The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Garbage collector mistakes sex doll for corpse

  • 3

    Netflix announces password sharing crackdown in Korea

  • 5

    Seoul city council under fire for sexual conduct guidelines for teachers

  • 7

    Major webtoon platforms' fight against piracy

  • 9

    4 South Korean activists arrested for executing orders from Pyongyang

  • 11

    Japanese comic series 'Slam Dunk' enjoys resurgence on back of animated film

  • 13

    President pledges support for Korean chipmakers to overcome crisis

  • 15

    $120,000 banana, praying Hitler: Infamous art world prankster Maurizio Cattelan's first Seoul outing

  • 17

    Korea's presidential couple celebrates recovery of Cambodian boy who received heart surgery

  • 19

    Retired actress Shim Eun-ha denies rumor of return

  • 2

    Free subway rides for elderly emerge as headache for Seoul mayor

  • 4

    Korea seeks measures to better protect foreign workers

  • 6

    Samsung unveils new Galaxy S23 smartphone

  • 8

    Retailers return to Myeong-dong as more foreign tourists visit

  • 10

    Is non-consensual sex not rape?

  • 12

    ENHYPEN-inspired webtoon 'Dark Moon: The Blood Altar' surpasses 100 million views

  • 14

    INTERVIEWA touch of authenticity in Korea's Mexican cuisine scene

  • 16

    Income gap widening among workers

  • 18

    China imposes mandatory virus tests for arrivals from Korea only in latest protest over curbs

  • 20

    Pyongyang threatens eye-for-eye response as US B-1B bombers join drills in South Korea

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • Yun Byung-se
  • Kim Won-soo
  • Ahn Ho-young
  • Kim Sang-woo
  • Lee Kyung-hwa
  • Mitch Shin
  • Peter S. Kim
  • Daniel Shin
  • Jeon Su-mi
  • Jang Daul
  • Song Kyung-jin
  • Park Jung-won
  • Cho Hee-kyoung
  • Park Chong-hoon
  • Kim Sung-woo
  • Donald Kirk
  • John Burton
  • Robert D. Atkinson
  • Mark Peterson
  • Eugene Lee
  • Rushan Ziatdinov
  • Lee Jong-eun
  • Chyung Eun-ju and Joel Cho
  • Bernhard J. Seliger
  • Imran Khalid
  • Troy Stangarone
  • Jason Lim
  • Casey Lartigue, Jr.
  • Bernard Rowan
  • Steven L. Shields
  • Deauwand Myers
  • John J. Metzler
  • Andrew Hammond
  • Sandip Kumar Mishra
Fri, February 3, 2023 | 11:54
Donald Kirk
Playing games with war games
Posted : 2021-03-11 16:20
Updated : 2021-03-15 15:19
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Donald Kirk

South Korea is putting out one of the crazier pleas in the history of warfare. They're saying to the North Koreans, in effect, please don't mind if we play war games with your enemy the Americans, no hard feelings, doesn't mean a thing, they're making us do it.

That's the inference of the plea from the unification ministry calling on the North Koreans to be "wise and flexible" in their response to what the ministry is careful to call the "scaled-back" nature of the ongoing games. Just because the commands of the two historic allies, the U.S. and South Korea, are talking to one another on computers, the South wants the North to know, doesn't mean we hate you. Sure, they may be marshalling forces, staging strikes, invading your territory on computer screens, but it's only a game, all in fun, don't take it personally.

Whether the North takes offense or shrugs off this annual ritual of joint war games, there's no doubt the U.S. and South Korea are compromising themselves by limiting the exercises to command functions. You don't have to be a military expert to know that troops have to play games in the field, on the ground, in the air and at sea to be ready for anything. Heaven help us if the North Koreans were to marshal invasion forces as in 1950 or mount an isolated attack for a limited goal such as the sinking of the Cheonan nearly a decade ago.

You also don't have to be a North Korea expert to know the North is in no position now to invade anything. You can justify the decision to downplay the games considering that Kim Jong-un has been berating his ministers about conquering economic difficulties. It's even got to point where North Korean ministers have had to acknowledge and apologize for their errors.

