Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) programs don’t pop-up overnight, especially in third-world backwaters like North Korea. Yet North Korea has announced via state-run media that it is capable of the “final stage of uranium enrichment.”
How shocking! There were no clues! There was no way to know this!
Well, not really. All [...]

Former President Kim Dae-jung (김대중) died today at age 83 (85 by Korean reckoning) of complications related to pneumonia. Kim was the Republic of Korea present from 1998 to 2003.
Although Kim had a long political career as an opposition leader – not an easy thing in Korea at the time – he [...]

The topic is titled, “South Korea’s Rollback of Democratic Rights,” but some more interesting points arose from that false start. From LMB to mad cow to the bogus protest groups operating in South Korea today, something for everyone as Burgeson and Katsiaficas go head to head.

In July 2006, I wrote about the potential for an East Asian arms race. One possibility mentioned at that time was of Japan also going nuclear if a reunified Korea chose that option. A recent Congressional Research Service report, “Japan’s Nuclear Future: Policy Debate, Prospects, and U.S. Interests,” (PDF) 19 February 2009, has [...]

The Taepo Dong 2 (TD-2) (대포동 2호) missile launch(es) North Korea likely is preparing for, and recent voiding of all political-military deals with South Korea, are part of Pyongyang’s long-term strategy of regime survival. While these actions also have less important near-terms goals – expressing displeasure with ROK President Lee Myung-bak’s relatively hard-line approach [...]

North Korea’s state media, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), on 30 January 2009, released statement declaring the DPRK’s unilateral withdrawal from all political and military agreements with South Korea.
Specifically cited was a 1991 agreement that included a sea border in the Yellow Sea. This signals North Korea’s dissatisfaction with ROK President [...]

In November I speculated that Kim Jong-il’s apparent stroke in August might prompt him to select a successor before he dies or becomes incapacitated. Reporting from Yonhap claims that Kim Jong-il’s third son, Kim Jong-un (김정운) (also Romanized as Jong-eun and Jong-woon, has been chosen as his successor:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has [...]

Remember the mad protests about American beef in South Korea? The mass hysteria of biblical proportions (”cats and dogs living together!”) that gripped the country and led to its otherwise sensible president to apologize regarding the “hurried” negotiation over resumption of the importation of American beef?
Well, now, apparently, American beef is welcome in ROK again:
Now, [...]

The trouble with North Korea is that nobody wants it — except the current ruling elite of North Korea itself.
In a previous post, I rather immodestly predicted that, should the Kim regime collapse in North Korea, a military junta backed by China would emerge, resulting in a Burma-ization of North Korea. I further speculated that [...]

On the one hand, there was the North Korean defector-turned-anti-North Korea-activist, trying to send balloons with anti-Kim Jong-Il messages. On the other side were pro-North demonstrators (from the labor unions) trying to stop him. The result was, at least according to the WaPo, a brawl (make sure to watch the video attached to the article):
“You [...]