United States of America
2020
Return to Asian Geopolitics indexpage
This page includes materials on the stationing of US forces in ROK, MD, ROK reaction to US DPRK policy, etc. but does not attempt to go into wider US-ROK relations.
Nuclear reactors issue, KEDO, IAEA, etc. are currently on the nuclear programme page
2020
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SEPTEMBER 2020
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Untangling the Impact of Illegal Fishing in North Korean Waters
UPCOMING
EVENT
In 2017, the U.N. Security Council banned North Korea from selling fishing permits, but new monitoring methods show that hundreds of vessels originating from China have been fishing in North Korean waters in apparent violation of sanctions. What are the political, economic, and sustainability impacts of this practice for North Korea’s fisheries? Join us for a panel discussion to explore the implications for sanctions and fisheries management.
September 22, 2020
9:00-10:15 AM EST
Webinar
RSVP
Speakers
Jaeyoon Park, Senior Data Scientist Global Fishing Watch
Sally Yozell, Senior Fellow and Director, Environmental Security Program, Stimson
Jenny Town, Fellow and Deputy Director, 38 North, Stimson
[Sanctions] [China NK]
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AUGUST 2020
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Book to Reveal Letters Between Trump and Kim Jong-un
By Cho Yi-jun
August 14, 2020 12:12
Veteran reporter Bob Woodward is to reveal 25 personal letters exchanged between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a new book next month.
"Rage," the successor to bestseller "Fear" by the famous Watergate journalist, is due out on Sept. 15, according to publishers Simon & Schuster on Wednesday.
It is touted as "an unprecedented and intimate tour de force of original reporting on the Trump presidency from Bob Woodward."
He "obtained 25 personal letters exchanged between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that have not been public before. Kim describes the bond between the two leaders as out of a 'fantasy film,' as the two leaders engage in an extraordinary diplomatic minuet," the publisher adds.
Trump revealed both the Korean and English texts of a letter from Kim on Twitter in July 2018, a month after their first summit in Singapore.
In it, Kim writes of the "significant first meeting" between them and their joint statement as the "start of a meaningful journey."
Trump once called Kim's letters "beautiful" or "love" letters.
Like its predecessor, "Rage" is based on hundreds of hours of interviews with former and incumbent officials of the Trump administration.
[Trump Kim] [Personal Relationship] [Media]
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The Light of Peace: Churches in Solidarity with the Korean Peninsula
The Light of Peace: Churches in Solidarity with the Korean Peninsula, is a collection of resources WCC member churches can use to recognize 70 years of unresolved conflict on the Korean Peninsula during 2020.
The second publication in the series, the content is drawn from a variety of contributors, each with their own experience of, or expertise in, the Korean journey.
Emphasizing the importance of the spiritual response, every chapter again starts with a spiritual reflection, followed by a text, and ends with a prayer.
The publication will serve as an educational, spiritual, and formation resource and encourage churches and individuals to pray for peace, reunification, and an end to the war and division on the Korean Peninsula. It could be used in Bible study or for Korea interest- and other groups.
In the preface, Rev. Dr Sang Chang, WCC Asia president, reflects that it is time for the Korean Peninsula to embrace the life of reconciliation and unification. “This book traces the 70 years of modern Korean history, offering historical and geopolitical background on the division of Korea, as well as the spiritual and theological meanings of the global ecumenical initiatives for the peace and reunification on the Korean Peninsula,” writes Chang. “Each chapter will foster an awareness of the pain and suffering caused by the 70 years of Korean War, enlivened by personal stories, interviews, and prayers, beginning with a spiritual reflection that serves as a theological introduction to the chapter.”
[WCC]
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Coronavirus Surge Forces Downsizing in S.Korea-U.S. Drills
By Yu Yong-weon
July 21, 2020 10:09
South Korea and the U.S. will downsize joint military exercises scheduled for next month due to the coronavirus epidemic, which makes it hard for U.S. forces to travel from the mainland.
The downsizing will involve mainly the U.S. Forces Korea and shorten the drills to about two weeks. They were originally intended to test Seoul's ability to take over full operational control of its troops in wartime, but the curtailment could scupper plans to complete the handover before 2022.
A government source said Monday, "Taking into account the spread of COVID-19 and inter-Korean relations, South Korea and the U.S. will decide as early as this week whether to hold" the exercises. "We're strongly considering a smaller joint exercise without massive movements of American troops to the Korean Peninsula from the U.S. mainland."
[Coronavirus] [Joint US military] [OPCON]
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Longing for Reconciliation:
Lamenting 70 years of Division Between North Korea and South Korea
A Letter from Korean American Christians
As people reconciled with God through the love of Christ, Christ calls us to the ministry of reconciliation across the divisions of this world (2 Corinthians 5:16-20). In this time of lament and reckoning in our world, we mourn systemic racial injustice and great divides between people within the United States and around the world. We also mourn seven decades of division and war on the Korean peninsula.
[Religion] [Peace effort] [Korean American]
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JULY 2020
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Webinar: The Gaeseong Industrial Complex and Peace on the Korean Peninsula
The Gaesong Industrial Complex (GIC, located in North Korea) is a joint project between North and South Korea that promotes peace and economic development through inter-Korean economic cooperation. The project was launched in 2003 as a result of the 2000 Korea summit talks. In 2016, the project was shut down, and sanctions on North Korea prevent the complex from re-opening. As tensions on the Korean peninsula once again rise – including the destruction of the Liaison Office by North Korea – this webinar aims to share the values of peace cherished by the GIC.
