South Korea
Is South Korea’s Indo‑Pacific Strategy a diplomatic lame duck?
When South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol administration released its Indo-Pacific Strategy in late 2022, many Australian commentators hoped the time had finally come for the…
Economic diplomacy: Politics rules in Korean envoy row
Prosecutorial democracy
South Korea has a curious habit of investigating, often jailing, and then pardoning former presidents since it embraced two-party democracy with…
A summit between Japan and North Korea? About time
North Korea keeps on surprising. While Pyongyang is busy erasing all references to unification with South Korea, it is extending an olive branch to Japan.
It all began early in…
Can South Korea become a global pivotal state?
“South Korea should no longer be confined to the Korean Peninsula but rise to the challenge of being what I have described as a ‘global pivotal state’, one that advances freedom,…
Should Trump win, will Kim Jong-un pick up the phone?
Imagine Donald Trump does win in the US Presidential election next year. Will he expect another “beautiful letter” from North Korea’s Kim Jong-un?
Trump’s summitry bromance…
The extra bad news behind the latest Korean break-down
North Korea sent a satellite rocket up, and a key deal with South Korea came tumbling down.
The effective scrapping last week of the inter-Korean military agreement was not…
How vulnerable is South Korea to a “Hamas-style” attack from the North?
The shock of the Hamas 7 October attack on Israel has reverberated to South Korea, sparking a debate about how vulnerable the country could be to a similar surprise attack from…
The Camp David Agreement’s shallow foundations
On 18 August at Camp David, Japan, the United States and South Korea optimistically hailed “a new era of trilateral partnership”. Korean domestic politics and the vexed history of…
The curious tales of defectors to North Korea
North Korea has once again been making headlines, but not for the usual reasons. This time, it was not about a missile test or aggressive rhetoric from state-run media. In fact,…
Bridging the divide: the significance of the US-South Korea-Japan trilateral
The Philippines may be the oldest US treaty ally in Asia, but South Korea and Japan are arguably the closest. The US-South Korea mutual defence treaty will turn 70 years…