Asia

The automobile industry is a dynamic and significant sec-tor in most of the major economies in the world. It is closely related to various other manufacturing sectors such as rubber,…

More than two decades ago, when the USSR still existed and the concept of the world socialist system presumed that all socialist countries were developing as one, I argued (still…

One cannot enter the same river twice. Every time one looks at North Korea, on the surface it appears boringly the same. Its life fl ows in the same predictable…

As one might say that, without a proper understanding of juche, Kim Il-sung’s North Korea cannot be comprehended, one might also say that a proper understanding of Kim Jong-il’s North…

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…

In this week's South Korea polling data from the Asan Institute for Policy Studies most of the races remained largely unchanged. President Lee Myung-bak's approval rating remained below 30 percent for the entire week and the progressive candidates support remained largely flat. Park Geun-hye did open up a 5 percent lead in the head-to-head match up…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz Last week North Korea and Japan held their first government-to-government talks in four years. These discussions seemed to be a part of a summer of diplomatic outreach by North Korea. The meetings centered on handling the remains of Japanese soldiers that were killed on the Korean peninsula during World War II. Japan…

As a new feature here on the on The Peninsula blog we will be featuring weekly polling data from South Korea in association with The Asan Institute for Policy Studies. The polls from The Asan Institute for Policy Studies will feature weekly tracking data for presidential and legislative approval, as well as head-to-head match-ups for…

Chad O’Carroll, the host of Korean Context, recently set down with Dr. Jennifer Lind of Dartmouth. The following covers their discussion of the challenges Northeast Asia has faced with the issues of apologies and the recent changes in North Korea. Chad O’Carroll – You have done a lot of work regarding apologies between states and…