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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…
This episode, Korean Kontext speaks to Phillipe Cousteau JR, chief spokesperson for the USA Pavillion at the 2012 Yeosu Exposition. With the overall theme of the expo named “The Living…
Our latest edition of Korean Kontext focuses on the recent death of Kim Jong-il and the prospects for North Korea under the stewardship of his son, Kim Jong-un. In this…
Ever wondered why someone might be motivated to spend their summer vacation in the DPRK, or interested to learn about the guides that accompany visitors during a stay in North…
In this episode, Chad 0Carroll speaks with “TK” (”The Korean”), the man behind the must-read blog, “Ask a Korean”. TK has been running his blog for five years and it…
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is having a serious impact on the global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. After a 3.6% drop in 2020, world GDP rebounded with 6.1% growth in 2021 (Table 1), reflecting progress in controlling the coronavirus and exceptionally strong fiscal and monetary measures to offset the impact of the pandemic. In…
There is a long tradition of considering North Korean leaders’ public appearances as a potential source of information on the regime’s priorities (see for example: Haggard, Herman, and Ryu; Pyo and Hur; Kim and Lee). We now have ten full years of this data for Kim Jong-un through the South Korea Ministry of Unification portal,…
The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing on April 7 to question President Joseph Biden’s nominee for U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg. Goldberg is one of four ambassadorial nominees who testified before the Foreign Relations Committee on April 7. Two of the four nominees, including Goldberg, are senior…
In the 2022 presidential election, the conservative opposition candidate Yoon Suk-yeol won the race with a 0.8% margin. During the campaign, Yoon received endorsements from five former senior military officers who had served in the Moon administration. They attributed the endorsement to “[their] faith in Yoon’s national security policies,” including his controversial remark that Seoul…