The end of denuclearisation politics has opened new possibilities for the direction of the Korean Peninsula, but the tensions of 2017 remind us of the possibility of disaster.
The cover of Marvin Gaye’s album, ‘What’s Going On’.
“What’s Going On” remains relevant today. Even now its plaintive lyrics speak eloquently about a post-9/11 world that’s upside down.
People in South Korea watch a news program on TV about the meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping in late March. Kim and Xi sought to portray strong ties between the neighbours and long-time allies despite a recent chill.
(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Kim Jong-un’s surprise recent visit to Beijing and Xi Jinping was an awkward get-together that didn’t address the elephant in the room – Kim’s possible face-to-face meeting soon with Donald Trump.
Time to talk: Kim and Trump.
KCNA / Justin Lane/EPA
Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
A former US Department of Defense and State Department official explains why a hard-line approach on North Korea will likely fail, as it did with Iran.
Donald Trump’s grasp of most matters in international politics and military affairs is rudimentary. But he’s in charge, so his views bear analysis.
AAP
Kim Beazley, The University of Western Australia e L Gordon Flake, The University of Western Australia
It is not yet midnight, but as the crisis deepens, the diplomatic and military options get more and more complex. And the possibility of war with North Korea is now very real.
North Korea clearly understands that going straight into high-level negotiations isn’t always the way to make a breakthrough.
Members of a North Korean delegation cheer while holding the unified Korea flag at the pairs figure skating free program at the Pyeonchang Winter Olympics on Feb. 15, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
The International Olympic Committee has banished dopers from the Winter Games. Shame it hasn’t treated North Korea, a noted human rights violator, with the same resolve.
Meredith Shaw, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The state-produced stories, which include tales about apartment lotteries, theme parks and the Clintons, might seem absurd. But they offer a window into the regime’s priorities and anxieties.
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speak following a meeting on the security and stability on the Korean Peninsula in Vancouver.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
China is succeeding in a high-stakes poker game on the Korean Peninsula. Did Canada and the U.S. just play into Chinese hands?
The fear and distress caused by a false missile alarm last week on Jan. 13 in Hawaii is part of the 125 year legacy of American occupation. Here, cars drive past a highway sign: “Missile alert in error. There is no threat” on the H-1 Freeway in Honolulu.
(Cory Lum/Civil Beat via AP)
The fear and distress caused by a false missile alarm last week in Hawaii is part of the 125- year legacy of American occupation.
North Koreans cheer in this November 2017 as they watch a news broadcast announcing Kim Jong-un’s order to test-fire the inter-continental ballistic missile Hwasong-15 at the Pyongyang Train Station in Pyongyang, North Korea.
(AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)
North Korea sending a delegation to this year’s Winter Olympics in South Korea may be a global shadow puppet show – or it might help thaw the frozen relations between the two countries.
In this recent photo, South Koreans watch a TV news program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s New Year’s speech.
(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Chrystia Freeland and Rex Tillerson should remember one point when they meet in Vancouver soon to discuss North Korea: Kim Jong-un runs a feudal gangland, not a nation state.