Featuring:
Jin-Hyang Kim, President, Gaeseong Industrial District Foundation
Jun Kyu Lee, Institute for Reunification and Peace Policy, Hanshin University
Enkhsaikhan Jargalsaikhan, Blue Banner/GPPAC
Hyun Lee, Women Cross DMZ
Introduction and moderation by Lisa Clark, Co-President of IPB
[Kaesong]
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Trump floats summit possibility for status quo with NK
Posted : 2020-07-16 15:56Updated : 2020-07-16 17:30
By Kang Seung-woo
Despite North Korea's rejection of another summit with the United States, the Donald Trump administration has been floating the idea ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November.
However, doubting its sincerity, diplomatic experts say it is a U.S. ploy to preserve the status quo and prevent the isolated state from interfering in the vote.
U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo did not rule out the possibility of a summit between U.S. President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ahead of the election.
"I think that's unlikely," he said at the Economic Club of New York, Wednesday. "But in the event that it was appropriate ― we thought we could make material progress and the best way to do that was to put President Trump with Chairman Kim to do it ― I'm confident that the North Koreans and President Trump would find that in our best interests."
His remarks came less than 10 days after Trump told a media interview that he was open to another meeting with Kim, July 7.
However, Pyongyang has made it clear that it is not interested in any such event. The North Korean regime is highly anticipated to adopt a wait-and-see attitude until November.
"Trump and Pompeo intend to keep possible North Korean interference in the election at bay. To this end, the U.S. will pursue dialogue with the North because the latter does not usually take provocative actions while in talks," said Park Won-gon, a professor of international politics at Handong Global University.
"Their remarks are not reliable. According to the tell-all book by Trump's former National Security Adviser John Bolton, Trump and Pompeo do not seem to take North Korea issues seriously."
[US NK Negotiations] [Summit] [US_election20]
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N.Korea Rejects Dialogue as U.S. Envoy Visits Seoul
By Cho Yi-jun, Roh Suk-jo
July 08, 2020 12:46
North Korea furiously rejected any talks with the U.S. again on Tuesday as Washington’s North Korea point man Stephen Biegun arrived in Seoul.
It was Biegun's first visit in the seven months since he went home empty-handed after proposing talks to Pyongyang late last year.
In a statement Tuesday morning, Kwon Jong-gun, the chief of American affairs at the North Korean Foreign Ministry, said, "Explicitly speaking once again, we have no intention to sit face to face with U.S."
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun arrives at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Wednesday. /Yonhap
He also laughed out of court President Moon Jae-in's recent vows to broker a fresh U.S.-North Korea summit before the U.S. presidential election in November, dismissing them as an "attempt to blow another person's nose while failing to blow his own," "really ridiculous," and "meddlesome."
Kwon's statement came after North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said last Saturday, "We don't feel any need to sit face-to-face with the U.S."
[Biegun] [US NK Negotiations] [Stalemate]
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Korea, U.S. to Cancel Another Joint Drill
By Yang Seung-sik
July 03, 2020 09:39
Korea and the U.S. are likely to cancel a joint military drill scheduled for mid-August amid the coronavirus epidemic.
"We're making preparations on the assumption that the two countries will stage the joint exercise next month as scheduled," a government official here said Thursday. "But we've yet to make a decision whether to go ahead and when and how to carry it out as there has been little sign of improvement in the coronavirus situation."
[Joint US military] [Coronavirus]
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The legacy of the Korean War on U.S. democracy, economy, and society
June 19, 2020
Quincy Institute
Thursday, June 25 from 4 to 5 pm ET: the Quincy Institute invites you to a Zoom webinar on the legacy of the Korean War on American democracy, economy, and society.
June 25 marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, which technically is still ongoing. President Harry Truman defended U.S. participation in Korea as a “police action,” setting the stage for future presidents to circumvent Congressional declarations of war when sending U.S. troops overseas. The Korean War also cemented the post WWII military-industrial complex, which has grown into a seemingly unbreakable iron triangle of federal budget appropriations, weapons procurement, and lobbying contributions to members of congress by the arms corporations. This panel will discuss how the United States became so heavily militarized, and what we might do to walk back the endless war preparation and footing.
The panel will feature Congressman Ro Khanna (CA-17), a member of the House Armed Services Committee and chief sponsor of H.Res.152 calling for a formal end to the Korean War; Mary Dudziak, QI Non Resident Fellow and Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law; and Nikhil Pal Singh, QI Non Resident Fellow and Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis and History at New York University. Quincy Institute CEO Lora Lumpe will moderate this discussion.
REGISTER FOR THE EVENT HERE.
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[Korean War]
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JUNE 2020
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Churches from across the world to join the Ecumenical Peace Message for Korea
17 June 2020
A Joint Ecumenical Peace Message for the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War will be presented at the online event “Ecumenical efforts for peace on the Korean War’s 70th Anniversary,” hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) at 13.00 CEST on 22 June.
During the livestreamed event the Joint Ecumenical Peace Message will be read by representatives of churches and councils of churches around the world, including the countries that participated in the Korean War, promoting the peace and reconciliation message for the Korean Peninsula in church circles and beyond.
Speakers at the event include WCC interim general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, WCC deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, National Council of Churches in Korea general secretary Rev. Hong Jung Lee, WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs moderator Rev. Frank Chikane, National Council of Churches (USA) president Rev. John Dorhauer and other co-sponsors of the peace message. The online event will be livestreamed on the WCC Youtube channel, www.oikoumene.org/live.
