Asia

This paper examines policies in the renewables sector across various countries and where political tensions could generate suboptimal outcomes for the sector’s development. In its analysis of supply- and demand-side…

With North Korea becoming increasingly politically isolated, there are few channels through which the international community can remain engaged. Despite the distaste most have for Pyongyang politics, more than 24…

This paper compares Sino–South Korean management of bilateral economic and political tensions; it argues that China’s WTO entry has provided an external institutional framework for managing disputes on the economic…

On 19 December 2003, the leader of Libya, Col. Muammar El-Qaddafi, shocked the world by abruptly stating that his country was renouncing its attempts to develop weapons of mass destruction…

Since the death of Kim Il-sung in 1994 there have been numerous predictions that the collapse of the North Korean political system would be imminent, yet the Kim dynasty continues…

In February 2014, the United Nations' special Commission of Inquiry on on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched their report, laying out more than 400…

Starting from the period after the Korean War and continuing today, more than 100,000 Korean children were adopted around the world. As they get older, many of them decide to…

Much has been said about the power of outside information – news, weather, and even soap operas – to influence the North Korean public. But a new report takes a…

This is the first in a two part series looking at the entry of South and North Korea into the United Nations. The second part can be found here. September 17 marked the 30th anniversary of the entry of North Korea and South Korea into full membership in the United Nations.  In recommending admission of…

What Happened In early September 2021, a human rights group brought public attention to the suicide of a verbal and physical bullying victim in the South Korean navy. This comes on the heels of several recent highly-publicized suicides and abuse incidents within the Korean military. In response to years of public pressure, the government has steadily advanced changes, including civilian court trials for military personnel…

What Happened Until December 2020, Korea maintained a singular publicly mandated digital authentication system for accessing online services. Surveys showed that this protocol was unpopular among users. In December 2020, the government began allowing online vendors to use authentication systems of their choosing. However, the change has caused confusion as many people are now unable to access online services using verification…

A few months ago, the New York Times reported that North Korea’s ruler, Kim Jong-un, had called K-pop a ‘vicious cancer.’ Rather than see this pronouncement as an exceptional step taken by a totalitarian regime, one can think of this as yet another expression of an ongoing struggle to control information entering North Korea. In…