Asia

For industrial nations like South Korea, the stakes are high as increasing competition among populous Asian countries for dwindling resources presents a very serious threat to economic stability and national…

Green growth was put into policy actions by the Korean government in January 2009. Having adopted “low carbon, green growth” as the new national vision put forward by President Lee…

Korea’s V-shaped recovery from the Great Recession that began in early 2009 was among the fastest in the world and gave way to a robust expansion in 2010 that is…

It is undeniable that Korea successfully overcame the global financial crisis faster than any other country in the world. Last year, the Financial Times complimented Korea as it seemed to…

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 Nicholas Hamisevicz It is the start of a new year, which means it is time to start parsing through North Korea’s New Year’s message. Like last year, Kim Jong Un delivered the New Year’s message in a speech. These are the first major policy guidelines and ideas announced since the purge of his uncle,…

By Troy Stangarone In a sense, the events of 2013 on the Korean peninsula began in December of 2012. In the days leading up to South Korea’s presidential election, North Korea successfully put its first satellite in orbit, defying UN prohibitions on long-range missile tests. Less than a week later, South Korea would elect Park…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz On December 26, Japan’s Prime Minister Abe Shinzo visited the Yasukuni Shrine, a memorial Shinto shrine that honors Japanese war dead, including fourteen Class-A war criminals. The visit is unlikely to do much harm to Abe domestically, but foreign policy in the region will be a casualty. The visit confirms South Korean and Chinese perceptions…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz It looks like South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) got it right when they suggested to National Assembly members that Jang Song Taek had been removed from his leadership posts in North Korea. Kim Jong-un made it very clear and very public that Jang Song Taek was out of favor and out…