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…

In this special episode of Korean Kontext, KEI's Juni Kim sat down with three North Korean defectors who have settled in South Korea. Each of them has a different story…

On May 10, former human rights lawyer Moon Jae-In officially became the next president of South Korea, filling an office that had been empty since former President Park Geun-Hye's impeachment…

The upcoming presidential election in Korea on May 9th will place many key issues under the microscope. One meriting serious consideration that has featured less prominently in the political discourse…

After the closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex last year, economic ties between North and South Korea have all but ceased. And as sanctions measures continue to tighten, the international…

In May of this year, the United States introduced a draft UN Security Council Resolution (S/2022/431) that would have responded to a North Korean ICBM test on March 24. By chance, the formal Chinese and Russian rejection of the proposal—which included additional sanctions on Pyongyang--came in the wake of a landmark decision taken by the…

After several years of frozen diplomacy, the current Korean government's drive to reset relations with Japan seems to be on an upswing. Even before taking office, President Yoon Suk-Yeol dispatched a delegation of aides to meet with Japanese officials in Tōkyō. He followed that with attendance at a trilateral meeting with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio…

At the conclusion of the 50th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the President of the Council named eight individuals to human rights related positions, including Elizabeth Salmón as the “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea.”  Salmón is a professor of international…

Newly inaugurated president Yoon Suk Yeol made his international debut at the NATO summit held in Madrid, Spain. South Korea and three other Indo-Pacific states were invited to summit ahead of publication of the alliance's new "strategic concept," that mentions China for the first time. Experts say South Korea can expand its longstanding relations with…