Donald Kirk

On a brilliant sunny day, at an observation post atop a wooded hill called Dorasan, 40 miles north of Seoul, vehicles were seen moving along a two-lane highway across the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea.

North Korea gets the headlines with sensational reports on its nuclear weapons program, but South Korea also is a nuclear power. The difference is that South Korea’s four nuclear complexes produce nuclear energy, not nuclear explosives, and South Korea is well on its way to emerging as one of the world’s biggest manufacturers and exporters of nuclear reactors. South Korea’s success as a major producer of nuclear energy, however, inevitably arouses suspicions.

The officials and experts and journalists who flocked to the 15th United Nations Climate Conference in the Danish capital of Copenhagen in December were probably in no mood to sing the Frank Loesser song from the 1952 movie “Hans Christian Andersen.” They may have appreciated the welcoming Little Mermaid statue in the harbor, but by the time the talking and arguing was all over they were more likely to be badmouthing and complaining than clinking glasses.

Hyundai Motor broke into the Indian market in the early 1990s and has since established itself as one of the country's most competitive brands. Arvind Saxena, senior vice president, marketing and sales, Hyundai Motor India Limited, answered these questions exclusively for Donald Kirk, long-time correspondent in Seoul and author of "Korean Dynasty: Hyundai and Chung Ju Yung" and numerous articles on the Hyundai empire:

"They won't institutionalize family visits," said Lee Sung-hoon, dean at prestigious Yonsei University.

The debate has already begun over the accomplishments and failures of Kim Dae-jung, as controversial a president in his own way as was his arch-enemy, Park Chung-hee. Historians and political scientists will long argue over whether the Sunshine policy initiated by "DJ," the westernized initials by which he is known among Koreans as well as foreigners, did much good in bringing about North-South reconciliation.

So far it’s only a war of words, but what a war. The vitriol spewed out on all sides in the confrontation of forces on the Korean peninsula is getting more poisonous by the hour. The exchange of threats and innuendoes escalated to a new level in the summit on June 16 at which U.S. President Barack Obama received South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak in the White House.