Asia

After the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) is approved by the legislatures of Korea and the United States, it will likely provide a turning point for the countries’ bilateral…

The denuclearization of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) continues to be a source of considerable international concern. Yet, no coherent international framework has emerged to deal with this…

Korea is arguably the premier development success story of the last half century. Despite this success, there has been a nagging sense among many observers that the development of Korea’s…

The unique restriction of a one-time, five-year presidential term in the Republic of Korea (ROK) has often resulted in short-lived changes to the way the nation’s chief executive has staffed…

Covering news on the Korean peninsula can be a hectic task. With all the rapidly evolving developments in economics, politics, and society, it's often hard for journalists who cover the…

With the Trump-Kim Summit in Singapore still on the calendar at least for the moment, pundits and analysts alike have been predicting the outcomes or sharing their advice for how…

With the exception of Gangnam Style, few mainstream radio stations have ever even thought to play Korean pop music. But in the last year or so, the United States has…

On February 9, years of hard work will culminate in the opening of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. A month later, on March 8, the 2018 Winter…

By Jenna Gibson Big news out of Pyongyang – a North Korean factory has made the world’s first hangover-free alcohol. Or so they say. North Korea has long been the butt of jokes, many of them centered on country’s eccentric leaders. This stems in part from curiosity – because news from North Korea is so…

By Mark Tokola, Phil Eskeland, Troy Stangarone, Jenna Gibson, and Kyle Ferrier In the aftermath of North Korea’s nuclear test, 2016 has already begun with a new crisis on the Korean peninsula. As the United States, South Korea, and the rest of the international community work together to address the growing threat from Pyongyang’s expanding…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz A good stretch of optimism in inter-Korean relations ended in December, even before tensions rose in early January 2016 with North Korea’s fourth nuclear test. In December, the two Koreas had a vice-minister meeting, but couldn’t come to any agreements and did not even set a date for future discussions. Moreover, Kim…

By Mark Tokola North Korea’s claim to have recently tested a Hydrogen bomb is disputable because the explosion seems to have been no larger than during its 2013 test of a “conventional” nuclear device.  That does not in itself diminish the seriousness of North Korea having conducted a fourth nuclear weapons test.  Foreign policy questions…