Foreign Relations

This chapter examines the nature and motivations of North Korea’s sharp power toward South Korea. Unlike China or Russia, to secure long-term survival, North Korea ultimately needs cooperation from the…

During his visit to Asia in November 2017, President Donald Trump announced his vision of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” as the U.S. approach to the region. The Department of…

The summit on February 27-28 in Hanoi between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un ended on a sour note, casting doubt on the one-year old diplomatic process that had produced an…

Since the first historic summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last June in Singapore yielded a two-page joint agreement without a clear definition…

South Korea’s National Police Agency hosted the second annual Korea-ASEAN International Crime Capacity Building Program between July 4 and 15, 2022. Ongoing efforts to transfer policing know-how to participating Southeast Asian countries supported the previous administration’s initiative to bolster ties with the region. It also represented South Korea’s use of its good governance record to…

In the last two posts on Korea and the war in Ukraine, I showed that Moon administration moved relatively quickly to join the international sanctions regime and was rewarded by inclusion on Russia’s  "unfriendly nations" list. I also argued that the costs of standing on international legal principle were softened by the fact that the…

A recent hearing by the Congressional Human Rights Commission expressed hopes for a breakthrough in South Korea’s refugee policies under the Yoon administration. Despite its growing international status and economic power, the country retains an extraordinarily low refugee acceptance rate of 1.5%. South Korea’s refugee policies have been so far shaped by political expedience, not…

As of June, South Korea’s gasoline prices increased 31% from last year. The country’s complete dependence on imports means that it is not only extremely sensitive to global shocks in supply but also shifts in the South Korean won’s (KRW) exchange rate. Foremost, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine negatively affected the global supply of energy. Russian…