The event will support the 2020 Global Prayer Campaign for the Korean Peninsula to promote ecumenical cooperation in advocating for a permanent peace regime in Korea.
As this year marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, the World Council of Churches, together with the National Council of Churches in Korea, launched the Global Prayer Campaign: “We Pray, Peace Now, End the War.” The campaign invites all churches and Christians to join in prayer for the formal end to the Korean War and the replacement of the 1953 Armistice Agreement with a peace treaty.
[WCC]
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A Memorial Peace Park Opened in South Korea
June 18, 2020
Concerned South Korean peace groups have finished and opened the Hyosoon-Miseon Peace Park recently, in memory of the two young Korean school girls crushed to death by a heavy U.S. armored vehicle that was travelling on the South Korean countryside road in 2002.
The opening ceremony took place on June 13, at the nearby site where the girls died (Gwangjerk-Ri, Yangju City, Gyonggi-Do). In connection with the ceremony, the VFP-Korea Peace Campaign sent an Open Letter to The Korean People, which was translated and read to the audience who attended the ceremony.
In our letter, Ann Wright, Coordinator of the KPC project congratulated the Korean volunteers who had worked so hard for many years to build the memorial Peace Park and expressed "our sincere apology to the surviving family members of Shin Hyosoon and Shim Miseon as well as other Korean people who have suffered much due to the many crimes that have been committed in Korea by the U.S. military in the past 75 years." (see the full text here)
[USFK]
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WEBINAR: THE GENDERED IMPACT OF SANCTIONS
Opposing Sanctions: A Feminist Imperative
Join CODEPINK, FEMENA, and Sanctions Kill, for a critical online discussion on how economic sanctions have contributed to the reversal of women's economic and social gains and impeded their progress in Iraq, North Korea, Iran, and Venezuela.
Speakers include:
Nadje Al-Ali, Professor of Anthropology and Middle East Studies, Brown University
Suzy Kim, Professor of Modern Korea, Rutgers University
Azadeh Moaveni, Author & Director of Gender Project, International Crisis. Group
Lilia Ramirez, Researcher & Professor of Media, Political Power & Participatory Democracy, Institute of Advanced Studies
[Sanctions] [Gender]
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Chief Negotiators' Advice: Next Steps on North Korea
Please join former chief envoys from the U.S. and South Korea for a live, online conversation about keeping the peace on the Korean Peninsula. These ambassadors negotiated with North Korea to reach the 1994 Agreed Framework, the 2005 and 2007 Six Party Talks agreements and the 2012 Leap Day deal. They served under the Clinton, Roh, Bush, and Obama administrations and will put forward their ideas on next steps towards denuclearisation, peace, and regional stability.
Date: 15 June 2020
Time: 14:00 - 15:30 Brussels/CEST, 08:00 - 09:30 Washington/EDT, 21:00-22:30 Seoul/KST
[US NK Negotiations] [Front]
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67th anniversary of outbreak of Korean War
Dear Friends,
The coming 25th of June marks the 67th year since the US unleashed war on Korean peninsula.
The atrocities the US committed during the Korean War(1950-1953) were the most heinous and inhumane war crimes unprecedented in the world history of war.
After starting the Korean war, the US prattled that “78 cities of north Korea would be wiped off the map”. More than 428,000 bombs were dropped on Pyongyang alone, the number more than that of Pyongyang citizens at that time. At the time, the US had completely reduced the whole territory of Korea into ashes by showering bombs of nearly 600,000 tons, 3.7 times greater than those dropped on Japan during the Pacific War, even using napalm bombs prohibited by the international conventions.
The US massacred more than 1 231 540 civilians in the northern part of Korea during the three-year war.
The US outrages are the A-class war crimes of genocide when compared to territorial size and population of Korea.
[Korean war] [Casualties] [Civilians]
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UN Command 'Unable to Decide' in DMZ Firing Incident
By Yang Seung-sik
May 27, 2020 12:40
The UN Command has been "unable to definitively determine" whether North Korean border guards fired intentionally or by mistake at a South Korean guard post in the demilitarized zone in early May.
The UNC in a press release Tuesday said it investigated the incident in which North Korean border guards fired four small-arms rounds into the wall of the guard post across the Military Demarcation Line on the morning of May 3.
The South Korean military earlier claimed the shooting was probably an accident because visibility was poor due to thick fog along the frontline in Gangwon Province and there were no unusual military movements there at the time.
The UNC startled some observers by saying, "Both sides committed Armistice Agreement violations."
The South Korean Defense Ministry bristled and claimed the findings "were released without an on-site investigation."
The accusation that South Korea also committed a violation rests on the response with two salvos of gunfire. A UNC spokesman said any "unauthorized" exchange of fire between the two sides across the MDL is technically a violation of the armistice.
[DMZ] [Clash] [UNC]
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MAY 2020
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NATIONAL ACTION TO END THE KOREAN WAR
June 1-5, 2020 | Virtual Advocacy Week
The coronavirus pandemic highlights the urgent need to reprioritize
US foreign policy toward global cooperation and peace.
In the 70th anniversary of the unended Korean War, join hundreds of people across the country in nationally coordinated virtual advocacy meetings to urge your Member of Congress to support:
a peace agreement to end the Korean War
the lifting of sanctions for life-saving humanitarian assistance.
