Written by Liang Tuang Nah. On 24 May, President Trump called off the planned 12 June summit with Chairman Kim Jong-un of North Korea, to be held in Singapore, due to perceived hostility on the part of Pyongyang. Having invested much political and reputational capital on rapprochement with North Korea, where a successful Trump-Kim meeting … Continue reading Middle powers showing initiative: North and South Korea getting it done
In the end, the Japanese delegates rejected Korea as a separate entry. The use of a Korean flag was unsurprisingly also not granted, much in the same way that British authorities attempted to prevent the use of an Indian National Congress flag in 1930.
Written by Patrick McEachern. North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations to date have resulted from its developmental mission to produce a nuclear deterrent. While lethal conventional provocations remain a tragic component of North Korea's approach to the South, Pyongyang has focused its security response to Washington over the last quarter century on its nuclear program. North … Continue reading The future pattern of North Korea’s provocations
The 2018 Olympics and related issues have influenced South Korea’s perceptions, attitudes, and emotions towards its neighbouring countries, including North Korea, Japan and China.
Kim can only achieve his nuclear deterrent at the cost of permanent economic underdevelopment.
Written by Leif-Eric Easley. As PyeongChang welcomes the world for the 2018 Winter Games, international focus will be on the incredible athletes and the Olympic spirit they embody. Also worthy of attention are the national achievements of South Korea, not only as the host country, but as a globalized market economy that has become a technological … Continue reading North Korean Human Rights in the State of the Union
Written by Andrew O'Neil. The prospect of South Korean and North Korean athletes marching together under a “unification” flag at this month’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics signifies a brief respite in tensions rather than being a genuine thawing on the Korean peninsula. After an initial surge of optimism in response to Pyongyang’s decision to accept Seoul’s offer to … Continue reading Why a first strike on North Korea is a very bad idea
Written by Danny Lam. As American and Canadian officials meet last week to discuss North Korea, it’s worth a reminder that military options must be on the table if diplomatic efforts to de-nuclearize the country fail. The Korean conflict of the 1950s never formally ended. It concluded with an armistice that saw six decades of relative calm … Continue reading The case for using military force against North Korea
Given the incendiary circumstances, South Korea is the world’s safest and best bet to resolving the nuclear crisis in a diplomatic and peaceful manner
Recognizing nuclear North Korea as a full-fledged fellow will eventually secure the peace and stability on the peninsula.
In 2018, the North Korean leadership is likely to continue to demonstrate its technological capability through tests and missile launches, while Kim Jong-un occasionally claims that the possibility of dialogue is still open.
Kim might well decide to engage in progressively bolder and more antagonistic military adventurism beyond anything previously attempted, as a form of coercive bargaining to encourage diplomatic flexibility towards the DPRK.
Written by C Uday Bhaskar. On November 29th North Korea carried out the test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) which crashed not just directly into Japan's economic exclusion zone also into the membership of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. This club comprising of the United States, Russia, China, France and the … Continue reading North Korea has now proven it has an ICBM capability
While the regime’s use of human trafficking is primarily (and rightly) viewed as a threat to human rights, it also poses a threat to international security.
With the use of military force having horrific consequences and unconditional dialogue merely rewarding the North's bad behaviour, the only currently feasible punitive course of action in response to Kim Jong-un’s missile and nuclear aggrandisement is economic censure.
Moon’s main concern revolves around the insecurity on the Korean peninsula. Why is Moon eager to have closer economic and diplomatic ties with Russia? The answer to this question lies in the desire by the South Korean authorities to find diplomatic solutions to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis and to prevent pre-emptive strikes.
Written by Nick Bisley. North Korea’s sixth nuclear test, following soon after a series of missile provocations, tells us a great deal. Most obviously, North Korea does not feel at all constrained by US President Donald Trump’s rhetoric, and nor has it been coerced by UN sanctions. It also illustrates the acute regional tension caused by the acceleration … Continue reading Kim Jong-un’s nuclear ambition: what is North Korea’s endgame?
