Asia

The roller coaster of relations between Japan and South Korea has taken a sudden jolt with the December 28, 2015 agreement on “comfort women.” Some anticipate a turning point, stabilizing…

While Tokyo and Seoul are often paired as key U.S. allies in Asia, and both alliances are now more solid than ever, their individual alliance dynamics have varied in important…

On December 28, 2015, the Japanese and South Korean governments announced their agreement on the “comfort women” issue. This sudden breakthrough 70 years after the end of WWII and 24…

Most analysis of the extended nuclear crisis that first broke in 2002 has focused, quite legitimately, on the realm of high politics: the diplomatic and military strategies of the contending…

    In the mid-1990s, North Korea experienced a famine that by some estimates wiped out 10 percent of the population. Though many at the time thought the regime would…

      Over the last decade, China has become an increasingly important country for South Korea has it has emerged as Seoul’s largest trading partner and a leading player…

    On April 8, North Korea withdrew all of its workers from the Kaesong Industrial Complex, temporarily placing on hold the last form of cooperation between North and South…

South Korea’s nuclear energy industry has for decades been facilitated through close cooperation with counterparts in the United States under what is known as a “123 Agreement”.  Today South Korea’s…

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived declaration of martial law on December 3, 2024, and his subsequent impeachment on December 14 have plunged the country into its worst political crisis in nearly 40 years, with some signs of a negative economic impact. The economy was already showing signs of weakness before the December political…

Western media and foreign policy specialists point to a self-confident Kim Jong Un, willing to take large risks as he again contemplates dealing face-to-face with US President Donald Trump and as he works closely with Russian President Vladimir Putin to send weapons and soldiers into the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Kim continues to fire UN-prohibited…

10 Issues to Watch for on the Korean Peninsula in 2025 Authors: Mai Anna Pressley, Dan Sneider, Nils Wollesen Osterberg, Scott Snyder, Tom Ramage, James Kim, Jennifer Ahn, Clint Work, Joo Young Kim   The year 2024 ended with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law, his impeachment by the National Assembly,…

This essay was part of a contest jointly organized by the George Washington University Institute for Korean Studies and the Institute for Korean Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. The contest invited students to analyze a South Korean policy challenge and propose evidence-based solutions, with winning entries published in the Korea Economic Institute of America’s flagship…