Asia

While the use of the term “Indo-Pacific” is relatively new, debates about its use echo longstanding arguments about how the region should be defined: who is in, who is out,…

Japan’s Indo-Pacific Strategy predates that of the U.S. In fact, Abe Shinzo gets credit for envisioning it as early as 2007, during his first brief tenure as prime minister. When…

Over the past decade, the “Indo-Pacific” concept has replaced the late 20th century “Asia-Pacific” as a central frame of reference for strategy and external policy. Definitions vary. Some cast the…

KEI’s 2023 Report on American Attitudes Toward the Korean Peninsula summarizes results from a survey commissioned by KEI and conducted by YouGov from August 22nd to August 29th, 2023. The…

This interview originally aired in 2014.  With the retirement by Yi So-yeon, South Korea’s remaining astronaut, many have turned attention to Korea, wondering whether there is a future for its…

In this episode, we spoke with Kevin O'Donnell, who, after decades on a private sector career path, became the first-ever Peace Corps country director for South Korea, followed by a…

As North Korea's largest trading partner and political ally, China is a crucial factor in any potential solution to curb North Korea's weapons programs. President Trump expressed hope earlier this year…

In December 1950, while fighting the advancing Chinese army and bitter Korean winter, Colonel Edward Forney and other American and Korean officers managed to evacuate all troops as well as…

By Elizabeth Hervey Stephen In a recent piece in the Asia Sentinel, which was re-posted in The Irrawaddy, Philip Bowring correctly noted that South Korea is facing a population crisis with sustained low fertility in the range of 1.2 children per woman.  As one solution to the birth dearth, he proposes looking toward reunification with North…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz The past few weeks have not been a good for India’s relations with the Korean peninsula as it recently went through a minor diplomatic rough patch with both North and South Korea. Though relatively undamaging, these situations indicated some of the difficulties in dealing with India. For South Korea, its embassy in…

By Chad 0'Carroll Last week we published the first part of an extensive interview by KEI’s Chad 0'Carroll with Dr. Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University on the prospects for economic reform in North Korea. In the second part of the interview Chad discusses with Dr. Lankov what the U.S. can do to encourage reform in…

KEI’s Chad 0'Carroll recently interviewed Dr. Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University on the prospects for economic reform in North Korea and reunification. Dr. Lankov is scholar of Asia and a specialist in North Korea. Part 1 of the interview focuses on the likelihood that the new regime in Pyongyang will undertake economic reforms. Part 2,…