Register here by May 15.
Organized by Korea Peace Network, Korea Peace Now! Grassroots Network, Peace Treaty Now, The Peace Committee of the Korean Association of the United Methodist Church, and Women Cross DMZ
[Peace effort] [Sanctions] [Confusion]
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'ROK-US alliance helps pull through pandemic'
Posted : 2020-05-20 16:59
Updated : 2020-05-20 17:17
Marc Knapper, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Korea and Japan, speaks during an online forum on the COVID-19 pandemic and Korean Peninsula issues, live-streamed at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
The decades-old bilateral ties between Korea and the United States are further evolving during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to senior government officials from both countries, Wednesday.
"I think during this pandemic we have discovered just how deep, broad and trustful the U.S.-ROK relationship is," Marc Knapper, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Korea and Japan, said during a video forum titled, "One Pandemic, Two Koreas: Coronavirus and the Korean Peninsula Standoff." The event was hosted by the Korea Press Foundation and Hawaii-based East-West Center, with U.S. panelists participating remotely.
Ko Yun-ju, director-general for North American affairs at the Korean foreign ministry, also said the alliance is growing stronger via their various cooperative undertakings in the fight against the virus.
[SK US alliance] [Coronavirus] [Spin]
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Korea sends 500,000 masks to US Korean War veterans
Posted : 2020-05-13 09:29
Updated : 2020-05-13 15:53
South Korea on Tuesday sent 500,000 face masks to help Korean War veterans in the United States fight COVID-19, the South Korean Embassy here said.
The masks arrived aboard a South Korean Air Force aircraft at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, and officials from both sides were present to receive the cargo.
The gift is a sign of "the deep and ongoing respect our two nations have for each other that we cemented nearly 70 years ago in a time of war and great crisis," U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a statement released by his department.
"So many years later, we are joined in another just and noble cause of containing a pandemic that threatens our citizens' lives and livelihoods and poses a grave threat to the Veterans we have both pledged to protect," he said.
South Korean Veterans Affairs Minister Park Sam-deuk said in a statement that the masks symbolize the South Korean people's gratitude to the American veterans for their sacrifice.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted his thanks.
"As an Army veteran, nothing delights me more than seeing fellow vets helping each other out," he wrote. "The United States sends its gratitude to this group in South Korea for your kind donation and generosity. #WeAreInThisTogether"
The donation is part of the 1 million masks South Korea's veterans affairs ministry is providing to all 22 countries that fought with South Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War.
The project marks the 70th anniversary of the conflict, which ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. (Yonhap)
[Coronavirus] [PR] [Aid] [Irony]
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U.S. Drones to Monitor N.Korea's Submarines
By Yang Seung-sik
May 14, 2020 11:24
The U.S. Navy's MQ-4C Triton high-altitude drones are flying reconnaissance missions in East Asia, in part to spy on North Korean submarines.
A pair of the drones have been integrated into the Seventh Fleet's operations and training flights, a U.S. Navy statement said on Tuesday. They "stretched the Navy's maritime domain awareness across the Indo-Pacific," it added.
The MQ-4C Triton
The Triton is the U.S. Navy's newest maritime surveillance and reconnaissance drone. It can fly at a speed of up to 575 km/h and operate at a range of some 15,000 km, staying afloat 30 hours non-stop even in bad weather.
Their deployment may have been prompted by the North's latest development of submarine-launched ballistic missiles, a South Korean military spokesman speculated.
The North has built a massive facility at the Sinpo shipyard where it can build three new 3,000-ton SLBM subs at the same time, according to a report released last month by the Panel of Experts under the UN North Korea Sanctions Committee.
[Drone] [Surveillance]
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U.S. Military Redeploys B-1B Bombers in Guam
By Yang Seung-sik
May 04, 2020 13:35
/Courtesy of U.S. Air Force
The U.S. Air Force has redeployed B-1B Lancer strategic bombers at Andersen Air Base in Guam.
The deployment came just two weeks after the U.S. Air Force ended its "continuous bomber presence mission" and flew five B-52H bombers based in Guam back to the mainland on April 16.
That raised concerns over a strategic vacuum in Northeast Asia, but now the Pentagon has apparently changed its mind as relations with North Korea and China deteriorated.
The last time B-1B Lancers were stationed in the Indian and Pacific Oceans was in 2017.
[China confrontation] [Escalation] [B-1B] [Bombing]
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APRIL 2020
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U.S. objectives remain the same whoever leads North Korea, Pompeo says
Comments come amid a storm of media speculation over Kim Jong Un's health
Oliver Hotham April 23, 2020
The U.S.'s goal of denuclearization and normalization of ties with North Korea will remain unchanged regardless of who is running the country, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday, amid unconfirmed reports suggesting leader Kim Jong Un is experiencing health issues.Speaking with Fox News's Laura Ingraham, the Secretary of State was asked how comfortable he would be making a deal with
Read More
[US NK policy] [Imperialism] [Kim Jong Un] [Health]
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U.S., S.Korea Conduct Aerial Drills
By Yang Seung-sik
April 24, 2020 09:56
The U.S. and South Korea are conducting low-key aerial drills after canceling annual large-scale exercises of this kind for the past two years.
They resumed joint air exercises after North Korea's latest missile provocations.
"We have been conducting a battalion-level air exercise since Monday and will continue until Friday," a military spokesman here said on Thursday. They involve South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets as well as U.S. F-16 fighters, but the state-of-the-art F-35A stealth fighter jets are apparently not involved.
