When liberty becomes empire: Sungsoo Kim’s response to the Greenland crisis

‘We must speak plainly about what we are witnessing.’

by Sungsoo Kim 30th January 2026

The echo across a century is chilling. In 1910, Japan justified its military annexation of Korea with a claim of strategic necessity: better Japanese control than Chinese or Russian dominance. Thirty-five years of brutal colonial rule followed, ending only with atomic fire in 1945. Now, in 2026, we hear similar language from a US president regarding Greenland: if the United States doesn’t take control, China or Russia will.