Asia

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…

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…

What Happened The presidential candidate for the People’s Power Party, Yoon Suk-yeol, introduced an AI version of himself to demonstrate his intimacy with technology. In response, Democratic Party’s presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung created a chatbot that answers question about his campaign. Presidential candidate Kim Dong-yeon also introduced an Artificial Intelligence spokesperson to make it easier to engage with voters…

What Happened South Chungcheong Province is working with telecommunications firm KT Corporation to pilot artificial intelligence-based care robots that will aim to prevent suicide among people who live alone and deal with mental health problems. This project was created in response to the province’s suicide rate, which is one of the highest in the country. This event…

“[Kim Jong-un] stressed the need for the fishing industrial sector to conduct a work for catching more fish…” --From the report on the 4th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the WPK This year, the summary of the recently-convened Party Plenum stood in for Kim Jong-un’s new year’s address. The report sought to…

A curious feature of advanced industrial states is anxiety about the future of democracy, not only abroad but at home as well. These worries—encapsulated in the concept of backsliding--have been particularly evident in the United States following the challenges posed by the Trump administration. The bruising fight over Brexit in Britain and the rise of…