Asia

South Korean–Middle Eastern relations have been neglected in the literature throughout the years, mainly owing to the focus on Korea’s relations with the United States and Asian states and the…

An old Korean proverb says that when two whales fight it is the shrimps whose backs are crushed. Maybe that proverb best describes Korea’s situation on the trade front these…

The Domestic and International Politics of Spent Nuclear Fuel in South Korea: Are We Approaching Meltdown?

Geography alone would give Russia a prominent role in the Korean peninsula. The Russian Federation currently shares a recently demarcated 17-kilometer common border along the Tumen River with the Democratic…

This week, we delve into how Japan views the security threat from China, and how these perceptions shape Japanese policy. For this, we turn to security expert Dr. Narushige Michishita.…

Last week, North Korea launched its Seventh Worker's Party Congress, a major meeting of regime leaders that has not been convened in 36 years. Although analysts had high expectations for…

In this episode, we take a step back from the Korean Peninsula and take a look at Northeast Asia from the perspective of one of its neighbors – Russia. In…

On May 1, South Korean President Park Geun-hye will travel to Tehran, Iran for a summit meeting with her counterpart, President Hassan Rouhani. This visit will be the first time a…

This is the first in a 2 part series looking at the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2014 (H.R. 1771). Second piece in the series is available here. By Bruce Klingner Former Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell recently observed that North Korea was not the most heavily sanctioned country in the world as…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz Recently, there was a big setback in Korea-India relations. The deal that was made back in 2011 for India to purchase eight minesweepers from South Korea is currently on hold and may soon be scuttled. It was announced that India’s Ministry of Defense launched an inquiry into the claim that the Kangnam…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz For a month often associated with summer doldrums, a lot of things were happening on the Korean peninsula in August 2014. Events such as Pope Francis’s visit to South Korea, the joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises, a clash between the two Koreas in the West Sea, negotiations over the North Korean cheerleaders…

By Joseph Dahl Two pieces of Congressional legislation, while still in their nascent stages, have the potential to reshape U.S. policy on North Korea. A bill known as H.R. 1771, or the North Korean Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2014, recently passed the House, and a bill specifically addressing North Korea’s human rights was introduced by…