Jun 26,2020 Open Forum

Three Spikes and You Are Out? China-DPRK Relations after the Cold War and the US

Exchanges of visits between Chinese and DPRK leaders and high-level delegations have been relatively rare since the end of the Cold War. However, meetings between leaders saw three abnormal peaks in 1999-2001, 2010-2012, and 2018-2019. If after the Cold War the bilateral relationship cooled, room was left for China’s leaders to respond to changes in […]

Jiang Tianjiao

China-DPRK relations , China-US relations , COVID-19 , Denuclearization , Hanoi summit , Six-Party Talks

Oct 28,2019 Alternative Scenarios

Negative Scenario I

The working-level talks between the US and North Korea in Stockholm on October 4 and 5 fell apart after just one day. It was anticipated that the meeting would end without any significant result for two reasons. First, North Korea committed to the meeting only when Chairman Kim, invited to an unscheduled meeting with President […]

Jina Kim

Hanoi summit , Korean War , New Year’s Address , Non-proliferation treaty , US-ROK alliance

Jul 01,2019 Open Forum

China and the Korean Peninsula after the Hanoi Summit

The Hanoi summit between President Trump and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un had been expected to deliver concrete results on the nuclear negotiations and/or US-North Korea bilateral relations. Widely speculated outcomes had included partial denuclearization by North Korea in exchange for partial easing of US economic sanctions on the country; a declaration of the […]

Yun Sun

byungjin , G20 , Hanoi summit , Osaka Summit , THAAD , trade war , Xi-Kim summit

Jun 17,2019 Open Forum

Washington Insights, Vol. 7, No. 3

Trade overshadows security with human rights and democratization left on the sidelines in DC gatherings in the spring of 2019. The Hanoi summit left US-North Korean ties in limbo, reducing their salience in discussions as few new details emerged and the next steps remained difficult to fathom. In the Trump-Abe summits (two in the spring […]

Editorial Staff

"Belt and Road" Initiative , 5G , free and open Indo-Pacific , G20 , Hanoi summit , Huawei , THAAD , trilateralism , US-Japan alliance

Jun 04,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (May 2019)

Since the diplomatic collapse in Hanoi, talks between the US and North Korea have remained at an impasse throughout April and May, while President Moon Jae-in kept seeking ways to play his role as a middleman and bring the two sides back to the negotiating table. One such attempt was another meeting with President Donald […]

Kim Kimberly

Hanoi summit , Kaesong Industrial Complex , maximum pressure , Mount Geumgang , Six-Party Talks

May 15,2019 Open Forum

Washington Insights, Vol. 7, No. 2

Exchanges in DC are increasingly torn between a focus on bilateral relations—in particular, US relations with China, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan—or on trilateral relations. If the Sino-US relationship has enough heft to galvanize bilateral attention, the other pairings keep becoming enmeshed in triangular analysis. This report on recent seminars and presentations in DC […]

Editorial Staff

comfort women , Hanoi summit , Singapore Summit , trilateralism , US-Japan alliance , US-ROK alliance

Apr 02,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: South Korea (March 2019)

Second US-DPRK Summit (Feb. 27-28) US President Donald Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un again on February 27-28 in Vietnam, following their first historic summit in Singapore last year. Given that the first meeting fell short of expectations, ending with an ambiguous joint statement that did not specify the definition of denuclearization or […]

Kim Kimberly

Foal Eagle , Hanoi summit , Kaesong Industrial Complex , Key Resolve , Mount Geumgang , Panmunjom Declaration , Pyongyang summit , Yongbyon

Mar 28,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (March 2019)

Three themes centered on East Asia drew considerable attention in Russia in the latter half of the winter of 2019: China, North Korea, and Eurasia. On China, Russia’s ambassador continued to tout the best relations ever, offering no hint of challenges, while others assessed whether, in light of troubled Sino-US relations, China now needs Russia […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)

BRI , Eurasianism , free and open Indo-Pacific , Hanoi summit , SREB , turn to the East

Mar 19,2019 Country Reports

Country Report: Japan (February 2019)

The winter brought disappointing news regarding Japanese foreign policy on many fronts, but at least the worst-case scenario at the Trump-Kim Hanoi summit was avoided. The hopes for a breakthrough with Russia with accelerated diplomacy were dashed in three high-level meetings in January and February. The momentum built with the October Abe-Xi summit was scarcely […]

Editorial Staff

Abe-Xi Summit , BRI , Cold War , free and open Indo-Pacific , Hanoi summit

Mar 01,2019 National Commentaries

A View from the United States

A powerful, animating ego is a prerequisite to success among national politicians, but US President Donald Trump takes self-confidence—and the blinders that come with it—to unprecedented heights. Characteristic of his drive and ambition is his claim at the Republican National Convention, after securing the party’s nomination to be its 2016 presidential candidate: “Nobody knows the […]

Brad Glosserman

FFVD , Hanoi summit , Nobel Peace Prize , Singapore Summit , Six-Party Talks , Thae Yong-ho