Asia

Seoul has gradually adopted a more outspoken position regarding the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and framed it in increasingly expansive terms—as a regional and global…

The development of the concept of the Indo-Pacific strategy, since its adoption by the United States in 2017, has primarily been driven by the emergence of China as an object…

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,…

This week, we have a very special guest who flew in from Paris to talk about Korea's economy. Dr. Randall Jones is head of the Japan/Korea Desk at the Organization…

As Seoul has grown, it has become more and more international. The city has been making an effort to attract more foreign visitors, whether as tourists, students or workers. This…

Over the last 50 years, Myanmar has oscillated between periods of friendship with South Korea and partnership with North Korea. As Myanmar opens to the international community, however, investment and…

Anyone who has spent time in Korea knows the term Yellow Dust. Sand from Mongolia sweeps across China, picking up pollutants and carrying them across borders. Every spring, Koreans bring…

What Happened On April 19, the South Korean government launched a committee to monitor real estate issues and create new policy suggestions. The creation of the committee follows the ruling party’s defeat in the Seoul and Busan mayoral elections, which many partially attribute to the Moon administration’s inability to control property prices. Rising real estate prices are contributing to increased…

Consequent on the UN sanctions that severely restricted essential exports for agriculture to North Korea, starvation conditions have re-emerged for the first time since the famine years of the 1990s. Absent capital and technology, the government relies almost completely on the intensified exploitation of the labor force, much of this carried out via the mechanisms…

What Happened On April 12, President Biden met with 19 CEOs to discuss the ongoing semiconductor shortage and to build support for technology as a key component of the infrastructure. The White House promised a USD 50 billion investment in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, seeking cooperation from global partners. During a similar summit in March, Biden discussed putting technology, such as semiconductors…

What Happened During his visit to Iran, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said that South Korea should “quickly return” the USD 7 billion in Iranian assets frozen as a result of U.S.-led sanctions. PM Chung also expressed South Korea’s willingness to provide Iran with humanitarian aid, and stated that Seoul would be willing to support future negotiations on…