North Korea fired several ballistic missiles toward its western waters around 1:50 p.m. KST on Monday, according to the South Korean military. It marked the North’s fifth missile launch this year and came on the same day the United States and South Korea kicked off their “Freedom Shield” annual jointContinue Reading
The trilateral cooperation between Japan, South Korea, and the United States is showing cracks. Already fragile under the previous U.S. President Joe Biden, the alliance faces further strain under President Donald Trump, whose role as a mediator between historical antagonists Japan and South Korea is seen as unlikely by bothContinue Reading
On February 28, what should have been a routine diplomatic event in the Oval Office of the White House turned into a debacle. As media cameras broadcast the event live, U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance berated and belittled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The world witnessed howContinue Reading
The new direction of U.S. foreign policy under the second Trump administration is currently shaking up the international security order, centered on the war in Ukraine. The Europe-U.S. security alliance, which had been based on countering Russian aggression within a values-based international order, has begun to erode as Trump movesContinue Reading
For both Japan and South Korea, political stability seems like a distant goal. In Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and junior partner Komeito hold a minority of seats in the parliament, putting their government in the precarious position of needing to sway commitments from various opposition parties to passContinue Reading
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul held a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on February 15 in Munich, Germany on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. The Cho-Rubio bilateral meeting is the first meeting between the top diplomats of South Korea and the United States sinceContinue Reading
South Korea’s Constitutional Court continues to consider the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-yeol over his declaration of martial law in December. If the impeachment is upheld, a new presidential election will be held within 60 days – likely in May or June. Unless an unexpected event occurs, Lee Jae-MyungContinue Reading
Amid the world’s seemingly endless political turmoil, the recently chaotic situation in Seoul deserves special notice. As I witnessed first-hand in early January, there is much to celebrate in the brave citizens and parliamentarians who stridently refused – putting their own lives on the line – to turn the clockContinue Reading
