Asia

South Korean–Middle Eastern relations have been neglected in the literature throughout the years, mainly owing to the focus on Korea’s relations with the United States and Asian states and the…

An old Korean proverb says that when two whales fight it is the shrimps whose backs are crushed. Maybe that proverb best describes Korea’s situation on the trade front these…

The Domestic and International Politics of Spent Nuclear Fuel in South Korea: Are We Approaching Meltdown?

Geography alone would give Russia a prominent role in the Korean peninsula. The Russian Federation currently shares a recently demarcated 17-kilometer common border along the Tumen River with the Democratic…

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…

What Happened A recent survey conducted by the Institute of Peace and Unification Studies (IPUS) at Seoul National University showed that only 44% of South Koreans think that reunification with North Korea is necessary. This is the lowest percentage since the survey began in 2007. The annual survey by the Korea Institute for National Universities (KINU) also…

What Happened Public support for strict social distancing in South Korea fell from 84% support in July to 65% in August. A survey from September showed that 73.3% of South Koreans support the start of the “With Corona” policy in November. The Korean government announced its plan to begin “With Corona” policy in the second week of November. Implications: Public opinion…

Squid Game - the first Korean show to top Netflix’s charts - follows the country’s long cinematic tradition of examining inequality and power relations. The story focuses on a group of indebted people who accept a mysterious invitation to participate in a series of children’s games for a chance to win approximately USD 40 million.…

What Happened A report from February 2021 identified differences in people’s ability to access private education as a key reason behind differing levels of academic achievement. This achievement gap appears to have accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic due to remote learning. On August 27, the Mayor of Seoul began offering private online education to students to reduce disparities in academic…