Asia

South Korea is currently engaged, once again, in a large-scale, expensive modernization of its military that aims to provide the country with a more robust and self-sufficient defense. The timing…

Globalization is a hallmark of the twenty first-century world. As transportation and telecommunications grow in both efficiency and level of performance and as the ambit of the Internet expands, it…

The penetration of the Internet in Korean society is usually seen as a positive development, perhaps even a model for other countries; more efficient bureaucracy, more political figures making use…

In the field of international security, few connections have been made between the Korean peninsula with the Middle East. Traditional regional studies literature focuses on Korean issues within the Asia…

June 25, 2020 marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. The conflict on the Korean Peninsula has been going on for so long that we sometimes…

2020 is starting off dramatically with the escalation of tensions in the Middle East – The world held its breath while the United States and Iran exchanged both blows and…

While it is frustrating to see North Korean projectiles flying out to sea and Pyongyang’s erratic, unpredictable reactions in negotiations, we cannot forget where things stood in 2017 – the…

30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, people’s aspiration to establish a pluralistic liberal democracy appears to be under scrutiny around the world – anti-immigration policies dominate political…

This is the first 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. The North Korean border continues to be closed since extensive quarantine conditions were imposed in…

What Happened The Korean government adopted a mandate requiring people to show their vaccine passports when accessing libraries and tutoring facilities. Nationwide polling showed overall public support for the government’s requirement for vaccine passports when accessing these institutions, but 40.4% expressed opposition. Meanwhile, 76.8% supported similar measures for entry to restaurants, cafes, cinemas, and stores. Implications: Korean society…

What Happened Public health mandate requiring vaccine passes to enter restaurants, grocery stores, and cafes incited backlash from foreign nationals whose overseas vaccinations were not recognized. Seoul amended its vaccine pass requirement for foreign nationals after a U.S.-led embassy protest. Prior to the changes, the U.S. military issued its own vaccine documents that were recognized by South Korean…

In the first few days of December each year, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issues an annual Global Humanitarian Overview focusing on current humanitarian trouble spots and setting the agenda for UN humanitarian aid in the coming year.  The 2022 Global Humanitarian Overview issued December 2 this year, projected…