Japan

KEI President Scott Snyder was interviewed by the Voice of America Korean Service for the “Washington Talk” show. This video was published in Voice of America on March 30, 2024.  …

This article was published on The Asan Forum on September 4, 2023. The first ever stand-alone leader-level summit at Camp David between President Biden, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan,…

What Happened In a speech commemorating Korea’s declaration of independence from Japan in 1919, President Moon indicated his government's desire to improve ties with Japan. The speech reaffirmed Moon’s long-standing push to separate bilateral discussions on the legacy of Japan’s colonial occupation from talks on security and other future-oriented concerns. Moon also stated that improving relations with…

What Happened After a 7-year trial, the Seoul court ruled on January 8 that the Japanese government must pay reparations to 12 Korean women who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels during WWII. The Japanese government claimed the legal case should be dropped based on state immunity, a doctrine that makes states immune to civil suits…

Joseph Biden will be inaugurated on Wednesday, 20 January, bringing the Trump era to an end. Under the 45th president, American alliances faced significant stress from his skepticism of multilateralism and preference for transactional agreements. The U.S.-ROK alliance was no different, with friction arising between Seoul and Washington from time to time. As the Biden…

We were reminded last year that it can be difficult to anticipate the events that will dominate any given year. As 2020 began, few people expected focus of the world or the Korean Peninsula to be on a global pandemic, but that is how the year unfolded. South Korea has handled the pandemic relatively well…