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
Dec 13,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (November)

Two themes dominated the news in November: the “shock” of the election of Donald Trump, which is covered separately in a Special Forum article, and the “anticipation” of Vladimir Putin’s visit to Japan on December 15. Already in the first part of the fall there was a sharp increase in Japanese articles on Japan-Russia relations, […]

Editorial Staff
AIIB , ASEAN , comfort women , East China Sea , energy , G20 , GSOMIA , Hikiwake , Kaesong Industrial Complex , Northern Territories
Nov 30,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (November 2016)

Recently, domestic events have so dominated the news that foreign affairs coverage has been reduced to only occasional stories. The Trump election was an unavoidable theme. The aftermath of North Korea’s fifth nuclear test in September continues to draw some notice. Finally, the decision to sign an intelligence sharing agreement with Japan aroused some responses. […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
5th nuclear test , EDSCG , GSOMIA , KORUS FTA , Nuclear threat , offshore balancing , ROK-US Alliance , strategic patience , THAAD , Trump administration
Nov 01,2016 Special Forum

South Korea’s Realignment in 2016: Opportunities, Changes, and Challenges

Since its fourth nuclear test on January 6, 2015, North Korea has been showing off its nuclear capability to acquire the status of a nuclear state. Its parade of nuclear weapons-related tests, which South Korea calls strategic provocations, is casting a dark shadow over not only the Korean Peninsula but also Northeast Asia and the […]

Shin Beomchul*
4thnuclear test , 5th nuclear test , AIIB , Denuclearization , GSOMIA , human rights , Kaesong Industrial Complex , Middle Power Diplomacy , Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative , Park Geun-hye
Nov 01,2016 Special Forum

Trilateralism and Realignment: Reassessing Three Triangles with South Korea

South Korea stands at the vortex of three geopolitical triangles and also in the shadow of the North Korean menace to regional stability. All of these trilateral configurations in the final months of 2016 are in the process of transformation and could evolve in unexpected ways. Foremost in most minds is the US-Japan-ROK alliance triangle, […]

Gilbert Rozman
5thnuclear test , comfort women , constitutional revisionism , Denuclearization , Eastern Economic Forum , Eurasia Economic Union , Eurasian Initiative , GSOMIA , Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative , Park Geun-hye
Oct 18,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (October 2016)

In the aftermath of North Korea’s 5th nuclear test, the ideological divide in South Korea has become more intense. On the conservative wing, the need for tougher sanctions and military preparation, even self-nuclearization from those at the extreme, was discussed. On the progressive wing, skepticism about the limits of international sanctions and calls for dialogue […]

Editorial Staff (prepared by Han Minjeong)
comfort women , GSOMIA , Nuclear Test , strategic patience , THAAD
Jun 07,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (June 2016)

Kawakami Takashi in the March Kaigai Jijo assessed the Obama presidency, faulting him for high-sounding language on a non-nuclear world while doing nothing to stop North Korea from possessing nuclear weapons. He calls this “leading from behind” or “talk without action,” creating a vacuum by thinking that the United States is no longer the world […]

Editorial Staff
G7 , GSOMIA , Ise-Shima summit , Japanese-Russian relations , Minsk Accord , Northern Territories , Nuclear threat