Busan, South Korea
[Abandoning my readers to the Western commentariat is like leaving a child standing on the edge of a well, to borrow a vivid Korean phrase, but I no longer have the time or inclination to blog regularly. My sabbatical is over, I have a book to work on, and those who haven’t yet grasped the … Continue reading “Portrait of the Ally as an Intermediary
— B.R. Myers”
[Below is the text I used for about 90% of my speech on December 19 at the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch, Seoul. I would like to thank everyone who braved the very cold weather to attend. I also apologize to those in the back of the hall who sometimes had difficulty hearing me.] Ladies and … Continue reading “North Korea’s Unification Drive
— B.R. Myers”
Listening to panel discussions and reading articles about the current standoff, I’m struck by the general tendency to regard the South Koreans only as bystanders, or as potential victims of a US-DPRK clash. It is nowhere stronger than in South Korea itself. It’s high time America recognized the key role that its ally has played in … Continue reading “Low-Level Confederation and the
Nuclear Crisis (in 2 parts) — B.R. Myers”
In a recent blog post I mentioned the Great Contradiction in North Korean Studies: the practice of playing up the DPRK’s bold and uncompromising nationalism while at the same time denying its commitment to unifying the nation. The front and back do not match, as Koreans say. The Great Contradiction in South Korean Studies is the … Continue reading “North Korea, Nuclear Armament, and Unification — B.R. Myers”
In Seoul a few years ago a young European tried to persuade me that North Korea’s tiny front parties — the Social Democratic Party, and so on — constituted a legitimate political opposition. The encounter stuck in my mind only because it took me back to the 1980s. So common before the famine, that sort … Continue reading “On the Recent Spate of
“Why North Korea Hates
America” Articles — B.R. Myers
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On May 12, his first Friday in office, Moon Jae-in ordered the scrapping of his predecessor’s plan to introduce state-issued history textbooks. According to the Blue House, it’s the president’s firm will that history education not be politicized. This news made me mutter words “out of use except in the vernacular,” as Joe Orton used … Continue reading “Moon’s First Week — B.R. Myers”
