Asia

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (henceforth North Korea) certainly seems to like being different from other countries. Whereas governments of virtually all the world’s countries regularly publish data on…

Recent developments on the Korean peninsula are raising expectations that the DPRK may finally be ready for a new era of political rapprochement and economic opening. This possibility is reflected…

The United States and Korea finished the eighth round of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) in mid-March 2007, and the agreement is likely to be concluded eventually.1…

The U.S.-ROK bilateral economic relationship entered a new era 1 April 2007 when President George W. Bush notified the U.S. Congress of his intent to enter into a free trade…

This spring, Han Kang became the first Korean author to win the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for her novel, "The Vegetarian." And, for the first time in the prize's…

North Korea recently experienced one of the worst natural disasters in its history, as flood waters swept through towns in the northeast part of the country. Up to 600,000 people…

Middlebury College, famous for its immersive language programs, added Korean as its 11th language in 2015. Now, after two summers, the School of Korean is helping students from a variety…

With the goal of supporting the next generation of scholars interested in Korea and Northeast Asia, the U.S.-Korea Next Gen Scholars Program brings together young professionals from various backgrounds to…

What Happened On September 16, the National Police Agency announced that they are planning to release a new public safety strategy by October 2021. This strategy includes launching a task force to study the use of robots for street patrol. The military has also stated that it wants to incorporate “moving robots” and an artificial intelligence (AI) surveillance system…

History, politics, and geopolitics are ever-present in Northeast Asia - and they are increasingly part of the media landscape. The controversy surrounding the Chinese war movie “The Sacrifice” is only the most recent reminder. Produced to commemorate the anniversary of Beijing’s unofficial entry into the Korean War, the film depicts the last large-scale Chinese offensive…

This is the second in a two part series looking at the entry of South and North Korea into the United Nations. The first part can be found here.  Since their admission to the UN, the two Koreas have played quite different roles in the organization.  In the thirty years since it became a UN…

This week, the winner of the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election will take the premiership, because the party controls the National Diet. But no matter who wins the election, experts say the deep freeze in Korea-Japan relations are unlikely to change. Based on statements made by the candidates, it seems that there is a dearth…