NewsTrust - North Korea - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Mainstream)

Opinion: N. Korea endgame: 3 scenarios

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

CNN - By Michael J. Green - Apr. 13 (Opinion) - Hyperbolic North Korean threats of war are not new. What is new is the intensity and persistence of those threats this time around. Add to that an untested 29-year-old leader who is suddenly a four-star general with lots to prove. How does this end? Consider these three possibilities:

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Korea is the focus, but this is China versus Japan

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Timothy Mo - Apr. 11 (Opinion) - Beijing has absolute control over North Korea. The crisis is all about disputed islands and the security of oil supplies The "crisis" on the 38th parallel has little to do with the two Koreas: it's about oil and gas for China, the prelude to an energy grab that will safeguard the expansion of the Chinese economy for decades to come. Six months ago Taiwanese and Japanese coastguard cutters were drenching each other in spray from water cannon, in footage now forgotten. The present pantomime, with hisses greeting North Korea as the villain, is not a replacement of the fountain show but its encore. The Senkaku islands, if you're Japanese – Diaoyu if you're Chinese – halfway between the two countries, and the fossil resources that underlie them, are the issue of contention, not the integrity of the Korean border. In the twilight of oil, long-term energy security is at the top of all great powers' agendas, but it has a highly personal dimension for those in power in China today. Two hundred ...

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South Korea warns that North Korea has developed rockets that can reach the US mainland

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Fox News - By David Piper - Dec. 23 () - “Based on our analysis and simulation, the missile is capable of flying more than 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) with a warhead of 500-600 kilograms,” a defense ministry official told reporters.

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Congress should reject proposed trade agreements and insist on better policies

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Seattle Times - By Lynne Dodson, Kathleen Ridihalgh - Jul. 27 (Opinion) - The proposed U.S. trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama would continue to undermine the American economy, write guest columnists Lynne Dodson and Kathleen Ridihalgh. Washington's congressional delegation should reject them in favor of better policies.

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The Incredible Kim Jong-il and his Amazing Achievements

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Daily Telegraph - By Julian Ryall, Tokyo - Jan. 31 (Opinion) - * Even before his birth, the future leader of North Korea was triggering miracles. Official biographers say his birth in a cabin on the slopes of Baekdu Mountain in February 1942 was foretold by a swallow and heralded by a double rainbow. He...learned to walk at just 3 weeks and was talking at 8 weeks.

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The keys to Pyongyang

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - By Simon Tisdall - Nov. 24 (Opinion) - Korea is not all that much of a mystery. This is, for once, a conundrum with a solution. North Korea and its paranoid, attention-seeking leaders want a number of things the South and the western powers can supply, if so minded. This has been the case for years.

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Listen to North Korea

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Jimmy Carter - Nov. 24 (Editorial) - No one can completely understand the motivations of the North Koreans, but it is entirely possible that their recent revelation of their uranium enrichment centrifuges and Pyongyang's shelling of a South Korean island Tuesday are designed to remind the world that they deserve respect in negotiations that will shape their future. Ultimately, the choice for the United States may be between diplomatic niceties and avoiding a catastrophic confrontation.

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Whoever is leader, North Korea faces an unstable future

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Yoon Young-kwan - Sep. 30 (Opinion) - Regardless of whether the young Kim becomes the new leader, North Korea most likely faces an unstable future. The cost of maintaining internal order will continue to rise as the system’s fundamental defects force the new leader to confront stark new challenges. Moreover, responsibility for managing that potential instability extends far beyond the leadership in Pyongyang.

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North Korea Wants to Make a Deal

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Jimmy Carter - Sep. 15 (Opinion) - Pyongyang is sending clear signals about it’s willingness to resume peace negotiations.

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In the Koreas, Five Possible Ways to War

Fri, 28 May 2010 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By David E. Sanger - May. 28 (Opinion) - President Obama intends to break North Korea’s cycle of aggressive behavior toward its southern neighbor but his approach may not be enough to avoid a conflict.

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It’s risky, but this time North Korea must pay

Wed, 26 May 2010 07:31:56 -0700

The Times - By Rosemary Righter - May. 26 (Opinion) - Something has snapped in Seoul. That something is the hope, clung to against abundant evidence to the contrary for most of the past two decades, that Kim Jong Il's iniquitous regime could somehow be tamed by South Korea’s “sunshine policy” of aid and economic co-operation. The torpedo that sank the warship Cheonan in South Korean waters and sent 46 South Korean sailors to their deaths has shaken the country more than North Korea’s nuclear bomb-making, more than its testing of long-range missiles.

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Coming to Terms With Containing North Korea

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By David E. Sanger - Aug. 09 (Opinion) - Bill Clinton’s rescue mission to Pyongyang last week may have done more than win the freedom of two young American journalists. To many in Washington, it seemed to reconfirm hints of just how shrunken North Korea’s ambitions (not to mention its leader) have become after years of confrontation with the world. Desperate for some affirmation of his legacy, this interpretation goes, the ailing Kim Jong Il used the drama to draw a former American president onto his own turf. To North Korea’s hungry populace, it doubtless looked as if the Americans had finally come to pay homage.

