September 12,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (September 2014)

President Park’s “principled diplomacy” has been criticized for a lack of detailed policies. Park set the two diplomatic goals of a “Northeast Asian Peace Process” and a “Korean Peninsula Trust Process.” The former has been practically blocked by Korea-Japan relations, and the later by the inter-Korean relationship. Seoul and Japan currently have only one official […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
apologizing compensation" , may 24 restrictions , principled diplomacy , reunification charter , sex slaves , small routes to north korea , universal human rights and history
July 11,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (July 2014)

Northeast Asia’s geopolitical tensions have intensified and grown more complicated over the past two months. The Cold War-era legacy of contention between South Korea, the United States, and Japan on one side and China and North Korea on the other has become blurred. President Xi Jinping became the first Chinese leader to visit Seoul before […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
balanced diplomacy , horizontal and vertical alliance , kono statement diplomatic record , park-xi summit , serving as a bridge , xi history speech
May 09,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (May 2014)

President Barack Obama’s late April visits to Asian countries were assessed in Korean papers as an attempt to make the “pivot” to Asia more sophisticated with special emphasis on their implications for the Korean Peninsula. The increasing nuclear threats from the DPRK, the more complicated geopolitics in the Northeast Asian region in the wake of […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
china and six-party talks , sino-rok mutual assistance on history issue , ukraine crisis and north korea , us-japan alliance and the pivot
March 07,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (March 2014)

Two themes have been in the forefront in Korean media coverage of international relations in the region: diplomacy related to reunification and ROK-Japan relations. The former was sparked by President Park’s New-Year Speech, saying “reunification is like hitting a jackpot (통일은 대박이다).” As two major powers also mentioned reunification (Secretary of State John Kerry touched […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
dokdo/takeshima , germany , germany reunification , reunions , textbooks , two-korea policy , un commission of inquiry on human rights
January 10,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (January 2014)

Japan was on Korean minds in the final months of 2013, occasionally interrupted by new reasons to recall North Korea’s looming presence. The year ended with less reason for optimism in both relationships and lingering uncertainty about what that may mean for US and Chinese relations. The Korea-Japan Relationship Before Abe’s year-end visit to the […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
jang song-thaek , military influence , multilateralism , park-abe summit , political stability , yasukuni shrine
November 08,2013 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (November 2013)

Japan and the ROK-US-Japan triangle preoccupied the Korean media through the early autumn. Criticism of the Abe administration only intensified, but it came amid growing concern about whether further deterioration in ROK-Japan relations was advisable and, even more, how to respond to increasing military ties between Japan and the United States. There was no sign […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
collective defense , forced labor , missile defense , sex slaves , tpp , trustpolitik , us triangularity , yasukuni shrine
September 13,2013 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (September 2013)

In a speech delivered on the sixty-eighth anniversary of Liberation Day, Park Geun-hye said, “Japanese politicians need to show courageous leadership to heal wounds from the past to develop the bilateral relationship to a sincere cooperative partnership.” She also urged Japan to take “responsible and sincere” measures for victims of history and together to establish […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
dependency on china , inter-korean trust process , merkel , mutual abandonment , park geun-hye , shinzo abe , xi jinping , yasukuni shrine
July 19,2013 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (July 2013)

Country Report: South Korea (prepared by Han Minjeong) The single event of most far-reaching significance for the Korean media was the visit of President Park Geun-hye to Beijing. Coverage focused on whether China’s policy toward North Korea is changing. Indications that it was changing had already fueled cautious optimism that the time is ripe for […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
denuclearization , new model of great power politics , obama-xi summit , park-xi summit , sino-us relations