KEI Contributor – Mark Tokola

Radio Free Asia featured insights from KEI Vice President Mark Tokola in its latest article on the exchange of letters between President Trump and Kim Jong-un. As the U.S. government…

KEI Vice President Mark Tokola was invited to speak on the geopolitical challenges on the Korean Peninsula for Angelo State University's Distinguished Speaker Series. He was joined by George Hutchinson,…

Writing for the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), KEI Vice President Mark Tokola examines the U.S. and North Korean objectives heading into the February 27–28 summit and offers policy recommendations for…

Writing for the Asan Institute, KEI Vice President Mark Tokola writes about the 1954 Geneva Conference. Many people remember this international conference for ending the First Indochina War and dividing…

Does the forty-fifth president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, have a foreign policy, not least of all inclusive of the vital Northeast Asian region? The question is not…

With an outbreak of diplomacy under way for the Korean Peninsula, a review of North Korea’s approach to negotiations is timely. A summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and…

For the proverbial visitor from Mars, the political situation in Northeast Asia is inexplicable. Sitting amidst a group of relatively stable, wealthy, and powerful countries, is a small, poor, belligerent…

Today’s relationship between the United States and China is more varied, complex, and cooperative than the accumulation of headlines would lead one to believe. The news media and commentators spotlight…

By Mark Tokola When dealing with a country with a leadership that is as singularly top-down as North Korea, it is worthwhile to try to understand what makes their leader tick.  If we understood Kim Jong-un’s goals, preferences, and biases, we would be in a better position to understand whether negotiations on denuclearization are possible,…

By Mark Tokola The story of Kim Jong-nam’s assassination took a bizarre turn with the announcement by Malaysian authorities that the cause of death was a banned chemical weapon, the nerve agent VX.  It is only supposed to be held in limited quantities by the United States and Russia. However, it has been reported that…

By Mark Tokola According to news reports, Kim Jong-un’s brother, Kim Jong-nam, was murdered in Malaysia on February 13.  He reportedly died while being transported from the Kuala Lumpur airport to a hospital, apparently as the result of poisoning, which seems to be the preferred means for modern dictators to dispose of threats (see what…

This is the first in a two part series looking at the potential questions senators should ask Trump Administration officials on North and South Korea policy during their confirmation hearings. The second part looking at the nominees for Commerce and USTR can be found here. By Mark Tokola Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of…