Written by Jeffrey Robertson. Articles discussing pre-emptive strikes on North Korea are now everywhere. Based on a small number of in-depth analytical studies, they detail military challenges, human costs and likely outcomes. While those articles prepare us for the short term, they ignore the potential long-term strategic change that would result from a conflict on the Korean … Continue reading A preemptive strike on North Korea could be disastrous
Pyongyang will not launch against the US, unless we attack them first, and the US would, even in that extremely unlikely, worst-case scenario, survive.
Written by Olga Krasnyak. In recent days the crisis over North Korea's nuclear program has captured the attention of the world. On August 7th, in response to continued missile tests the United Nations Security Council passed new sanctions on Pyongyang targeting key exports such as coal, iron ore and financial transactions. Russia showed solidarity with all council … Continue reading Nuclear Crisis in North Korea: A Chance for Russia?
Written by Olga Krasnyak. On May 14th 2017, North Korea launched its latest missile test. Regardless of speculation about the type of rocket engine or potential Iranian links, the test appears to be another step in what is now widely believed to be a rapidly improving ballistic missile program. As the United States seeks to … Continue reading A new frontier? Science diplomacy with North Korea?
Written by Dinshaw Mistry. Asia’s four nuclear-armed states - Pakistan, India, China, and North Korea - have small to mid-sized nuclear arsenals. Varying security motivations have driven the development of these arsenals - Pakistan acquired nuclear weapons to counter India’s conventional and nuclear forces; India’s nuclear deterrent is a response to both China and Pakistan; … Continue reading Nuclear Challenges in Asia
Written by Jeffrey Robertson. On 9 May, South Korea elected Moon Jae-in as president. Given Moon’s early and consistent lead in the polls, much has already been said about South Korea’s new president. But, as is often the case with South Korea, the event means something substantially different to the international and to the domestic … Continue reading Trump and a new South Korean administration
Written by Anthony Rinna. Despite the North Korean state ideology of juche ("self-reliance"), the DPRK has long depended on either China or Russia as its most important international partner. In light of China's recent curtailment of its support for North Korea, coinciding with an uptick in North Korea-Russia relations, a common supposition is that Russia … Continue reading North Korea-Russia Relations: Limitations Behind the Façade of Friendship
Written by Bo Gao China and North Korea have been blood allies since the beginning of the Cold War, following the friendship built during the Korean War against the US-led UN troops. In the post-Cold War era, the Sino-DPRK relationship has become commercialised. It started with the entry of a small number of Chinese companies … Continue reading Behind Chinese Engagement in the DPRK: Environment and Resource Scarcity Concerns
Written by Eunjung Lim On March 10, eight justices of the South Korean Constitutional Court unanimously upheld the National Assembly’s 9th December 2016 motion to impeach President Park Geun-hye. The country’s first female president now became the country's first impeached president. Ever since the political scandal involving Park’s decades-long friend, Choi Soon-sil, surfaced in late … Continue reading After Park’s impeachment, what should be South Korea’s priority?
Written by Anselm Huppenbauer The Tumen River forms the natural border between North Korea, China and Russia. Even though that swampy, sparsely populated area on either side of the river is a rather unlikely place for a site of regional integration, some remarkable developments can be observed over the years. But first, what makes this … Continue reading Economic Integration in the Tumen River Region
Written by Virginie Grzelczyk. ‘We will consistently take hold on the strategic line of simultaneously pushing forward the economic construction and the building of nuclear force and boost self-defensive nuclear force both in quality and quantity as long as the imperialists persist in their nuclear threat and arbitrary practice.’ -- Kim Jong Un, 7th Korean … Continue reading Korean Identity, or Korean Identities?
Written by Terence Roehrig. As North Korea’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile capabilities continue to grow, South Korea, the United States, and Japan struggle to find ways to deal with this growing threat. One of the answers has been ballistic missile defense (BMD). Washington has been constructing a regional BMD system that includes Aegis destroyers … Continue reading Deploying THAAD to South Korea
Written by Remco Breuker. These days it seems as if I wake up each morning to North Korean missiles being launched over the East Sea. The - according to many experts very real - possibility of a sixth North Korean nuclear test makes the increasingly frequent missile testing significantly more ominous. To complete the apocalyptic … Continue reading Dealing with North Korea: The Options that Remain
IAPS Dialogue: The online magazine of the Institute of Asia & Pacific Studies 