Asia

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (henceforth North Korea) certainly seems to like being different from other countries. Whereas governments of virtually all the world’s countries regularly publish data on…

Recent developments on the Korean peninsula are raising expectations that the DPRK may finally be ready for a new era of political rapprochement and economic opening. This possibility is reflected…

The United States and Korea finished the eighth round of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) in mid-March 2007, and the agreement is likely to be concluded eventually.1…

The U.S.-ROK bilateral economic relationship entered a new era 1 April 2007 when President George W. Bush notified the U.S. Congress of his intent to enter into a free trade…

This week, we delve into how Japan views the security threat from China, and how these perceptions shape Japanese policy. For this, we turn to security expert Dr. Narushige Michishita.…

Last week, North Korea launched its Seventh Worker's Party Congress, a major meeting of regime leaders that has not been convened in 36 years. Although analysts had high expectations for…

In this episode, we take a step back from the Korean Peninsula and take a look at Northeast Asia from the perspective of one of its neighbors – Russia. In…

On May 1, South Korean President Park Geun-hye will travel to Tehran, Iran for a summit meeting with her counterpart, President Hassan Rouhani. This visit will be the first time a…

Attendees at a reception last week by the South Korean Embassy at Tokyo’s New Otani Hotel, held to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Japan, were pleasantly surprised when Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba showed up to deliver a warm address. He was followed by former prime…

From June 16 to 17, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung attended the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Kananaskis, Canada. This was Lee’s debut on the global stage just thirteen days after he was elected to office. Despite very little time to prepare for multilateral summit meetings, Lee’s attendance offered a timely opportunity to…

In March 2025, South Korea admitted for the first time that the government doctored paperwork and faked the identities of at least 367 children between 1964 and 1999 in a bid for political and economic gains. South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), an independent body established by the government to investigate historical injustices, described…

On May 28, 2025, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) issued a permanent injunction against wide-sweeping tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump administration using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which included universal and reciprocal tariffs announced on “Liberation Day” as well as fentanyl-related tariffs. The CIT’s three-judge panel held that the U.S.…