POPULARITY
In this episode, we speak with Dan Gudgeon, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Vienna, about how peace narratives shape inter-Korean relations. Drawing from his research on South Korea's Sunshine Policy era, Dan explains how national identity and "ontological security" influence public and political willingness to engage in peace building. He then discusses whether peace narratives can coexist with military deterrence, how global powers like the U.S. influence inter-Korean diplomacy, and what lessons South Korea should take if peace with the DPRK talks resume. Dan Gudgeon is a post-doctoral researcher and lecturer in the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Vienna. He attained his Ph.D. from the University of North Korean Studies and previously worked for the Korean Sharing Movement, an inter-Korean cooperation NGO in Seoul. About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists. NK News subscribers can listen to this and other exclusive episodes from their preferred podcast player by accessing the private podcast feed. For more detailed instructions, please see the step-by-step guide at nknews.org/private-feed.
Trudi Makhaya, non-executive director and Strategic advisor reviewed Conscience in Action: The Autobiography of Kim Dae-jung by Kim Dae-jung. President Kim Dae-jung, the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize winner, often called the Asian Nelson Mandela, is best known for his tolerant and innovative “Sunshine Policy” towards North Korea. The book was written in the five years between the end of his presidency and his death in 2009. Makhaya remarks on the lessons she learned from the book…See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
June 26, 2019 - The Kaesong Industrial Complex was a jointly run corporate park pairing South Korean capital and management with North Korean land and labor. A symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation and the hoped start to wider collaboration, Kaesong was launched in 2004 as part of the South Korean government’s Sunshine Policy, but closed down in 2016 after North Korea’s continued nuclear and missile testing. International Crisis Group senior adviser Chris Green is the author of a new report titled, “The Case for Kaesong: Fostering Korean Peace through Economic Ties.” It mobilizes new datasets to re-examine the park's legacy and impact.
The United States will move quickly to withdraw all forces from Syria, the White House abruptly announced Wednesday, December 19th. On Thursday, December 20th, President Trump directed the Pentagon to withdraw nearly half of the more than 14,000 troops deployed to Afghanistan and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, announced he stepping down effective Jan 1. These moves are defying warnings from his top advisers and upending their plans for a continued mission against the Islamic State. Well today, Trump and the First Lady Made a Secret Trip To Iraq To Visit U.S. Troops. What does all of this mean going forward? Are these troops actually coming back CONUS or stateside or being repositioned to other bases and did he make a mistake by not pulling troops out of Iraq as well?Today is the first full business day since the shutdown. What's the method behind the madness? It is assumed that once the final funding package gets approved the government workers will receive back pay but historically, many contractors don't get paid. An 8-year-old Guatemalan boy died of unknown causes in custody minutes before midnight on Christmas Eve in New Mexico, the agency said in a statement Tuesday. It was the second death of a child in the agency's care this month. Jakelin Caal Maquin, 7, also of Guatemala, died in custody after traveling to the U.S. with a group of 163 people. Her body arrived in Guatemala on Monday. Also, new migrant crisis brewing in El Paso as ICE releases threaten to overwhelm border city - More than 1,200 undocumented immigrants are expected to be released into El Paso this week, with no apparent plan for housing. That's in addition to the 700 migrants already left in the border town since Sunday. Fear and uncertainty swirl around the bus station where they have been left. Despite modest inter-Korean goodwill, no trains are likely to run any time soon amid the stalled denuclearization process. In a modest event today, North and South Korea held a groundbreaking ceremony for the linkage of their railway lines across the Demilitarized Zone. However, it was not the first time optimism about inter-Korean transport links has been on display. The tracks were, in fact, reconnected in 2005, amid the “Sunshine Policy' of inter-Korean engagement. What does this mean going forward? GUESTS:Dr. Gerald Horne — Professor of history at the University of Houston and author of many books, including Blows Against the Empire: US Imperialism in Crisis.Abdus Luqman and Jackie Luqman — Co-editors-in-chief of Luqman Nation, and the co-hosts of the Facebook livestream Coffee, Current Events & Politics.Caleb Maupin — Journalist and political analyst who focuses his coverage on US foreign policy and the global system of monopoly capitalism and imperialism.
