2004 Posts located
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…
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 Nicholas Hamisevicz We now know that the “modest progress” after the U.S’s first meeting with North Korea after the death of Kim Jong-il actually meant that a deal regarding food aid, missile launches, and nuclear tests would be forthcoming. The statement on U.S.-DPRK discussions released today by the U.S. Department of State entails an…
By Sarah K. Yun At the recent talks between North Korea and the United States in Beijing, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy, Glyn Davies, once again stressed the importance of restored inter-Korea relations in order to resume the Six-Party Talks to Kim Gye Gwan, North Korea’s First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. Although…
By Ben Hancock In the face of budget cuts, the education offices of South Korea’s two most populous regions announced in the second half of last year plans to reduce their roster of native English-speaking teachers in coming years. While the scale of the cutbacks in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province is still unclear,…
By Chad 0Carroll The death Kim Jong-il has rekindled debates about the prospects for Korean unification following a period of relatively little public discussion on the matter in South Korean circles. As a result of the difficulties that Kim Jong-un is anticipated to encounter in cementing his hold on power in coming months, some analysts…