A South Korean Air Force source said, "We made plans for the joint exercises early this year. They are aimed at improving joint missions between the two allies, and their scale is similar to those held in previous years."
But other military sources said they are specifically aimed at sending a warning to North Korea. When Seoul and Washington decided to postpone a joint aerial drill last November, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said, "We have made this decision as an act of goodwill to contribute to an environment conducive to diplomacy and the advancement of peace."
But this was not reciprocated.
The U.S. also deployed B-1B bombers earlier this month for joint drills with Japan's Air Self-Defense Force.
The latest South Korea-U.S. drills started a day after rumors emerged that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is in critical condition following cardiovascular surgery.
[Joint US Military]
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Exclusive: South Korea set to ship coronavirus testing kits to U.S. - source
Hyonhee Shin, Sangmi Cha
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea plans to send kits designed to run up to 600,000 coronavirus tests to the United States on Tuesday after an appeal from U.S. President Donald Trump, a Seoul official said.
FILE PHOTO: A medical staff member in protective gear prepares to take samples from a visitor at a 'drive-thru' testing center for the novel coronavirus disease of COVID-19 in Yeungnam University Medical Center in Daegu, South Korea, March 3, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Trump made the request in a telephone call with President Moon Jae-in on March 25, as the United States was grappling with fast-growing outbreaks in many states.
South Korean companies have previously shipped test kits to U.S. cities including Los Angeles, but this would mark the first bulk order from the U.S. federal government.
A U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency cargo plane carrying the equipment is scheduled to leave at 10:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) on Tuesday, the official said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
South Korea’s foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha confirmed the Reuters report in an interview on French news channel France 24, saying that contracts have been signed and the shipments will be “ready any time soon”.
The first shipments will be handed over to and paid for by the U.S. government, the official told Reuters.
[SK] [Coronavirus] [Testing] [Exports] [Irony]
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Diplomacy or Readiness?
U.S.-South Korea Military Exercises and Denuclearizing North Korea
Korea Economic Institute of America presents:
Featuring:
Terence Roehrig
Professor of National Security Affairs and Director of the Asia-Pacific Studies Group
U.S. Naval War College
Moderated by:
Kyle Ferrier
Fellow and Director of Academic Affairs
Korea Economic Institute of America
Thursday, April 23, 2020, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. (U.S. EDT)
Friday, April 24, 2020, 3:00 a.m. - 4:00 a.m. (KST)
[Joint US military] [US NK policy]
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Trump Rejects USFK Upkeep Deal
By Kim Jin-myung, Roh Suk-jo
April 13, 2020 09:30
U.S. President Donald Trump has apparently rejected a mooted breakthrough deal the tug-of-war over the upkeep of the U.S. Forces Korea, Reuters reported last week.
Trump "already rejected what was probably Seoul's best offer... an increase of at least 13 percent from the previous accord," Reuters said quoting unnamed U.S. officials.
Korea's chief negotiator Jeong Eun-bo earlier hinted at an imminent final agreement.
Donald Trump
There had been several media reports about the tentative deal since the government announced the two countries were "in last-minute talks." But it seems Trump still wants more money.
"Current and former U.S. officials say privately there appears to be little hope of clinching a new agreement in the coming days, and some wonder about the coming weeks and months," the news agency added.
Neither Cheong Wa Dae nor the Foreign Ministry responded to the report.
Reuters added that it was "highly unlikely an agreement would be reached before [Korea]'s April 15 [general election]... There was concern that this could go well into summer and come closer to November's U.S. presidential election, perhaps making Trump less amenable to lowering his demands."
Some earlier reports already crowed that Trump changed his mind thanks to cooperation between the two countries in fighting coronavirus, climbing down from an extortionate demand for US$5 billion after a phone conversation with President Moon Jae-in last month.
Government officials here said Trump sabotaged what was in effect a done deal. "Working-level negotiators reached agreement, but Trump vetoed it," one speculated.
[USFK] [Trump] [Tribute] [Extortion] [Cost]
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Pyeongtaek unable to test all non-Korean USFK defense contractors
Posted on : Apr.7,2020 17:26 KST Modified on : Apr.7,2020 17:26 KST
USFK refuses to provide contractors’ names on grounds of privacy issues
The US Army garrison Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. (Hankyoreh archives)
After nine non-Korean defense contractors working for US Forces Korea (USFK) tested positive for COVID-19 in the city of Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, the city drew up a plan to test all non-Korean contractors at the USFK’s Camp Humphreys base. But that plan ran aground when USFK refused to submit a list of contractors’ names on the grounds of protecting their privacy.
Pyeongtaek officials disclosed on Apr. 6 that they’d asked USFK for a list of army contractors working at Camp Humphreys. But USFK has declined to hand over the list, explaining that it needs to consult with its lawyers about how to handle the contractors’ private information.
The non-Korean contractors, all of whom are housed off base, represent a separate category from USFK’s civilian employees and South Korean employees. Mostly American citizens, they’re contracted by USFK to handle engineering and IT jobs on base.
[Coronavirus] [USFK] [Sovereignty] [US dominance]
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MARCH 2020
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Koreans Flee U.S. over Coronavirus
By Cho Yi-jun, O Youn-hee
March 24, 2020 10:02
Korean students and expats are fleeing the U.S. as a coronavirus lockdown there looms.
