1933 Posts located
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…
In this episode of Korean Kontext, I have the opportunity to speak with Richard V. Allen, who, in the weeks preceding his official instatement as National Security Advisor to President-elect…
In this episode we hear from author Mike Kim, who speaks with Korean Kontext about his experiences living and working with North Korean refugees on the China-North Korea border. Mike…
We bring the Korean Kontext studio to the U.S. Department of State to speak with Kathleen Stephens, current U.S. Ambassador to South Korea. Ambassador Stephens shares with us her personal…
In this episode we speak with Ambassador John Everard, who served as Ambassador of Great Britain to North Korea from 2006-2008. Ambassador Everard experienced firsthand life as one of only…
By Troy Stangarone During the Cold War, Russia served as North Korea’s primary trading partner and provider of security guarantees. As the Cold War came to an end, however, Russia reoriented its foreign policy towards the West and relations with North Korea were downgraded as Moscow sought closer ties with Seoul. That may be changing.…
By Troy Stangarone When scholars and historians look back on the Seoul G-20, it is likely to be seen as a brief interregnum between crises rather than the first post-crisis summit that many world leaders had hoped it would be at the time. Since the Seoul Summit last November, the world has faced growing concerns…
By Sarah K. Yun Soft power is the ability of a country or an actor to obtain what it wants through attraction and charm rather than through hard power and force. The ultimate goal of fostering soft power is to promote a positive image in order to enhance one’s ability to influence. Like many nations,…
By Nicholas Hamisevicz In the last year, South Korea and India have upgraded their relationship to a “strategic partnership.” The increased ties between the two countries were kicked off with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s state visit to India in 2010 and followed up by delegations from both countries that built upon economic and cultural…