May 09,2020 Open Forum

Kim Jong-un’s Recent Absence: A Viewpoint from North Korean Media Analysis

“CONFIDENTIAL AND URGENT STOP LORD COPPER HIMSELF GRAVELY DISSATISFIED STOP LORD COPPER PERSONALLY REQUIRES VICTORIES STOP ON RECEIPT OF THIS CABLE VICTORY STOP CONTINUE CABLING VICTORIES UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE STOP… “They don’t seem very pleased with me in London. They seem to want more news.”1 The British writer Evelyn Waugh’s 1938 novel, Scoop, caricatures foreign […]

Rachel Minyoung Lee

Kim Il-sung , Kim Jong-il , Kim Jong-un , Kim Yo-jong , media analysis

Mar 19,2020 Special Forum

Sino-ROK Relations on the 75th Anniversary of the End of WWII

Beijing and Seoul have experienced ups and downs in their relationship over the thirty years since the end of the Cold War. At times, such as when President Park Geun-hye stood beside General Secretary Xi Jinping on the Beijing review stand at the parade in honor of the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, […]

Gilbert Rozman

Cheonan Incident , Cold War , COVID-19 , Kim Jong-un , Koguryo dispute , Moon Jae-in , THAAD , US-ROK alliance , WWII , Xi Jinping

May 14,2019 Special Forum

Introduction

The subject of interests versus values figures importantly in queries on international relations in Northeast Asia. Four prime examples are: 1) What is driving the tensions in Sino-US relations, and how should the US respond to China’s perceived ideological challenge? 2) Is Abe Shinzo driven by national interests or national identity in foreign policy, and […]

Editorial Staff

Abe Shinzo , Donald Trump , Kim Jong-un , Moon Jae-in , Vladmir Putin , Xi Jinping

May 10,2019 Special Forum

Korea’s Choice: Synopsis of the Asan Plenum 2019

The theme of this year’s Asan Plenum was Korea’s Choice, and the core question regarded a choice between reaffirmation of the ROK-US alliance and prioritization of reunification with the long-separated northern part of the peninsula. For the first time in seven decades this choice had become a serious factor in Seoul’s diplomatic thinking. In many […]

Editorial Staff

Donald Trump , Global Korea , inter-Korean summit , Kim Jong-un , Moon Jae-in , US-ROK alliance

Dec 30,2018 Alternative Scenarios

Negative Scenario II

In his own words, President Moon Jae-in’s plan “is to make enough progress by the year’s end so the [peace] process cannot be reversed,” such that “there can never be another war on the Korean Peninsula.”1 In reality, of course, peace is never completely irreversible. More reasonably, what Moon likely desires is to create such […]

Kathryn Botto

Donald Trump , Kim Jong-un , Moon Jae-in , Pyongyang summit , Singapore Summit

Dec 30,2018 Alternative Scenarios

Positive Scenario II

Months have passed since the Pyongyang summit—and hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough remain illusory. For a brief moment, the stalled diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang appeared to recover; yet no date has been fixed for a second Trump-Kim summit and the newly-appointed US envoy Stephen Biegun has yet to set foot in North Korea. The […]

Eun A Jo

Donald Trump , Kim Jong-un , Moon Jae-in , Moonshine Policy , Pyongyang summit , Singapore Summit

Oct 16,2018 Alternative Scenarios

Negative Scenario I

After North Korea’s sixth and most-powerful nuclear test last September, few would have expected to see President Moon Jae-in step off a plane to embrace Chairman Kim Jong-un on the tarmac at Pyongyang International Airport. Moon’s efforts to include North Korea in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics catalyzed fast-paced shuttle diplomacy that has extended beyond the […]

Kathryn Botto

Kim Jong-un , Moon Jae-in , Panmunjom Declaration , Pyongyang Declaration , Pyongyang summit

Oct 16,2018 Alternative Scenarios

Positive Scenario I

In what is considered one of Pyongyang’s most potent propaganda events—a mass performance called the “Glorious Country”—Moon Jae-in addressed some 150,000 North Koreans, who erupted in teary applause as he proclaimed a “new era” of peace and prosperity. In his seven-minute-long speech, Moon implored the two Koreas to “end the past 70 years of hostility […]

Eun A Jo

Kim Jong-un , Moon Jae-in , Panmunjom Declaration , Pyongyang Declaration , Pyongyang summit

May 01,2018 National Commentaries

Moon’s Precarious Push for Peace

Kim Jong-un’s New Year’s Address, and the surge of diplomatic overtures that followed, came as a shock to many. The preceding year had been marked by the North’s heightened efforts toward completing its nuclear program, demonstrating a significant technological leap and leading it to more confidently declare itself a “nuclear state.” Combined with Donald Trump’s […]

Eun A Jo

inter-Korean summit , Kim Jong-un , Panmunjom Declaration , Pyeongchang Olympics

Feb 27,2018 Special Forum

North Korean Intentions

The Korean Peninsula is at a possible inflection point at the beginning of 2018, defined by the growing nuclear capabilities of North Korea on one hand and the outreach of the North Korean leadership to South Korea on the other. In January 2018 US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Mike Pompeo declared North Korea only […]

Austin Long

byungjin policy , Kim Jong-un , Kim Yo-jung , Nikita Khrushchev , Pyeongchang Olympics , Saddam Hussein