The contradictions of Dresden



Opinion The contradictions of Dresden Park’s position on joint military drills, denuclearization doom her proposal Tim Beal April 25, 2014 SHARE COPY LINK FACEBOOK X LINKEDIN MASTODON Republic of Korea, Flickr Creative Commons South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s speech in Dresden on March 28 attracted a lot of comments, at least in the Koreas and among Korea observers. Not front page news elsewhere, but then the international press is seldom interested in Korea unless there is a whiff of gunpowder in the air. To many sub-editors the title – “An Initiative for Peaceful Unification on the Korean Peninsula” – must have ranked close to Claud Cockburn’s famous “Small earthquake in Chile, not many dead” as an attention grabber. A great pity, because Korean unification is an important subject, with global ramifications. Most © Korea Risk Group. All rights reserved. No part of this content may be reproduced, distributed, or used for commercial purposes without prior written permission from Korea Risk Group. Get the Daily Update & Podcast Updates Start your day with the North Korea stories that matter most – as selected by Trending

Opinion

The contradictions of Dresden

Park’s position on joint military drills, denuclearization doom her proposal

Tim Beal April 25, 2014

Republic of Korea, Flickr Creative Commons

South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s speech in Dresden on March 28 attracted a lot of comments, at least in the Koreas and among Korea observers. Not front page news elsewhere, but then the international press is seldom interested in Korea unless there is a whiff of gunpowder in the air. To many sub-editors the title – “An Initiative for Peaceful Unification on the Korean Peninsula” – must have ranked close to Claud Cockburn’s famous “Small earthquake in Chile, not many dead” as an attention grabber. A great pity, because Korean unification is an important subject, with global ramifications.

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About the Author

Tim Beal

Tim Beal did a MA (Hons) in Modern Chinese Studies at Edinburgh University, followed by a PhD there on Chinese foreign trade. He moved to New Zealand in 1987 teaching at Victoria University of Wellington until his retirement in 2009. He has written extensively on International and Asian affairs, including two books relating to Korea: ‘North Korea: The Struggle against American Power’ (London: Pluto, 2005) and ‘Crisis in Korea: America, China, and the Risk of War’ (London: Pluto, 2011). He has been visiting both Koreas since the 1990s and maintains a geopolitical website focused on the peninsula at http://www.timbeal.net.nz/geopolitics/

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