Asia

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) launched in August 2008 and transformed into a treaty-based inter-governmental organization in October 2012. The GGGI positioned South Korea at the forefront of a…

Suddenly and unexpectedly, after several decades as Asia’s backwater and basket case of international development, Myanmar was thrust to the center stage of international attention in 2011. The country’s political…

This paper examines the short-run and long-run relation between volatility in the real effective exchange rate and stock returns in the Republic of Korea. A trivariate vector autoregressive model is…

Among the most important issues that will confront the new Trump administration is how to deal with North Korea. Before Mr. Trump leaves office, North Korea may achieve the capability…

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 Mark Tokola The decision to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile system in South Korea has been controversial in South Korea, and predictably has been condemned by North Korea, but, judging by headlines and official statements, seems to have upset the Chinese more than anyone else.  China has been vociferous…

By Juni Kim North Korea’s submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test last week displayed a troubling advancement of North Korea’s missile technology. Despite close international attention and outcry, North Korea has made rapid advances in its SLBM capabilities since its first test last year. Although the details of some of the SLBM tests have been questioned,…

By Juni Kim In light of recent terrorist incidents that have spread across the globe, South Koreans have voiced concerns about global terrorism possibly reaching their shores. A poll conducted by Korea Gallup in 2015 indicated that 70 percent of South Koreans believed that a terrorist attack similar to the attack in Paris last November…

By Juni Kim In a year marked by turbulent Korean relations, the Rio Games provided the backdrop for two modest moments of North-South reconciliation. South Korean gymnast Lee Eun-ju posed with her fellow North Korean competitor Hong Un-jong for a selfie, which quickly became viral. A few days later, Kim Song-guk, the North Korean bronze…