Asia

This paper provides an analytical assessment of the implications for North and South Korea of recent changes in the Chinese-Russian and U.S.-Japanese security relationships.The evolution of these two security relationships…

During the past few years, the United States has begun three important initiatives that alter its defense commitment to South Korea (Republic of Korea [ROK]). First, Washington started to decrease…

In October 2006, Kim Jong-il’s North Korea again seized international attention. With its claimed underground nuclear test, Pyongyang upped the ante in its confrontation with the United States and the…

Spanning nearly a century and multiple generations, Min Jin Lee's 2017 novel Pachinko tells the story of a Korean family struggling to find their place in Japan before, during, and after…

A woman in hanbok joyfully rises above Mt. Baekdu, arms raised, in a art piece entitled Umma Rises: Towards Global Peace. This is just one of many recent art pieces…

A group of women gossiping about the new neighbor. A feisty middle schooler using a homemade drone to prank his classmates. A young military officer seeking information from his past.…

With President Donald Trump finishing up his first official trip to Asia, including a stop in South Korea last week, this week's episode of Korean Kontext asks: what do South…

By William Brown President Trump made lots of people a little nervous last week, tweeting that China had been “helpful” on North Korea but that “It just hasn’t worked out.” As if resigned to the inevitable, he typed “At least it tried”.  With breaking news TV stations reporting activity at the nuclear test site it…

By Nathaniel Curran The average South Korean receives approximately 20,000 hours of English instruction by the time they finish their education, and in 2013, Korea had an estimated 17,000 hagwons (private academies) teaching English. This means there are more English academies in Korea than McDonalds in the United States (impressive, considering that Korea’s population is…

By Sang Kim and Jenna Gibson These 신조어, or neologisms, allow people to squeeze a longer phrase into just a few syllables – perfect for texting or chatting online. Many of the phrases evolved from Korea’s gaming culture – try typing out full phrases to your opponent while simultaneously trying to direct a cyber army…

By Nathaniel Curran Fake News has been the hot topic of the past year, following the election of Donald Trump. The term has evolved from a description of false-fact to become something of a general pejorative. When Donald Trump denounced CNN as fake news, the subsequent rhetorical effect was less to question the veracity of…