The Olympics as Diplomacy

CHARLOTTE, NC – South Korea has offered to talk with the North about joining next month’s Olympics…so could this potentially signal that the Korean Peninsula wants to use the winter games as a diplomatic solution to the nuclear crisis?

The nuclear taunting between the U.S. and North Korea has escalated, with President Trump tweeting that his “button” is bigger that the North Korean leader. Will South Korea’s paying “good cop” to Trump’s “bad cop” be an opening for a compromise?

The Olympics, in the past, have been center stage for political statements that have led to diplomatic discourse – in positive and negatives ways. Will the 2018 winter games bring a breakthrough? Or is North Korea playing for time and using overtures as a way to drive a wedge between South Korea and the U.S.?

Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis offers more perspective.

An Impasse in North Korea

CHARLOTTE, NC– World leaders are trying to figure to out how to deal with North Korea. This comes after North Korea claimed to have successfully launched it’s largest nuke ever, on Sunday. Amid the threat, South Korea has stepped up its live military exercises.

Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis offers more perspective on the role of the North Korea’s other neighbors and the U.S.

The Heat: Journalist round table talks Wikileaks, THAAD, travel ban

China’s Two Sessions continue as the U.S. begins to install the controversial THAAD missile defense system in South Korea. Meanwhile, international outcry as WikiLeaks reveals CIA secrets and Trump’s travel ban makes its second appearance.

All these stories and more on The Heat’s weekly roundtable with a panel of journalists:

    • Qinduo Xu, political analyst for China Radio International
    • Nathan King, CGTN correspondent
    • Eduardo Cue, an international freelance journalist
    • Mary C. Curtis, a columnist for Roll Call