Tag: United States

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has taken another swipe at South Korea:

U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump denounced the free trade pact with South Korea as a “job killing” deal Thursday, pledging to totally renegotiate what he called “horrible” trade agreements.

It was not the first time Trump has voiced criticism of the Korea-U.S. trade agreement, but Thursday’s remark carried greater weight as it came in his first speech since formally winning the nomination at the national convention under way in Cleveland.

In a nationally televised nomination acceptance speech, Trump criticized his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for supporting many trade deals hurting the American middle class, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and for supporting China’s entrance into the World Trade Organization.

“She supported the job-killing trade deal with South Korea. She has supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The TPP will not only destroy our manufacturing, but it will make America subject to the rulings of foreign governments,” Trump said. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but considering how the Korean left was against the US-ROK FTA does this mean that the Korean left are fans of Donald Trump? Now that would be an odd pairing.

There may be tensions between the countries in the Pacific region with China due to their territorial grab in the South China Sea, but those tensions are being put aside in order to work together during the 2016 RIMPAC exercise kicking off in Hawaii:

The hot topic for the Rim of the Pacific remains unchanged from the last version of the maritime exercise in 2014: China.

This marks the second time China has been a full participant in RIMPAC, bringing five ships compared with two in 2014, and the country will play a much larger role.

During a Tuesday news conference kicking off the six-week exercise — the largest so far — Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Scott Swift was flanked by top commanders from many of the 26 participating nations. Beside him was Vice Adm. Nora Tyson, commander of the U.S. Third Fleet, who is heading the exercise’s combined task force.

Swift’s opening remarks didn’t mention China by name, but his first talking point echoed repeated calls by U.S. civilian and military officials to maintain the U.S.-led status quo in the Pacific region in response to ever-greater Chinese military might.

“[RIMPAC] brings together 26 nations from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania,” Swift said. “This is what the international maritime community does in ensuring the norms, standards, rules and laws that have provided the great stability and security — the foundation for prosperity — that we’ve all enjoyed over the last 70 years.”

The biennial exercise is “a recurring answer to the divisive angst and tensions that put security and stability at risk in this region,” he said.  [Stars & Stripes]

This is what the Chinese Navy will be training with the US on during RIMPAC:

As it did in 2014, China sent the hospital ship Peace Ark, along with the guided missile destroy Xian, guided-missile frigate Hengshui, fleet oiler Gaoyouhui and the submarine logistics vessel Changxingdao.

China will participate in a new submarine rescue scenario, among other drills.

“For any country that has submarines, submarine rescue is very important,” Tyson told reporters. “I think it’s great we’re bringing these submarine rescue capabilities together so that we understand what is available in case we have an emergency with a submarine. There is a global system that will respond if any of us were to have an emergency with a submarine.”

You can read more at the link, but something of interests is that all surface vessels during the exercise are required to “Go Green” and use biofuels to power their ships.

Is it time to scrap the KORUS FTA?  US Presidential candidate Donald Trump thinks so, but the ROK finance minister disagrees:

Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho refuted remarks by U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that the free trade agreement between Korea and the United States (KORUS FTA) undermines the American economy.

Minister Yoo made his remarks a day after Trump lambasted the KORUS FTA as “a job-killing deal” and said the deal “doubles our trade deficit with Korea and will destroy nearly 100,000 American jobs.”

Yoo also said joining the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is “very important” for countries in the Pacific region, a stance in stark contrast with Trump’s pledge that he will pull the U.S. out of the 12-nation body if he is elected.

“That will not help any people in the world,” Yoo said during an American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM Korea) General Membership Meeting.

Yoo said that Seoul acknowledges that some criticize the KORUS FTA citing the increased U.S. current account deficit, but stressed that the deal’s advantages “easily outweigh” the disadvantages.

“Trump’s remarks show that he does not understand the KORUS FTA,” Yoo said. “The sales of American automobiles in Korea soared by 28 percent annually, which makes Korea the second largest market for U.S. carmakers,” he said, adding that Samsung Electronics and Lotte Chemical have invested some $15 billion and $3 billion in the U.S., respectively.

Over Trump’s remarks, widely translated as protectionist, Yoo urged that the deal ― which marks its fourth anniversary this year ― should be consolidated further. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Hong Myong-ki, head of an organization honoring Korean freedom fighter Ahn Chang-ho, talks about “Pachapa Camp,” the first Koreatown in the United States, at a meeting of the cultural committee of Riverside City, California, on June 15, 2016. The panel later agreed on the designation of the camp as a historic site. Ahn, who came to America in 1902, set up the camp in the city in 1904, when many Koreans worked at orange farms in the region. Hong said the camp was virtually a base for a movement for Korea’s liberation from the Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945). The City Council will make a final decision on the designation on Aug. 28. (Yonhap)

This is what teaching has come to in the U.S. pic.twitter.com/GUQ8dYcfci

— Anita Kellogg (@arkellogg) June 16, 2016

I wonder what burger joint Trump would hold this proposed summit at?  Would Dennis Rodman be invited?:

 

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Wednesday he would “accept” North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the United States and hold nuclear negotiations with him while eating hamburgers, according to news reports.

“If he came here, I’d accept him,” Trump said during campaigning in Atlanta, reaffirming his willingness to meet with the North’s leader, according to reports. “Who the hell cares? I’ll talk to anybody.”

Trump first expressed his willingness to meet with Kim in an interview last month, drawing criticism not only from critics, but also from his own party that such a meeting would end up bolstering the dictator.

But while Trump has insisted on his willingness to speak to the North’s leader, but said he won’t go to the North for such talks.

