May 26,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (May 2016)

Implementation of Sanctions against North Korea Chun Young-woo opined in the March 25 DongA Ilbo that rigorous implementation is the key to denuclearization of the North. Chun says even such tight implementation would take more than a year until the North changed its behavior and agreed to abandon its nuclear weapons program. Though the Security […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
cica , economic sanctions , non-proliferation , resolution 2270 , thaad
March 25,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (March 2016)

Whereas relations with Japan remained a preoccupation throughout 2015, the December 28 agreement on the “comfort women” issue left more room for attention in 2016 to turn in other directions. In the first months of the new year, after the fourth North Korean nuclear test, the Park administration’s responses grabbed the spotlight, especially the decision […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
comfort women , kaesong industrial complex , thaad
January 25,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (January 2016)

The APEC and EAS Summits in November On November 24, Kyunghyang Shinmun carried an article by Shin Ju-baek, regretting that the successes in multilateral diplomacy were hardly noticed in light of the intense coverage of the terror attack in Paris and the US-China-Japan competition in the South China Sea. The author points out two achievements, […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
december "comfort women" deal , five-party cooperation , multilateralism , north korea nuclear issue , regionalism
November 23,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (November 2015)

The first half of the fall was a trying period for South Korean diplomacy, which the conservative and progressive media viewed differently. There was a persistent sense of US pressure on the Park administration: against leaning toward China in support of reunification, for reassuring Washington that she is not leaning toward China, for accepting Japan’s […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
national security , park-obama summit , regionalism , reunification diplomacy , rok-sino relations , rok-us relations
September 17,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (September 2015)

Three themes concerning relations in Northeast Asia preoccupied the South Korean media in the late summer. Before and after the Abe statement, there was considerable interest in dealing with an unsatisfactory narrative without sacrificing what is now a two-track approach to Japan. Later in August, in the aftermath of the agreement with North Korea ending […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
8.25 agreement , abe statement , national security , regionalism , sino-rok relations
July 17,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (July 2015)

With the seventieth anniversary of the end of the war and the division of the Korean Peninsula coming up in August, diplomatic challenges continued, especially in South Korea’s relationships with North Korea and Japan. It was commonly noted that the upcoming anniversary is the best opportunity to make a breakthrough in the two stalled relationships. […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
middle power diplomacy , national security , opcon , regionalism , the china paradox
May 19,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (May 2015)

The Park administration’s diplomatic strategy was tested in the last two months concerning AIIB and Japan. On AIIB, while Seoul kept silent about its decision before joining as a founding member, the pressure from Beijing and Washington was growing. The South Korean government labeled its diplomacy “strategic ambiguity,” but, on both the left and the […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
aiib , historical revisionism , kono statement , thaad
March 18,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (March 2015)

Assessments of the Park administration’s foreign policy Marking the third year of the Park administration, criticism of her foreign policy grew more intense. On March 2, a Chosun Ilbo article assessed it as unbalanced, charging that too much weight has been put on the inter-Korean relationship. Reunification is, for sure, important, but related policies are […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
asia-pacific alliance , tpp , wendy sherman
January 12,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (January 2015)

Deepening confrontation between China-North Korea-Russia on one side and South Korea-the United States-Japan on the other was the center of discussion over the last two months. As the year 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of Korea-Japan relations and the 70th of Korea’s independence, how to overcome the stalled relationship gained weight. Park […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
eurasia initiative , human rights , korean reunification , revisionism , sanctions , yasukuni shrine
November 10,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (November 2014)

South Korean newspapers have recently focused on parallels in international relations. As they follow developments in Ukraine and Hong Kong and keep their gaze on North Korea, they are alert to similarities that can influence the foreign policy of the Park administration. The most significant overlaps are found between Ukraine and South Korea. The former […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
agreed framework , civilizations , hong kong , regionalism , reorganization of asia , thaad , ukraine