Commuters stop to watch a TV news programme showing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s New Year address, at the Seoul Railway Station on January 1. Photo: AP

What South Korea is risking in Winter Olympics diplomacy with nuclear North Korea and Kim Jong-un

Donald Kirk says the South Korean president may yearn for reconciliation but he must give priority to defence, as the Olympic message of peace did not win over North Korea in the past and is even more unlikely to do so now

Topic | Moon Jae-in

Donald Kirk

Published: 1:00pm, 2 Jan, 2018

Updated: 7:12pm, 2 Jan, 2018

Commuters stop to watch a TV news programme showing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s New Year address, at the Seoul Railway Station on January 1. Photo: AP

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Donald Kirk

Donald Kirk is an author and journalist from Washington, D.C., and travels to South Korea, with stops in London, India, Pakistan, the Middle East, Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines, among other places, writing on the confrontation of forces in the post-September 11 era. He was the Seoul correspondent for the International Herald Tribune from 1997 to 2003. Before gravitating to Northeast Asia, he covered much of the Vietnam War for the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Star. He has also written books on Korea, notably Korea Betrayed: Kim Dae Jung and Sunshine and Korean Dynasty: Hyundai and Chung Ju Yung.