Asia

In recent years, South Korea has been addressing climate change, including through investments in hydrogen, the Green New Deal, and international pledges to cut emissions by 40 percent from 2018…

In recent years, North Korea has faced economic shocks from UN sanctions and the pandemic. As Dr. Jongkyu Lee (Senior Fellow at the Korea Development Institute) writes in his new…

Following a record number of North Korean missile launches, as well as tests by South Korea, assertions have been widely and uncritically made that Seoul is participating in an inter-Korean…

Although the Korean Peninsula has been divided for over 70 years, North and South have not been able to make lasting progress in terms of reconciliation. While there are multiple…

  In this episode, we talk with Dr. Adam Cathcart of the University of Leeds and of Sino-NK about China-North Korea relations. Dr. Cathcart has just written an Academic Paper Series report…

      President Obama wasn’t the only leader who had to make important visits to multiple Asian countries this past April. Australia’s Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, had to make an important…

  The Francis Effect is everywhere. Time Magazine named Pope Francis their 2013 Person of the Year, another magazine dedicated specifically to covering Pope Francis has been started in Italy,…

Public opinion can help to both shape and inform public policy. A president with strong approval numbers across ideological divides has significant scope to make policy decisions. While a national…

Korea is expected to apply later this year for membership in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a trade agreement between eleven states in the Indo-Pacific. One signatory of the agreement is Japan, raising fears that bilateral tensions may encourage Tokyo to oppose Seoul's bid. But noting their shared membership in another…

The AUKUS trilateral security partnership among Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States has been received with much international attention, as well as concern. Under the pact, Australia has been formally granted capacity as a third country to acquire nuclear-powered submarines—the first of such case since the 1958 Mutual Defense Agreement between the US…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea’s entertainment industry pioneered a new era of virtual concerts. K-pop bands live-streamed their performances, often adding features like augmented reality to provide audiences at home with new experiences. This also complemented the broader push in the industry to become more technologically savvy, including the adoption of virtual avatar idols and strategic partnerships with…

This is the tenth in a 10 part series looking at how the issues identified in KEI’s annual “10 Issues to Watch for on the Korean Peninsula” series developed in 2021. The original “10 Issues” piece can be found here. In recent years, South Korea has taken steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including a pledge…