Foreign Relations

The relationship between South Korea and Japan resembles a seesaw or a pendulum. Ups and downs are normal. The Lee Myong-bak administration is no exception, although many expected a different…

The U.S.-South Korea alliance has flourished under Presidents Obama and Lee Myungbak. It is difficult to find words of criticism for the alliance in either Washington or Seoul as Obama…

In his recent work Gilbert Rozman explains the growing tensions between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and United States in terms of the symbolic politics of a widening “identity…

How do the Japanese view the Sino-U.S. national identity gap? Their views are naturally informed by their own national identities and their national identity gaps with China and the United…

A video version of the 10 Issues to Watch for on the Korean Peninsula in 2023 with the blog's authors is available on KEI's YouTube channel. The most significant event to impact the Korean Peninsula in 2022 was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As in much of the world, the war had the effect of furthering…

Seoul’s Indo-Pacific Strategy has been broadly welcomed by a number of states in the region who view the platform as further aligning with their strategic outlook. It’s in these states’ interests that the Indo-Pacific Strategy is future proof - it won’t be an easy task. On 11 November 2022 in Phnom Penh, President Yoon Seok…

This is the ninth piece in a series looking at how the issues identified in KEI’s annual “10 Issues to Watch for on the Korean Peninsula” series and other issues of note developed in 2022. The original “10 Issues” piece can be found here. Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, South Korea announced that it would…

This is the sixth piece in a series looking at how the issues identified in KEI’s annual “10 Issues to Watch for on the Korean Peninsula” series and other issues of note developed in 2022. The original “10 Issues” piece can be found here. The prospect of ending the Korean War is even more dismal now…