No. 2, December 1999
The Crisis in North Korea - Seeds of Hope
Asian Studies Institute, Victoria University of Wellington, Working Paper No 11, October 1999
From Confrontation to Communication:
The pressing need to build communication with North Korea
NZ International Review Vol XXIII, No 6, November/December 1998, pp. 14-18'
Journey to a far away place
A report of a visit to DPRK in New Zealand Journal of East Asian Studies, Vol VI, No 1, 1998, pp.105-119
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Interviews
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As U.S.-DPRK talks stall, need for peace in Korea more urgent than ever
Loud & Clear (Washington) interview by Brian Becker and John Kiriakou;
8 August
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Washington Post joins campaign to sabotage Korea peace talks
Loud & Clear (Washington) interview by Brian Becker and John Kiriakou;
31 July
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Secretary of State Pompeo heads to North Korea
Loud & Clear (Washington) interview by Brian Becker and John Kiriakou;
5 July
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Trump Meets Kim Jong Un
KPFA Berkeley California
Hosted by Dennis Bernstein, with KJ Noh, Christina Ahn
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Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov visits Pyongyang in the build-up to the Kim-Trump summit
Interview with Rory Suchet, RT International, Moscow, 30 May 2018
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Ready to Make History: North and South Korea Put Summit Back on Track
Loud & Clear (Washington) interview by Brian Becker and John Kiriakou with fellow guest Christine Ahn
29 May
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North Korea protests at aggressive military exercises on eve of scheduled summit
Interview with Kevin Owen, RT International, Moscow, 15 May 2018
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North and South Korea Historic Meeting: The Politics Behind the Summit
Loud & Clear (Washington) interview by Brian Becker and John Kiriakou with fellow guest Gregory Elich
28 April
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Trump's tariffs on China intensify fears of global trade war
Interview with Sean Thomas, RT International, Moscow, 23 March
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War or Peace? Trump Accepts DPRK’s Invitation to Meet…Maybe?????
Loud & Clear (Washington) interviews by Brian Becker and John Kiriakou
9 March 2018
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Photos
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Academic Papers and Commentaries
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