Politics

In October 2006, Kim Jong-il’s North Korea again seized international attention. With its claimed underground nuclear test, Pyongyang upped the ante in its confrontation with the United States and the…

By Jun Young (James) Park   On June 13, local elections in South Korea will be held for about 4,000 local administrative, legislative, and educational leaders in 17 major cities and provinces. The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is predicted to dominate in fourteen of them. The approval rate of President Moon Jae-in and his…

By Juni Kim On February 13th, South Korean lawmakers from both the center-left People’s Party and the center-right Bareun Party finalized their merger and launched the new Bareun Mirae Party, which translates literally to the Righteous Future Party. National Assemblyman Yoo Seong-min, one of the new party heads and former Bareun Party presidential candidate, boldly…

By Juni Kim Last week, two minor South Korean political parties, the People’s Party and the Bareun Party, announced an agreement to merge into a new centrist party. Although the agreement has not been finalized, the merger if completed would be a significant test for the viability of an influential third political party in a…

By Mark Tokola, Phil Eskeland, Troy Stangarone, Jenna Gibson, Kyle Ferrier, Sang Kim, and Juni Kim As we look ahead to what might occur in 2018 we should also consider how key events from 2017 will continue to shape the year ahead. In 2017, there was significant change on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea underwent…