Surely these beleaguered bureaucrats, not Kim or his father, Kim Jong-il, or grandfather, regime founder Kim Il-sung, must take the blame. Hopefully, none of these people, who must go around in constant fear of wrath from on high, have been imprisoned or executed, but you never know. The Kimster in the nine years and three months since he took the reins after the death of his father should have focused much earlier on economic reform rather than squander resources on nukes and missiles. Still, rocked by sanctions and COVID 19, the Kim dynasty is sure to survive as it's been doing in the face of recurrent predictions of its demise ever since the tremendous suffering inflicted in the Korean War.

The emphasis on economic reform doesn't mean, though, that Kim has gone through an epiphany, preaching his version of the "sermon on the mount" while discarding old bad ways. The International Atomic Energy Agency boss, Rafael Mariano Grossi, reports that Kim's scientists and engineers have gone ahead building warheads and the missiles on which to send them anywhere from nearby targets in South Korea and Japan to the U.S. Nobody in his right mind thinks Kim is going to give up his precious nukes and missiles no matter what "pet formulas" are devised by assorted diplomats, professors and think tank analysts for forcing him into acquiescence.

That reality, however, still isn't sinking in among those who dream of kissing and making up with the North Koreans. Scaling down the games, we're told, is all in keeping with efforts "to establish stable and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula." Talk is talk, but does anyone believe Kim is going to walk the walk?

North Korea, immersed in its own winter war games involving tens of thousands of its 1.2-mllion troops, may not have the means to attack the South, but it's highly unlikely that scaling back the South Korea-U.S. war games will make the slightest difference. Kim obviously wants a complete halt to cooperation between the two allies along with withdrawal of almost all U.S. troops from the South.

North Korea may fire off rhetorical barrages, maybe test-fire a missile or two, but Kim cannot really do much more than that. Rather than scale back the exercises, the U.S. and South Korea should have exploited North Korea's weakness by ramping them up, sending tanks and troops under cover of fighter planes, rampaging through hallowed training grounds south of the Demilitarized Zone as they were doing a few years ago.

Kim would then have had something to think about, maybe even consider serious talks on scaling back his own defenses, including his nukes and missiles.


Donald Kirk (www.donaldkirk.com) writes from Seoul as well as Washington.


 
Top 10 Stories
1Seoul city council under fire for sexual conduct guidelines for teachers Seoul city council under fire for sexual conduct guidelines for teachers
2Samsung unveils new Galaxy S23 smartphone Samsung unveils new Galaxy S23 smartphone
3[INTERVIEW] A touch of authenticity in Korea's Mexican cuisine scene INTERVIEWA touch of authenticity in Korea's Mexican cuisine scene
4Pyongyang threatens eye-for-eye response as US B-1B bombers join drills in South KoreaPyongyang threatens eye-for-eye response as US B-1B bombers join drills in South Korea
5Police to introduce new measures to better handle intoxicated people Police to introduce new measures to better handle intoxicated people
6Gov't announces measures to cope with shortage of surgeons Gov't announces measures to cope with shortage of surgeons
7[INTERVIEW] 'Extended deterrence is best option to ensure peace on Korean Peninsula' INTERVIEW'Extended deterrence is best option to ensure peace on Korean Peninsula'
8[INTERVIEW] US-NK summit is unlikely in 2023: Korea Society INTERVIEWUS-NK summit is unlikely in 2023: Korea Society
9[INTERVIEW] IMF expects no recession for Korean economy INTERVIEWIMF expects no recession for Korean economy
10Taxi passengers in Seoul taken aback by fare increase Taxi passengers in Seoul taken aback by fare increase
Top 5 Entertainment News
1Major webtoon platforms' fight against piracy Major webtoon platforms' fight against piracy
2ENHYPEN-inspired webtoon 'Dark Moon: The Blood Altar' surpasses 100 million views ENHYPEN-inspired webtoon 'Dark Moon: The Blood Altar' surpasses 100 million views
3$120,000 banana, praying Hitler: Infamous art world prankster Maurizio Cattelan's first Seoul outing $120,000 banana, praying Hitler: Infamous art world prankster Maurizio Cattelan's first Seoul outing
4PULL UP: VIVIZ returns with new song about gossipers PULL UP: VIVIZ returns with new song about gossipers
5Park Hyung-sik to play crown prince in tvN series 'Our Blooming Youth' Park Hyung-sik to play crown prince in tvN series 'Our Blooming Youth'
DARKROOM
  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

  • World Cup 2022 France vs Morocco

    World Cup 2022 France vs Morocco

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group