Asia

This paper examines policies in the renewables sector across various countries and where political tensions could generate suboptimal outcomes for the sector’s development. In its analysis of supply- and demand-side…

With North Korea becoming increasingly politically isolated, there are few channels through which the international community can remain engaged. Despite the distaste most have for Pyongyang politics, more than 24…

This paper compares Sino–South Korean management of bilateral economic and political tensions; it argues that China’s WTO entry has provided an external institutional framework for managing disputes on the economic…

On 19 December 2003, the leader of Libya, Col. Muammar El-Qaddafi, shocked the world by abruptly stating that his country was renouncing its attempts to develop weapons of mass destruction…

Volcanologist Dr. Kayla Iacovino traveled to North Korea in 2013 as part of a team that was collaborating with North Korean scientists to study Mt. Baekdu, one of Korea's most…

Nicholas Hamisevicz has been KEI's director of research and academic affairs for four years. Now, he is leaving KEI to pursue his Ph.D at Catholic University. But before he goes,…

Within China, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is a principle stakeholder in Beijing’s policy decision-making. In recent years, PLA officials have penned some of the more interesting, and forceful, articles…

Over the past few years, North Korea has been holding press conferences starring so-called re-defectors – people who fled to the South and chose to return. Researchers Steven Denney and…

By Troy Stangarone The sudden death of Kim Jong-Il has created the potential for significant uncertainty surrounding both the North Korean leadership and North Korean intentions. While all signs pointed to Kim Jong-un as the designated heir after the 2010 Party Conference, it is unclear if the succession process has fully taken hold and how…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz After Kim Jong-il suffered a stroke in 2008, the transition process appeared to quicken the pace to prepare for a North Korea after the Dear Leader. Now that Kim Jong-il has died, the world will see if the pieces were put into the correct spots for a successful transition of power, especially…

By Troy Stangarone The anniversary of China’s formal entry in to the WTO ten years ago this week comes as a mixed blessing for many of its trading partners. China’s entry into the WTO brought the world’s most populous nation into the rules based trading system that is the WTO and created new economic opportunities…

This week reports emerged that hundreds of North Korean nuclear experts are currently working in major nuclear facilities throughout Iran, adding to suspicions that the two countries have been collaborating in the nuclear realm for some time.  This follows on the heels of reports that Iranian technicians were allegedly dispatched to North Korea to assist in…