2004 Posts located
The most noticeable shift of diplomacy and security strategy in Xi Jinping’s government is the evolution of peripheral diplomacy. China’s East Asia strategy is especially evolving in response to Washington’s…
What equilibrium means to geopolitical balance of power maneuvering, equality means to national identity resentments over gaps perceived as unjust. When South Korea gained favor as the “linchpin” of U.S.…
South Korea’s nation-building project during the Cold War relied heavily on strong state direction designed to generate a sense of cohesion and national identity. These strategies were conceived and executed…
It is tempting to see in developments in contemporary Japanese politics indications of a fundamental shift in Japanese national identity. Resist that temptation. There are changes afoot in Tokyo, but…
From 1966 to 1981, around 2,000 Peace Corps volunteers lived and worked in South Korea. After returning to the United States, many volunteers wanted a way to share their Korean…
October 2015 will mark 25 years since the official reunification of East and West Germany. Meanwhile, the Korean Peninsula remains divided. South Korean President Park Geun-Hye has referenced Germany many…
The Eugene Bell Foundation has been working in the DPRK for 20 years. Now they focus on multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), a deadly disease that is incredibly expensive and time-consuming to…
In the recent agreement between Seoul and Pyeongyang to defuse tensions along the DMZ, the two governments included a promise to "vitalize" non-governmental organization (NGO) exchanges in various fields. …
By Sarah K. Yun North Korea’s 2012 New Year Editorial had a few highlights with ample unsharpened messages. The overall objective was to emphasize strength and unity under the new Kim Jung-un leadership. In doing so, however, the editorial portrayed an undertone of crouching inwards with a few sprinkles of the typical rhetoric of criticism…
By Troy Stangarone While 2011 will ultimately be remembered for the passing of Kim Jong-il, it was also a year of significant change and new milestones for both South Korea and the U.S.-Korea alliance. In many ways, 2011 really began in the waning days of 2010 for South Korea. On November 23 last year, North…
By Chad 0'Carroll Hundreds of thousands of mourning North Koreans lined the bitterly cold streets of Pyongyang today to say goodbye to their leader, Kim Jong-il. How real the tears were is impossible to say, but the images were nonetheless extremely reminiscent of what was seen at Kim Il Sung’s funeral – aside from the…
By Michael J. Mazarr The most significant thing about the dramatic change in North Korea is how little has changed. Kim Jong-il has died, inaugurating a period of complex maneuvering and potential instability within the North’s ruling clique. The succession to his son Kim Jong-un will be perilous: The regime’s legitimacy is grounded in personalities,…