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North Korea: How to Deal With Dictator Kim Jong-il

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - By Robert Joseph - Jun. 06 (Opinion) - Holding out the prospect of “further isolating” Pyongyang and calling for a return to the diplomatic table must be music to the ears of the ailing Dear Leader who wants nothing more than to be thrown in that briar patch. This may be particularly important as the uncertain succession drama continues in North Korea. Kim Jong-il understands that the very survival or his regime, particularly as it transitions to his young heir, is dependent on his country being isolated.

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North Korea, the Next Iraq?

Thu, 28 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Atlantic Monthly - By Robert D. Kaplan - May. 28 (Opinion) - If he doesn’t hit North Korea hard with sanctions, he risks demonstrating to Iran that America is a pushover. Indeed, Obama’s Iran policy – which requires the stick of tough action in addition to the carrot of talks and recognition – is on the line in North Korea. On the other hand, vigorous sanctions against North Korea could lead to the collapse of the regime. And anyone who talks breezily about “helping” North Korea to collapse has simply not learned the lesson of Iraq: The only thing worse than a totalitarian state is no state at all.

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North Korea blast is a test for U.S.

Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

CNN - By Paul Carroll - May. 26 (Opinion) - ... it is important to focus on two things in the aftermath of the test. First, what does this mean for the threat that North Korea poses to international security? Second, what should our next moves be?

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No more sunshine in North Korea

Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Simon Tisdall - May. 26 (Opinion) - North Korea's latest actions, seen as recklessly dangerous by the outside world, may be broadly explained in three ways. The first is that Pyongyang is in the grip of an intensifying power struggle over the succession to the country's ailing president and Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il.

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The Rocket Science of Missile Threats

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By William J. Broad - Apr. 26 (Opinion) - Many Western analysts greeted North Korea’s failure to put a satellite into orbit early this month with scorn, with one joke complimenting the dictator for a successful launch into the deep sea. “Pacific plankton will forever live in fear of the mighty reach of Kim Jong Il,” one analyst wrote, “now that millions have perished in one mighty splash.”

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Kim's Latest Hostages

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Wall Street Journal - Mar. 30 (Editorial) - North Korea's preferred method of negotiation is to take hostages, starting with 23 million of its own citizens. Now dictator Kim Jong Il has his eye on President Obama's foreign policy. Having succeeded in extracting concessions from President Bush in exchange for promises to give up its nuclear program, Pyongyang is looking to get the new Administration to repay for the same phony terms.

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Splitting a constitutional nucleus

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Times - By Rep. Peter Hoekstra, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen - May. 01 (Comment) - The Constitution clearly articulates that Congress and the president are to be equal branches of government. The underlying assumption is that both would cooperate to ensure our nation's security, and do so with mutual respect. Unfortunately, that has not always been the case. Regarding the current negotiations with the regime in North Korea to persuade it to abandon its nuclear weapons, the divide has rarely been greater. We regret to say the administration has deliberately attempted to sideline Congress in the fear that providing us with information about the North Korean regime's continuing lies and reckless behavior would undermine the current diplomatic approach.

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They All Fall Down

Sat, 21 Oct 2006 02:30:55 -0700

Foreign Policy - By Graham Allison - Oct. 21 (Opinion) - In the battle of wills between North Korea and the United States, the score is Kim Jong Il, 8; George W. Bush, 0. And yet, the White House doggedly pursues a strategy that has repeatedly failed to achieve American objectives. Despite the overwhelming power of the United States and the abject weakness of North Korea, David has so far bested Goliath with superior strategy and tactics. It’s a situation no one should applaud. When George W. Bush took office in January 2001, North Korea had two bombs’ worth of plutonium (diverted from Pyongyang in 1990 under the former President Bush). Eight thousand fuel rods with enough plutonium for six bombs resided in cooling ponds, monitored 24 hours a day by International Atomic Energy Agency video cameras. Since 2003, these fuel rods have been reprocessed into six bombs’ worth of plutonium. The Yongbyon reactor, which was shut down several times in the past, is now churning out enough plutonium for two more bombs a year. With its successful nuclear test, the small, poor, backward Hermit Kingdom has forced its way into the nuclear club.

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Diplomacy Hits Kim

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 20:04:58 -0700

Universal Press Syndicate - By William Buckley - Oct. 13 (Opinion) - Kim Jong Il never lets us down. When President Bush, reacting to the nuclear test, announced that he would seek further sanctions against North Korea, Kim replied that he would interpret any such move as an act of belligerency warranting a declaration of war against the United States.

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North Korea is causing trouble because it wants to influence the November election

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 14:08:28 -0700

The O'Reilly Factor - By Bill O'Reilly - Oct. 09 (Opinion) - North Korea set off some kind of nuclear device in violation of the spirit of international law. North Korea is causing trouble because it wants to influence the November election. Iran is doing the same thing in Iraq - ramping up the violence so Americans will turn against the Bush administration. That is not a partisan statement, it is a fact. America's enemies are emboldened by the stalemate in Iraq and feel like they can do anything they want. The president has only one choice - tough, aggressive action against the anti-American forces. The problem is that many Americans here are not on board with that - they want to compromise with our enemies. Talking Points believes the USA should negotiate with Iran and North Korea, but only from a position of strength. Remember, these are the bad people - America is not causing the problem, North Korea and Iran are causing the problem. If you feel the USA is the problem in the world, you are firmly in the secular-progressive camp. The bottom line here is that we can expect America's enemies to cause as much trouble as possible in the next four weeks. Mr. Bush must remain strong in the face of this assault. There's really no other choice.

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