Asia

This paper examines policies in the renewables sector across various countries and where political tensions could generate suboptimal outcomes for the sector’s development. In its analysis of supply- and demand-side…

With North Korea becoming increasingly politically isolated, there are few channels through which the international community can remain engaged. Despite the distaste most have for Pyongyang politics, more than 24…

This paper compares Sino–South Korean management of bilateral economic and political tensions; it argues that China’s WTO entry has provided an external institutional framework for managing disputes on the economic…

On 19 December 2003, the leader of Libya, Col. Muammar El-Qaddafi, shocked the world by abruptly stating that his country was renouncing its attempts to develop weapons of mass destruction…

When Kim Jong-il died in 2011, the world held its breath as North Korea entered uncharted waters. No other communist dictatorship in the last century – for that matter no…

On June 25, 1950, North Korea launched a surprise invasion of South Korea and started a war that is still technically ongoing. But it was – as North Korea’s Kim…

The North Korean economy is changing – we know this because of widely reported growth of private markets since the famine of 1990s. But black markets and illicit activities are…

In May, The Korean-born Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin was named The National League Pitcher of the Month. When you think of Asians and baseball, you might think first…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz A good stretch of optimism in inter-Korean relations ended in December, even before tensions rose in early January 2016 with North Korea’s fourth nuclear test. In December, the two Koreas had a vice-minister meeting, but couldn’t come to any agreements and did not even set a date for future discussions. Moreover, Kim…

By Mark Tokola North Korea’s claim to have recently tested a Hydrogen bomb is disputable because the explosion seems to have been no larger than during its 2013 test of a “conventional” nuclear device.  That does not in itself diminish the seriousness of North Korea having conducted a fourth nuclear weapons test.  Foreign policy questions…

By Troy Stangarone In the aftermath of what appears to be a fourth nuclear test by North Korea the question becomes, what comes next? North Korea is claiming to have tested a miniaturized hydrogen bomb, which would demonstrate a new level of technical sophistication on its part. If confirmed, this would only add to the…

By Troy Stangarone As we look back at the events that helped to shape the Korean peninsula in 2015, it is also an opportunity to review the events we highlighted on The Peninsula in our annual 10 Issues to Watch For on The Korean Peninsula in 2015 blog and the key events that we did…