Trump-Kim smackdown leaves South Koreans cold

JONATHAN MANTHORPE: International Affairs May 13, 2017 For a while it looked as though Donald Trump was the white horse on a cresting wave of right-wing demagogy rushing to break over liberal democracies world-wide. But the defeat of Trump’s neo-Nazi fellow travellers

North Korea’s Kim rattles the bars of his cage

JONATHAN MANTHORPE: International Affairs May 7, 2016 A good rule of thumb is to always be deeply suspicious of optimistic projections for the future of North Korea. There have been some rose-tinted forecasts wafting from Pyongyang this week as the Workers’ Party

Has a crack opened between North and South Korea?

After more than six decades of hostility – including the devastating 1950-53 civil war – is North Korea now serious about trying to improve relations with South Korea?  International Affairs columnist Jonathan Manthorpe examines the possibilities. An excerpt of his new column, Lightning-strike diplomacy