Feb 22,2017 Alternative Scenarios

Positive Scenario II

The Constitutional Court of South Korea has until June to rule for or against the impeachment decision made by the National Assembly last December. As a majority of citizens are clamoring for an early decision, the court is under pressure to deliver the verdict sooner than later. In fact, the ruling is likely to arrive […]

Kim Jaechun*
4th nuclear test , Abe Shinzo , Ban Ki-moon , burden-sharing , comfort women , Constitutional Court , Dokdo , elections , GSOMIA , impeachment
Dec 29,2016 Alternative Scenarios

Positive Scenario I

Being chief diplomat is one of the many roles that the president plays under the Korean political system. The chief diplomat has been missing in Korea for months since a string of mysterious scandals have incapacitated Park from performing presidential roles. Many worry that her absence on the diplomatic stage, at a volatile time of […]

Kim Jaechun*
4th nuclear test , comfort women , GSOMIA , Hwang Kyo-ahn , impeachment , Park Geun-hye , ROK National Assembly , summit diplomacy , THAAD , Trump administration
Dec 16,2016 Special Forum

What Trump Should Do about China

The monkey king raised his cudgel, and there was great disorder in Heaven. The jadelike firmament was cleared of dust With this phrase, Mao Zedong began China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. As nearly all Chinese would know, the phrase comes from a 16th century novel that has roots in folk beliefs dating from at least […]

June Teufel Dreyer
4th nuclear test , ASEAN , Asia pivot , Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank , burden-sharing , China Dream , cyberespionage , Dalai Lama , Diaoyu islands , freedom of navigation
Nov 01,2016 Special Forum

Introduction

Park Geun-hye’s sober foreign policy choices in 2016 pointedly contrast with her much-lauded ambitions of 2014-2015. In this set of articles we make the comparisons, suggest reasons for the changes, and explore implications of this transformation. We ask: Was this an awakening from illusions to harsh realities? Was it a shift from Plan A to […]

Editorial Staff
4th nuclear test , 5th nuclear test , bonanza , comfort women , Crimea , Eastern Economic Forum , Eurasian Economic Initiative , Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative , South China Sea , THAAD
Nov 01,2016 Special Forum

Growing Threats and Shifting Policies on the Korean Peninsula

President Park Geun-hye began her term in 2013 with high hopes, or at least plans for engaging North Korea to resolve the nuclear issue as well as appealing to China for assistance in reining in its recalcitrant ally. Instead, Park nears the end of her tenure having reversed herself after both policies failed to achieve […]

Bruce Klingner
3rd nuclear test , 4th nuclear test , Denuclearization , Dresden Declaration , Kaesong Industrial Complex , Korean unification , landmine crisis , Sunshine Policy , THAAD , Trustpolitik
Nov 01,2016 Special Forum

Synopsis of the Seoul Forum for International Affairs, September 23, 2016

In the early autumn of 2016, there were repeated seminars and exchanges in Seoul and Washington, DC on three interrelated topics: how to respond effectively to the North Korean threat, how to manage Sino-US relations with North Korea more than the South China Sea in the forefront, and how South Korea should reassert its drive […]

Editorial Staff
4th nuclear test , 5th nuclear test , ASEAN , East Asia Summit , Eurasia Economic Union , G2 , Maritime security , Maritime Silk Road , Nordpolitik , offshore balancing