Foreign Relations

Given the growing importance of East Asia to global stability and prosperity, sustaining the five U.S. treaty alliances in the region—Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Thailand, and the Philippines—will…

Korea and Japan are two key allies of the United States in East Asia. These two countries are “window models” of postwar democratization and economic advancement in a free world.…

The security alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) is the foundation for the architecture of strategic stability in Northeast Asia that has endured for more…

The Cold War in Northeast Asia became irreversible with the outbreak of the Korean War on 25 June 1950. Over the decades partial steps were taken to end it: rapprochement…

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…