Students are heading back to Korea in droves as schools and universities have shut down and switched to online lectures. Many say they are willing to pay for expensive plane tickets to return to Korea.
Surging infections in the U.S. and concerns over inadequate quarantine efforts are compounded by fears that Korea may soon close its borders to travelers from that part of the world.
[Coronavirus] [Irony] [US]
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Korea Economic Institute of America presents:
The State of Human Rights in North Korea
Featuring:
Ambassador Robert King
Former U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Human Rights
Non-Resident Fellow
Korea Economic Institute of America
Greg Scarlatoiu
Executive Director
Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
Moderated by:
Mark Tokola
Vice President
Korea Economic Institute of America
Monday, March 30, 2020
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
[Human rights] [Softwar]
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Christian Liberty University President Claims COVID-19 Might Be Promised DPRK 'Christmas Gift' to US
23:51 GMT 13.03.2020(updated 00:28 GMT 14.03.2020) Get short URL
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Conspiracy theories have been widely disseminated online as the COVID-2019 pandemic continues it's race across the world, with over 5,300 people dead from the contagious disease and 140,000 currently infected.
Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University - a for-profit evangelical Christian educational facility - claims that North Korea and China plotted the COVID-19 outbreak in a bid to target POTUS.
"You remember the North Korean leader promised us a Christmas present for America? Back in December [...] Could it be they got together with China and this is that present? I don’t know. But it really is something strange going on", Falwell told Fox News.
Falwell alleged earlier that US-based media was doctoring coverage of COVID-2019 to create the impression of it being Trump's fault.
In December 2019, North Korean leadership promised a "Christmas gift" - reportedly indicating a long-range missile launch - to the US unless the Trump administration reopened the stalled denuclearization talks. However, no action has been reported from Pyongyang.
North Korea - the nation that borders two coronavirus hotbeds, China and South Korea - has completely shut its land checkpoints and isolated foreigners as a means of attempting to prevent the dangerous viral pandemic from spreading. In early February, Pyongyang reportedly sent aid to Beijing to help in fight against the highly-contagious coronavirus outbreak.
[Coronavirus] [Conspiracy] [Superstition industry] [Bizarre]
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A Peace Regime for the Korean Peninsula
A Look at Building Comprehensive, Accountable Peace Amid Strained U.S.-North Korea Relations
Center: Asia Center
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In June 2018, the United States and North Korea committed to building “a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.” And although the recent collapse of negotiations makes peace a remote prospect and threatens to further strain U.S.-North Korea relations, the current situation makes it all the more important to have a sober discussion about how to build mutual confidence, enhance stability, and prevent violent conflict on the Peninsula.
South Korean soldiers, front, and North Korean soldiers, rear, stand guard on either side of the military demarcation line of the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two nations, in Panmunjom, South Korea. (Korea Summit Press Pool via The New York Times)
South Korean soldiers, front, and North Korean soldiers, rear, stand guard on either side of the military demarcation line of the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two nations, in Panmunjom, South Korea. (Korea Summit Press Pool via The New York Times)
To outline the diplomatic, security, and economic components necessary for a comprehensive peace, USIP is launching a new report: A Peace Regime for the Korean Peninsula. The report examines the issues and challenges related to establishing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula—including the need for engagement and cooperation with South Korea, China, Russia, and Japan—and provides principles for how U.S. administrations can strategically and realistically approach these issues.
Join USIP for a look at the report’s main findings and recommendations, as well as a panel discussion with the report’s authors, experts, and former diplomats with extensive knowledge of Korean Peninsula policy.
Follow the conversation on Twitter with #KoreaPeaceRegime.
Speakers
Frank Aum
Senior Expert, North Korea, U.S. Institute of Peace
Patricia Kim
Senior Policy Analyst, U.S. Institute of Peace
Scott Snyder
Senior Fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy, Council on Foreign Relations
Kathleen Stephens
President and CEO, Korea Economic Institute
Jacob Stokes
Senior Policy Analyst, U.S. Institute of Peace
Joseph Yun, moderator
Senior Advisor, U.S. Institute of Peace
[Peace regime] [US NK policy] [Establishment] [Hyspocrisy]
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1st U.S. Soldier in Korea Catches Coronavirus
By Yang Seung-sik, Kim Su-kyung
February 27, 2020 12:07
A U.S. soldier here has tested positive for coronavirus, the first member of the U.S. Forces Korea to catch the disease, USFK headquarters said on its website Wednesday.
The new diagnosis came as the USFK was already on high alert after the wife of a retired soldier was confirmed to be infected on Monday.
The USFK said it "is implementing all appropriate control measures to help control the spread of COVID-19 and remains at risk level 'high' for [the] USFK peninsula-wide as a prudent measure to protect the force."
[Coronavirus] [USFK]
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FEBRUARY 2020
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North Korea Policy One Year After Hanoi
Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy Date: Tuesday, February 25, 2020
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Time: 02:15 PM Location: SD-419 Presiding: Senator Gardner
Check back for live video of this hearing.
*Members of the press should RSVP for public hearings, business meetings, and events by calling or emailing the respective galleries at:
Daily: Call 202-224-0241
Periodical: periodicals@saa.senate.gov or call 202-224-0265
Radio/TV: Call 202-224-6421
Photography: press_photo@saa.senate.gov or call 202-224-6548
Witnesses
The Honorable Robert R. King
Senior Adviser
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Washington , DC
Mr. Bruce Klingner
Senior Research Fellow, Northeast Asia
The Heritage Foundation
Washington , DC
Dr. Sue Mi Terry
Senior Fellow, Korea Chair
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Washington , DC
[US NK policy] [Congress] [Establishment]
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“We Pray, Peace Now, End the War!” - 70 days of global prayer for Korean Peninsula to be announced
World Council of Churches invites to the event announcing 70 days of global prayer for peace on the Korean Peninsula on 6 February at 11.30 CET at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.
