South Korea
Japan, South Korea and United States: Let’s hope for a robust, lasting pact
In a TV interview last month, South Korean Defence Minister Shin Wonsik said he will work quickly with his Japanese and US counterparts to formalise their Trilateral Security…
Putin goes to Pyongyang: Should we be worried?
In Pyongyang last month Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a new strategic treaty with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.This was Putin’s first visit to Pyongyang in 24…
South Korea’s nuclear ambition holds a place in the national consciousness
Living in Seoul, you hear it often enough: “Korea was invaded more than a thousand times”. Depending on who you talk to, the number changes. I’ve personally heard “300”, the very…
Putin in Asia: Setting a cat among the pigeons
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit last week to Pyongyang and Hanoi captured headlines around the world. But it was hardly unexpected – indeed, a logical step in Russia’s…
Koreas policy: Sorting fact with fiction
The relationship between the factual and fictional representation of a country is a complex question for analysts and the wider public. But drawing both together offers an…
With balloons in the sky, North Korea keeps its feet on the ground
North Korea is finally delivering on its promise, although with an unusual payload. After warning South Korea that it would scatter “mounds of wastepaper and filth” on Sunday in…
Economic diplomacy: It’s nostalgists vs strategists
New binaries
Australian economic leaders have a double-edged history of trying to redefine their opponents out of the political debate from Paul Keating’s “straightmen, fixers…
Is South Korea’s Indo‑Pacific Strategy a diplomatic lame duck?
When South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol administration released its Indo-Pacific Strategy in late 2022, many Australian commentators hoped the time had finally come for the…
Economic diplomacy: Politics rules in Korean envoy row
Prosecutorial democracy
South Korea has a curious habit of investigating, often jailing, and then pardoning former presidents since it embraced two-party democracy with…
A summit between Japan and North Korea? About time
North Korea keeps on surprising. While Pyongyang is busy erasing all references to unification with South Korea, it is extending an olive branch to Japan.
It all began early in…