Should Kim visit the U.S., Trump said he won’t throw him a state dinner.

“I wouldn’t give him a state dinner like China or all these other nations who are ripping us off,” Trump was quoted as saying. “We should be eating a hamburger on a conference table and making better deals.”

Trump said he will only “make a good deal” if he were to hold talks with the North’s leader.

The real-estate tycoon was also quoted as saying that there’s a “10 percent or 20 percent chance” he could talk Kim out of developing nuclear weapons.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I think Donald Trump is over estimating his negotiating skills if he thinks he has up to a 20% chance of talking Kim out of developing nuclear weapons.  The only deal I can see  that would convince the Kim regime of stopping their nuclear weapons development would be to allow them to conquer South Korea.  This is obviously something the US would never agree to so what deal does Trump have in mind that would convince them?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out because it appears that the Chinese are all in, in regards to their South China Sea claims, is the US and its regional allies all in as well to deter them?

As a rising power, China is roughly charting the same course the Americans and Soviets did 50 years ago. China has land-based missiles, bombers, and missile submarines. And China is establishing its own bastion — in the South China Sea. This sea grab is a logical response to China’s strategic dilemma.

China’s coming submarine deployment is allegedly in response to the deployment of the American THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea. While it is true that the U.S. is deploying THAAD on the Korean peninsula, the system can only be used against missiles targeting South Korea — coming from China’s ally, North Korea. China’s explanation is designed to make Beijing look like the victim. But China, which has its main submarine missile base adjacent to the South China Sea, has been preparing to sail its missile submarines there for years.

China’s aggression in the South China Sea is not likely merely for aggression’s sake, or the result of a rising power feeling its oats. China is acting out of strategic necessity, something even more dangerous because it feels it is doing something because it must, not simply because it can. The ruling Chinese Communist Party has made the calculation that the strategic benefits — having a safe location for its nuclear missile submarines — outweighs the negative attention the country is receiving worldwide.

What does that mean? It means that Beijing is not going to back down. Chinese nuclear weapons, which are the ultimate guarantor of Communist Party rule, are involved, and anything crucial to the survival of the regime is non-negotiable. Barring a new nuclear strategy — perhaps one that rules out submarines and relies on land-based missiles hidden in tunnels — controlling the sea is a must. Beijing has access to other stretches of the Pacific, but they can be easily accessed by traditional rivals including Taiwan and Japan. The South China Sea, for example, is adjacent to a number of relatively poor, weak states.  [The Week]

You can read the rest at the link.

Is the below nonsense really the focus now of America’s colleges?  If so, no wonder college graduates today are having such a hard time finding a job.  When I was in college I spent too much time working and studying to get one of the dreaded STEM degrees to have time to worry about “safe spaces’ and “trigger warnings”:

Just as the social turmoil of the 1960s generated new vocabulary — turn-on, sit-in, sexism — this latest wave of activism and upheaval is adding to our lexicon, with terms such as safe space, trigger warning, microaggression and cultural appropriation, which we explore here. We asked student leaders and activists from local universities to define these terms for us and to elaborate based on their own thoughts and experiences.

Many students believe these concepts foster inclusion, increase sensitivity and set up parameters in which difficult conversations can occur and marginalized voices can be heard. But critics, both on campus and off, call the concepts limiting, unrealistic, even un-American. They argue that creating safe spaces and using trigger warnings, for example, serve only to stifle free speech, coddle students and ignore both history and the reality found off campus.  [Washington Post]

You have to read the whole thing because did you know that it is “cultural appropriation” and disrespectful to get for example braids or wear a headscarf if you are not from that culture?  So all the foreigners that come to Korea and get pictures taken in hanboks I guess are disrespectful to Koreans according to today’s American college students?

It makes me wonder if all this nonsense is going to eventually trickle into Korean universities as well?

A Korean researcher with a think tank has published an opinion article on why the South Korean government should take advantage of Trump’s offer to allow the ROK to develop nuclear weapons if he is elected President.  To break the status quo on the Korean peninsula it would take a policy that has the potential to really shake up the current security paradigm which the ROK developing nuclear weapons would definitely do:

Rather than criticizing Trump, Korea may announcethat it would not develop at this time, but prepare for development of nuclear and anti-nuclear weapons. While seriouslyand feverishly working on these weapons, Korea may ask China, as well as the U.S., to strongly intervene in North Korean affairs to abandon their nuclear programs as a condition for Korea to abandon its own nuclear programs.

In view of North Korea’s progress made in developing short-range missiles that can carry nuclear weapons, Trump’s view may well providea timely diplomatic cover for Korea to really improve its defensive posture and to put heavy pressure for North Korea to negotiate.

When the opponent is as vicious and sneaky as leaders of North Korea, who made complete fools out of Bill Clinton and Kim Dae-jung as well as all of Kim Dae-jung’s successors before Park Geunjye, Korea has to negotiate from the position of strength without which North Korea will clearly not give in. [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link.

I understand that having a nuclear weapon used against you is a horrible experience, but the two atomic bombs were a key factor in ending World War II which ultimately brought independence to the entire Korean peninsula:

A group of South Korean victims of the U.S. atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Thursday demanded an apology and compensation from both the United States and Japan.

“Nuclear bombs were dropped and Koreans in Japan at the time were victims,” a shelter for bombing victims in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province, said in a press release.

The demand comes as U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Hiroshima later this month, making him the first sitting American president to do so.

The victims pointed out that “Japan has thoroughly hid its own war crimes while only emphasizing the fact that it was victimized by the bombing.”  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link, but I recommend readers check out this link to see why I think the US has nothing to apologize for in regards to using nuclear weapons to end World War II.