Asia

This paper examines the impacts of global competition in solar panel production and the conflict of domestic interests among solar-related industries in the U.S. on South Korea’s solar-focused renewable energy…

Kim Jong-un’s sudden ascent as leader came at a significant time for North Korea—a year that had coincidentally been long foreshadowed in state media as the “dawn of the strong…

What can the resettlement of North Korean defector-migrants into South Korean society today tell us about Korean national identity and the likely challenges of integrating the two Koreas tomorrow? In…

In recent years the North Korean nuclear program has increasingly become a major concern for East Asian security. Pyongyang has repeatedly demonstrated its advancements in both missile and nuclear technology,…

For understandable reasons, the international community has been focused on North Korea's nuclear program, concerned that Pyongyang could have a weapon capable of such massive destruction. But should they also…

Last week, we looked at the details of the new US and UN sanctions against North Korea, delving into the new measures to get at Pyongyang's funding. But will they…

On February 18, President Barack Obama signed into law a new round of sanctions designed to further squeeze the North Korean regime. On March 3, the United Nations Security Council…

Human rights in North Korea remains a divisive issue between the international community and North Korea. In 2013, the United Nations Human Rights Council established Commission of Inquiry on Human…

By Chad 0Carroll North Korea continues to ratchet up its belligerent rhetoric against South Korea, this week threatening to destroy a range of South Korean targets including the Blue House and the offices of various (and named) conservative newspapers and television stations. Rather spectacularly, DPRK state media claimed its military would “reduce all the rat-like…

By Troy Stangarone Nutritional aid might not be the only cost of North Korea’s recent failed satellite launch.  Only a few months prior to Kim Jong-il’s death there had been significant discussion of building a pipeline to transmit Russian gas through North Korea to the South. North Korea had indicated that it would be willing…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz There was an interesting contrast last week on the Korean peninsula as South Koreans went to the polls to democratically elect members for its National Assembly; conversely, North Korea had two meetings to put into place its new leadership structure. Unlike in South Korea where the results were difficult to predict, in…

By Troy Stangarone When members of the 19th National Assembly take their seats in Seoul a defector from North Korea will join them for the first time. As a candidate on the New Frontier Party’s proportional representation list, Cho Myung-chul became the first defector to win a seat in the National Assembly. Cho defected to…