A global prayer campaign for peace on the Korean Peninsula will occur from 1 March to 15 August, lasting 70 days and inviting hundreds of thousands of people worldwide to say: ““We Pray, Peace Now, End the War!”
Launch event of the global prayer campaign will take place in Seoul, with corresponding events the same day in Geneva and Washington DC on 6 February.
[Peace] [Religion]
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S.Korea Mulls Joint Drills with U.S. in California
By Yu Yong-weon
February 03, 2020 13:39
The South Korean military is mulling joint exercises with U.S. troops in California, which would require a large operation transporting tanks and other equipment there.
Large-scale joint drills here were suspended after the first U.S.-North Korea summit in June 2018, and frontline artillery training has been scrapped under an inter-Korean military agreement from September 2018.
"The government hopes to transport tanks and artillery by ship to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert in California to conduct practical training with U.S. troops," a government source said Sunday.
"This will cost a lot and won't happen until 2022," the source added.
So far South Korea has sent only 10 to 200 troops a year to Fort Irwin, rising to 300 this year.
A military source said, "There have been fewer field drills above the regimental level and, among other things, fewer training exercises using tanks and armored vehicles in compliance with the inter-Korean military agreement and an agreement signed at the U.S.-North Korean summit."
Military authorities say the plan is aimed at improving the effectiveness of joint training with a U.S. military unit that will be deployed with the U.S. Forces Korea on regular rotation to take advantage of the superior facilities at Fort Irwin.
But observers suspect this is merely an expensive way of compensating for the closure of artillery training sites here.
It will probably cost billions of won to send scores of tanks and self-propelled guns on landing ships to the U.S. mainland (US$1=W1,188).
Former Joint Chiefs of Staff deputy chairman Shin Won-sik said, "I doubt the effectiveness, because there are big differences between the terrains and climates of the Korean Peninsula and the Californian desert."
[Joint US military] [US global strategy] [Pawn]
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U.S. Spy Planes Monitor N.Korea
By Yang Seung-sik
January 29, 2020 09:56
U.S. special operations aircraft have been flying over the Korean Peninsula to keep up pressure on North Korea as it appears to limber up to a fresh provocation.
The last such plane was a C-146A Wolfhound tactical transport aircraft that repeatedly flew between Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek and the West Sea and Japan last weekend, a military spokesman here said Tuesday.
The C-146A is normally used to transport plainclothes U.S. special troops to operations chiefly in the Middle East and Africa. Last week an MC-130J Commando special operations tanker that is also used to carry special forces buzzed Japanese skies.
An MQ-4C Triton high-altitude drone arrives at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam on Sunday, in this photo from the U.S. Navy.
A flurry of their activities were traced on CivMilAir, a Twitter account tracking civilian and military aircraft.
The U.S. also recently deployed an MQ-4C Triton high-altitude drone with the Seventh Fleet, whose area of operations includes the Korean Peninsula.
A U.S. military spokesman said, "The introduction of MQ-4C Triton to the Seventh Fleet area of operations expands the reach of the U.S. Navy's maritime patrol and reconnaissance force in the Western Pacific."
[US NK] [Surveillance] [Special Forces]
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North Korea Reiterates End to Test Moratorium
North Korea will no longer observe its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile testing, a counselor to Pyongyang’s mission at the United Nations in Geneva said Jan. 21. The April 2018 moratorium was designed to “build confidence with the United States,” but given that Washington “remains unchanged in its ambition to block the development” of North Korea, Pyongyang has “no reason to be unilaterally bound” by its past commitment, Ju Yong Chol said.
[US NK Negotiations] [Stalemate] [Moratorium18]
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JANUARY 2020
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U.S. Deploys 2 Aircraft Carriers Near Korean Peninsula
By Cho Yi-jun, Yang Seung-sik
January 20, 2020 09:45
The U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt left its home port of San Diego on Friday and headed to the West Pacific and South China Sea where the USS Ronald Reagan is already deployed.
The Roosevelt is affiliated with the 3rd U.S. Fleet that controls the area from the East Pacific and the U.S. west coast and was previously deployed in waters near the Korean Peninsula between late 2017 and early 2018 to pressure North Korea.
It joined the Reagan and USS Nimitz in U.S.-South Korea joint drills in the East Sea in November 2017 and sailed with the 7th Fleet, which patrols the West Pacific and East and South China Sea.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt leaves San Diego for a deployment on Friday. /Courtesy of U.S. Navy
Washington merely said that the Roosevelt is headed to the "Indo-Pacific," but military insiders believe it will conduct operations near the Korean Peninsula. The carrier group includes the Aegis-class destroyer USS Pinckney, which is capable of shooting down intercontinental ballistic missiles.
"The move appears aimed at responding to North Korea's ICBM threat and to escalating military tension just like in 2017," a military source here said.
Kevin Schneider, the new commander of the U.S. Forces Japan, told the Yomiuri Shimbun on Sunday that changes have been spotted in North Korea's military position and rhetoric over the last few months, making it the most imminent security challenge in Northeast Asia.
