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North Korea and Russia are seen as posing an increasingly dangerous military threat as we enter 2015, and the responses of other states to them are widely perceived as realist…
Over the past sixty years, the two Koreas have embarked on completely different paths in almost every respect. One developed into a successful example of democracy with remarkable economic growth,…
Moving from the powerful and abstract construct of ethnic homogeneity as bearing the promise for unification, this chapter instead considers family unity, facilitated by the quotidian and ubiquitous tools of…
North Korea is a country easy to approach emotionally. For anyone with even a little twinge of conscience toward human rights, it evokes disgust. For many in South Korea, who…
Korean Kontext recently spoke to Gordon Flake of the Mike and Maureen Mansfield Foundation for a conversation about Korea’s rising prominence as a “middle power”. Focussing on South Korea’s rapidly…
62 years ago on this day of June 25, hostilities broke out on the Korean peninsula. It was a conflict that ended only due to what everybody thought would be…
Korean Kontext caught up with Man Asian literary prize winner Shin Kyung-sook for a chat about her latest novel, “Please Look After Mom”. Shin became the first woman and South…
In this special episode, Korean Kontext had the opportunity to speak to South Korean Minister for Trade, Bark Taeho, during his latest visit to Washington DC. KEI’s Vice President, Dr.…
By Nicholas Hamisevicz After the New Year’s announcements by Park Geun-hye and Kim Jong-un, there is a lot of anticipation and analysis for the year ahead in inter-Korean relations. However, many of the issues that plagued the two sides in 2014 remain as hurdles for 2015. Looking back could give insights to help improve the…
By Troy Stangarone In its first public response to North Korea’s suspected cyber attack on Sony, the Obama Administration announced new financial sanctions on three North Korean entities and ten individuals related to North Korea’s defense industry. While the sanctions may have some short-to-medium term impact on North Korea financially, they are only likely a…
By Nicholas Hamisevicz After the disappointment of not getting a high-level meeting following the Incheon Asian Games agreement, it looked like inter-Korean relations would remain stalled until 2015. However, South Korea preempted North Korea’s traditional New Year’s Day announcement by requesting an inter-Korean meeting early in 2015. The request helped the Park Geun-hye administration seize…
By Nicholas Hamisevicz Dennis Rodman and Seth Rogen have made the same mistake on North Korea. Both have mistakenly viewed North Korea as a helpless entity. Rodman viewed North Korea as so helpless that all it needed was someone to talk to, play basketball with, and sing “Happy Birthday” to its leader. Rogen saw North…