Foreign Relations

As the economy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea becomes increasingly isolated, it depends more and more on the People’s Republic of China for survival and development. The PRC…

Fundamental changes to the nature of politics inside China’s Communist Party are occurring at the same time Beijing and Pyongyang work out a new relationship. These developments are already affecting…

The expansion of the Group of Eight (G-8) to the Group of 20 (G-20) was received by developing countries with high expectations and optimism. The expansion was considered an important…

Just as the world economy was about to be thrown into another Great Depression in late 2008, leaders of the Group of 20 (G-20) and emerging economies gathered for the…

In May of this year, the United States introduced a draft UN Security Council Resolution (S/2022/431) that would have responded to a North Korean ICBM test on March 24. By chance, the formal Chinese and Russian rejection of the proposal—which included additional sanctions on Pyongyang--came in the wake of a landmark decision taken by the…

After several years of frozen diplomacy, the current Korean government's drive to reset relations with Japan seems to be on an upswing. Even before taking office, President Yoon Suk-Yeol dispatched a delegation of aides to meet with Japanese officials in Tōkyō. He followed that with attendance at a trilateral meeting with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio…

With President Yoon Suk-yeol’s stated goal of improving Korea-Japan relations, policy observers point to the long-standing historical legacies issues as the key hurdles to reconciliation. In particular, recent talks between the ROK Foreign Minister and his Japanese counterpart stressed the importance of resolving the issue of compensation for Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor.…

On July 4, the foreign ministers of South Korea and Mexico agreed to expand economic cooperation. Building on the resumption of free trade agreement negotiations earlier this year, the two nations emphasized economic security and supply chains as areas for increased collaboration. In addition to directly responding to global concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic’s ongoing…