[Escalation] [US NK policy] [China confronation]
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CNN Homes in on Korean 'Racism'
By Jo Jae-hee
January 20, 2020 10:50
CNN accused South Koreans of "the most bizarre criticism of a U.S. ambassador in recent memory" over the peculiar accusation here that Harry Harris' mustache evokes memories of Japan's occupation of Korea.
In a piece Friday titled "Racism, history and politics: Why South Koreans are flipping out over a U.S. ambassador's mustache," CNN said, "Harris was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and American father, who was a Navy officer, and some online commentators have pointed to Harris' heritage along with the mustache in their criticisms."
"But Harris isn't Japanese, he's a U.S. citizen. And calling him out for his Japanese ancestry would almost assuredly be considered racist in the United States."
Harris was the first American of Asian descent to lead the U.S. Pacific Command and was appointed to his current post in July 2018.
"South Korea is a homogenous society without racial diversity like the United States," CNN pointed out. "Mixed-race families are rare and xenophobia remains surprisingly common."
It was Minjoo Party lawmaker Song Young-gil who compared Harris to the mustachioed former Japanese viceroy to Korea, garnering some plaudits in the local Twittersphere. Wartime emperor Hirohito also sported a mustache, as did fascist dictator Gen. Hideki Tojo.
[Harry Harris]
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US ambassador's moustache gets up South Korea's nose
Harry Harris has been criticised for his facial hair, which reminds many South Koreans of the days of Japanese colonial rule
Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Fri 17 Jan 2020 03.12 GMT
Tensions may be running high on the Korean peninsula, but Harry Harris’s facial hair is vying with denuclearisation as the defining theme of his tenure as US ambassador to South Korea.
Harris, a former navy admiral who was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and an American navy officer, has been accused of insulting his hosts by growing a moustache that reminds many South Koreans of the days of Japanese colonial rule.
Japan’s 1910-45 rule over the Korean peninsula is a continuing source of resentment in South Korea, whose relations with its neighbour plummeted last year amid disputes connected to their bitter wartime history.
Social media users in South Korea launched their criticism of Harris’s appearance soon after he was appointed in July 2018, with some noting that during colonial rule all eight Japanese governors-general had sported moustaches.
The 63-year-old Harris told reporters in Seoul last week that he was being singled out because of his background.
Trump called for Seoul evacuation at height of North Korea tensions, new book says
Read more
“My moustache, for some reason, has become a point of some fascination here,” he said, according to reports. “I have been criticised in the media here, especially in social media, because of my ethnic background, because I am a Japanese-American.”
[Harry Harris] [Banality]
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U.S. Urges N.Korea to Talk
By Cho Yi-jun
January 14, 2020 09:48
The U.S. has "reached out to the North Koreans" to ask it to resume denuclearization talks, according to a senior White House official on Friday.
In an interview with news website Axios, White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien said, "We've reached out to the North Koreans and let them know that we would like to continue the negotiations in Stockholm that were last undertaken in early October."
"We've been letting them know, through various channels, that we would like to get those [negotiations] back on track and to implement [North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's] commitment" to denuclearization, he added.
In a statement issued Saturday, North Korea's long-time nuclear point man Kim Kye-gwan signaled a microscopic thaw, saying the regime received a birthday message for Kim Jong-un "directly through a personal letter" from U.S. President Donald Trump.
O'Brien said, "All we know is we were told we were going to get a Christmas gift and the Christmas gift didn't come. And so I think that was an encouraging sign."
Cheong Wa Dae's national security adviser Chung Eui-yong (right) meets with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts -- Robert O'Brien (center) and Shigeru Kitamura -- in Washington on Jan. 8, in this Tweet from the White House.
North Korea dropped a heavy hint at a fresh provocation late last year by threatening the U.S. with a "Christmas gift" unless sanctions were eased.
Axios commented, "It appears President Trump is again trying to lean on what he has described as his warm personal relationship with the brutal North Korean dictator."
But Kim Kye-gwan in his statement also said that it is foolish to hope for the resumption of talks or try to create such an atmosphere based merely on the personal relationship between Kim Jong-un and Trump.
[US NK Negotiations] [Stalemate] [Robert O'Brien]
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Trump Wishes N.Korea's Kim Jong-un a Happy Birthday
VOA News
January 11, 2020 08:06
U.S. President Donald Trump has sent a happy birthday message to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who is believed to have turned 36 Wednesday. It is the first recent reported contact between the two leaders amid stalled nuclear talks.
Trump asked that South Korea deliver the birthday message to Kim, according to South Korea's national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, who met briefly with Trump this week in Washington.
[Trump] [Personal relationship] [Kim Jong Un] [Protocol]
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US-DPRK relations in crisis as Trump administration refuses sanctions relief
Loud & Clear Interviews 25 December 2019
The improvement in relations between North Korea and the United States have stalled, as North Korean leaders have grown frustrated by an increasingly neoconservative foreign policy coming from the US and by a lack of sanctions relief. Washington, meanwhile, is angry that the North Koreans appear unwilling to give up their nuclear weapons program. And the North Koreans are promising a “Christmas present”for Washington. Emanuel Pastreich, founder and director of The Asia Institute, a pan-Asian think tank, and Simone Chun, a fellow at the Korea Policy Institute and a member of the Korean Peace Network, join the show.
[US NK Negotiations] [Stalemate] [Sanctions]
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