As the nuclear standoff between North Korea and the United States dominates global headlines, the relationship between North Korea and China, though little understood, has attracted ever greater interest. In this episode, the Harvard Kennedy School's John Park, a leading expert on security issues relating to Northeast Asia, discusses with Neysun Mahboubi the complex relationship between North Korea and China, with special attention to the economic dynamics at play since China established diplomatic relations with South Korea in 1992. The episode was recorded on February 23, 2018 at the Center for the Study of Contemporary China, following Dr. Park's lecture on "The Legacy of Beijing’s Sunshine Policy with Chinese Characteristics: What are the Implications for U.S. Policy towards North Korea?" John Park is a Lecturer at Harvard's Kennedy School, where he is Director of the Korea Working Group, as well as a Faculty Affiliate at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He previously directed Northeast Asia Track 1.5 projects at the U.S. Institute of Peace, and currently advises Northeast Asia policy-focused officials in the U.S. government. Dr. Park is a frequent media commentator on Asian geopolitical issues, including on CNN, CNBC, BBC, and Bloomberg TV, and he has testified on these issues before both House and Senate committees in the past year. His publications include "Stopping North Korea, Inc.: Sanctions Effectiveness and Unintended Consequences" (with Jim Walsh); "The Key to the North Korean Targeted Sanctions Puzzle"; and "North Korea, Inc.: Gaining Insights into North Korean Regime Stability from Recent Commercial Activities". Music credit: "Salt" by Poppy Ackroyd, follow her at http://poppyackroyd.com Special thanks to Seung-Youn Oh and Nick Marziani
This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Donald Kirk. They speak about Kim Dae-Jung, the Sunshine Policy, the legacy of inter—Korean diplomacy, the prospects of future summits, and the diplomatic side-shows of the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang. Donald Kirk is a journalist and author who has covered conflict and human rights in Iraq, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Vietnam, amongst others. Working for the Chicago Tribune, The International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, and Forbes Asia, Donald has been named a Fulbright scholar, the Edward Murrow fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as receiving an honorary Doctorate from the University of Maryland. His books on Korea include: Korea Betrayed, Kim Dae-jung and the Quest for the Nobel, Korean Crisis, Korea Witness, and Korean Dynasty. *** Donald Kirk would like to make two small corrections to his comments. 1. When he said Kim Jong-il died in 2010, he meant to say 2011; 2. When he said the Cheonan was sunk in 2011, he meant to say 2010. Donate at Patreon – www.patreon.com/jedleahenry Website – www.jedleahenry.org Twitter – twitter.com/jedleahenry Academia.edu – university.academia.edu/JedLeaHenry Research Gate – www.researchgate.net/profile/Jed_Lea-Henry
In 2000, then President Kim Dae-jung became the first Korean to receive a Nobel Prize, for his life’s work dedicated to democracy and, to quote the Nobel Committee: “peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular." The award was granted shortly after the first North-South Korean summit in June of the same year, and in recognition of the merits of the Sunshine Policy in general. Yet fifteen years later, Kim Dae-jung’s legacy remains controversial: not only is the success of the policy debatable, but some have also criticized the costs he was willing to pay in the name of reconciliation. An outspoken critic of Kim Dae-jung’s approach to North Korea is journalist and author Donald Kirk, who published in 2010 a b iography of the late president with a focus on his political career and the Sunshine Policy entitled: Korea Betrayed: Kim Dae Jung and Sunshine. In this episode we spoke with him about Kim’s priorities when dealing with North Korea and his lifelong quest for the Nobel Peace Prize. Donald Kirk is a veteran journalist and correspondent in the Asia-Pacific. He has reported from many of the conflicts and hotspots in the region since 1965 and covered the Vietnam, Gulf and Iraq wars. He has also extensively reported on Korean affairs, including the assassination of President Park Chung-hee in 1979, the Gwangju Uprising in 1980, the nuclear crisis of 1994 and the 2000 Inter-Korean Summit. He is the author of several publications, among them an unauthorized biography of Chung Ju-yung, the founder of Hyundai. Donald Kirk is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Chicago. He has received numerous awards, including the Overseas Press Club of America Award, the George Polk Award for foreign reporting and the Chicago Tribune’s Edward Scott Beck award. He was also a Ford fellow at Columbia University, a Fulbright Scholar in India during the sixties and in the Philippines during the nineties, and the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant at MIT among many others.
The Sunshine Policy – the idea that South Korea should approach North Korea through dialogue, cooperation and reconciliation – has been highly contentious ever since its inception in the late 1990s. Its initiator, former President Kim Dae Jung, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for reaching out to Pyongyang; at the same time, however, critics have branded the Sunshine Policy as [a naive attempt to appease a dangerous dictatorship] naive appeasement with a dangerous dictatorship. Even today the dispute about the right foreign policy approach towards North Korea splits the South Korean political discourse. One of the leading experts on the Sunshine Policy is Chung-In Moon. For this episode we spoke to him about the history of this policy, whether or not it failed, the philosophical underpinnings of the Sunshine Policy’s supporters and opponents, and his opinions about how South Korea and the international community should approach North Korea. Chung-In Moon is Professor of Political Science at Yonsei University and Editor-in-Chief of Global Asia. He is also Executive Director of the Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library and Museum, and previously served as Dean of Yonsei’s Graduate School of International Studies. Professor Moon is currently a member of the Presidential Committee on Unification Preparation of the Park Geun-Hye administration. Previously, under former President Roh Moo-hyun, Professor Moon also served as Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northeast Asian Cooperation Initiative and was Ambassador for International Security Affairs on behalf of the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.