Asia

Tensions between South Korea and Japan are frustratingly persistent. Despite the shared interests of both countries, such as economic development in Southeast Asia, and keeping a robust alliance with the…

While North Korea has developed Special Economic Zones for several decades now, these zones have attracted little attention from foreign investors, due to a mix of lack of economic reforms…

A coherent North Korea strategy must proceed from a theory of North Korean politics, strategy, and decision-making. Structured analytic techniques, particularly the analysis of competing hypotheses (ACH), are instrumental in…

During 2017-18, international attention turned to the Korean Peninsula as the threat of conflict reached new heights. This led to an explosion in the growth of “North Korea watchers”— the…

2018 has been an incredibly eventful year for both the Koreas and the U.S.-Korea relationship: from North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics at the start of the year to…

Interest in the Korean peninsula is generally very narrow in the United States – it tends to be focused on North Korea and security issues, particularly the country's ballistic and…

Last Friday, on November 30, 2018, President George H.W. Bush passed away. In the days that followed, there were many discussions in the foreign policy community about the late president's…

What does a unified Korea look like? Beyond the question of whether the government of this new country will be a unitary or federal one, how will the people –…

By Jenna Gibson North Korea may be all but cut off from the international community, but that has not stopped the reclusive regime from entering the public spotlight every two years for the Olympic Games. The DPRK’s first foray into the Olympic field was in the 1964 Winter Games, where they won one medal –…

By Caleb Cho In early June, a North Korean agent was arrested by Chinese authorities in Dandong, China, the largest border city facing North Korea, due to a number of fake 100 U.S. dollar bills exchanged for Chinese currency at two Chinese banks. The total amount of his deposit was reportedly $ 5 million worth,…

By Hojun Song On July 26, 2016, the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army held a send-off ceremony for deployment of the 18th rotation of the Dongmyeong Unit. This contingent will depart for the United Nations peacekeeping operation (PKO) in Lebanon in early August, renewing its record as South Korea’s longest overseas peacekeeping mission. The Dongmyeong…

By Hojun Song On May 27, 2016, during her official state visit to Ethiopia, President Park Geun-hye visited soldiers from the Hanbit unit, which consists of South Korean troops deployed as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. She praised their hard work and encouraged them to keep upmost efforts in assisting…