Asia

China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have experienced periods of conflict and cooperation since officially forging “partnership” relations in 1998. From a historical perspective, Korea was among the most…

South Korean views of Japan are neither uniform nor unified. Considering that national strategic identities are competing even within a single country, it is not strange at all that South…

While the sources of contention are deep and enduring, relations between Japan and South Korea have been especially troubled in the last few years. The two countries are grappling with…

American ideals coupled with the commercial self-interest of American business and industry drove the policy of engagement, and even after the 1989 massacre of student protesters at Tiananmen Square, sustained…

Although it is happening more rapidly in South Korea, an aging society is a common feature in post-industrial societies around the world. With the number of retirees growing and the…

In March, Seoul suffered from the worst air pollution on record. Enough that the South Korean government has officially designated the problem as a "social disaster." But what is causing…

Over the past few years, Korea and Koreans have experienced incredible political, social, and diplomatic shifts. It is hard keeping up with all these new developments as a Korea Watcher,…

Even before the meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, foreign policy practitioners and observers were talking about the difficulties of sequencing international sanctions relief for North Korea…

By William Brown Chinese Customs reported yesterday that imports of North Korean anthracite surged in December, despite late November UN Security Council sanctions that are supposed to curtail North Korea’s coal sales, its biggest foreign exchange earner. The new data shows North Korea exported to China 22.5 million tons of anthracite worth $1.2 billion in…

By Junil Kim The official establishment of South Korea’s newest political party, the Bareun (Righteous) Party, brings the number of official negotiation parties in the National Assembly to four. The party, comprised of former Saenuri legislators, broke away from the ruling party in light of the political fallout from President Park Geun-hye’s recent scandal and…

KEI Communications Director Jenna Gibson, host of the KEI podcast Korean Kontext, recently interviewed Major General James Walton, Director for Transformation and Restationing for U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), who is in charge of moving around 30,000 troops, staff and families from Yongsan Garrison in Seoul down to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek. The following is a…

By Juho Choi Since the end of 2016, the Korean government has faced a variety of problems from a major political scandal to a stagnant economy. Among the issues, one of the most urgent is Avian Influenza (AI). According to the WHO, Avian influenza (“bird flu”) is “an infectious disease of birds caused by type…