Asia

The year 2008 saw a reversal of a long-lasting policy constellation in the international community visà- vis the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). South Korea, for 10 years…

The year 2008 will be recorded in world history as a year in which the global capitalist system was threatened as a consequence of the U.S.-originated financial turmoil that began…

Following several years of strong expansion, the Korean economy began losing momentum in the second half of 2008 in the wake of the stress engulfing the global financial system. Although…

North Korea’s economy has been on the verge of collapse since the beginning of the second nuclear crisis in 2002 because of the international community’s growing sanctions and pressure. The…

In this episode, Korean Kontext speaks with Ms. Jie-ae Sohn, President of Arirang TV & Radio, Korea’s first English language international broadcast system. Ms. Sohn worked as the former CNN…

Preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons has emerged to be one of the key foreign policy priorities of the Obama administration. Despite efforts among Western powers to form a united…

By the time you read this, the KORUS FTA will have entered the implementation stage. To celebrate, Korean Kontext caught up with two of the main movers-and-shakers behind the deal…

This episode of Korean Kontext has a distinctly British flavor, featuring interviews with two leading Ambassador’s that work closely on UK and Korea related affairs. While recently in London, Korean…

In this week's Asan Institute for Policy Studies polling President Lee Myung-bak saw his approval rating slowly rise back above 30 percent by the end of the week. In the presidential race Moon Jae-in passed Ahn Cheol-soo as the favored candidate of progressives and pulled within less than 3 percent of Park Geun-hye in the…

By Sarah K. Yun As leaders of the Asia-Pacific nations gathered for the 20th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting in Vladivostok, Russia on September 8-9, the ongoing effects of the euro crisis and global financial crisis added urgency to their efforts to increase regional economic growth and give APEC a leading role in the…

In this week's South Korea polling data from the Asan Institute for Policy Studies most of the races remained largely unchanged. President Lee Myung-bak's approval rating remained below 30 percent for the entire week and the progressive candidates support remained largely flat. Park Geun-hye did open up a 5 percent lead in the head-to-head match up…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz Last week North Korea and Japan held their first government-to-government talks in four years. These discussions seemed to be a part of a summer of diplomatic outreach by North Korea. The meetings centered on handling the remains of Japanese soldiers that were killed on the Korean peninsula during World War II. Japan…