South Korea
Forget Washington, Pyongyang’s most important target has always been Beijing
It’s easily forgotten now, but just over five years ago North Korea and China were not getting along. Beijing was adamant about implementing United Nations sanctions as a…
It’s time for South Korea to refocus on multilateral diplomacy
A “Global Pivotal State Contributing to Freedom, Peace, and Prosperity”. This is how the South Korean National Security Strategy published last week describes the country –…
North Korea/South Korea: Who’s threatening who?
Kim Yo-jong, sister to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, delivered a warning last week about Pyongyang’s plans for its nuclear program. “The second mission,” she said of the regime…
Choosing openness in the international economy
The Covid pandemic was good for isolationists and xenophobes, and bad for globalisers and internationalists. Yet since the agricultural revolution, one of the keys to prosperity…
South Korea can’t afford to be a Wally with water
South Korea, Asia’s extraordinary economic development success story, is facing water shortages. The situation is bad enough that the government recently warned the 1.4 million…
Will US reassurance be enough to halt South Korea’s nuclear ambition?
Years of painstaking diplomacy to ensure less nuclear weapons, less nuclear states, and strong anti-nuclear weapons norms appear to be unravelling. It is not only fringe actors on…
North Korea keeps building more powerful weapons, with no end in sight
North Korean weapons tests are nothing new. Pyongyang has been conducting missile tests for years, even holding large annual parades to show off its arsenal. However, things are…
Japan and South Korea: a logical but uneasy alignment
This month, Japan and South Korea struck a deal on the compensation of Korean labour imposed by the Japanese empire during Tokyo’s 1910–45 rule over the Korean Peninsula. The…
Indonesia’s own subs conundrum
This September will mark 50 years of formal diplomatic ties between Indonesia and South Korea.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already kicked off celebrations,…
Why North Korea is denying its involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine
In a case of history repeating itself, the Korean War is set to be revived. Not on the Korean Peninsula but in Eastern Europe. Both North Korea and South Korea are currently…