The news of another nuclear weapon test by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, often referred to in the west as North Korea, has been met with condemnation from the most powerful nuclear armed state of them all, the United States of America, the only nation to have actually used them, against the people of Japan in 1945, and a nation that still retains a first strike strategy against its claimed enemies.
Signing of the South Korean-Japanese intergovernmental agreement on “final and irreversible” solution of the so-called comfort women issue on December 28, 2015 in Seoul will occupy a prominent place in line of the events of the past year in East Asia.
In fact, it is the only certain fact that could be said about signing of the agreement by the Foreign Ministers of Japan and the Republic of Korea.
The recent announcement that heavy smog has triggered an orange level alert in Beijing, the densely populated capital of China, once again drew the attention of the international community to the environmental problems China faces. In fact, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is paying a staggering price for its rapid industrial and economic growth, since the levels of air and water pollution in urban areas are at unprecedented levels across China.
The meeting of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the supreme governing body of the armed forces of one of the leading global powers, held on November 24–26, 2015, will have a significant impact not only on the development of internal processes in China, but also on the surrounding political environment. The keynote address of the country’s leader Xi Jinping added the significance to this event.
On January 6, 2015 at 10: 00 Pyongyang time, North Korea conducted a “hydrogen bomb test”. First, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake was recorded in the area of the North Korean nuclear test site.
On January 6, 2015 at 10: 00 Pyongyang time, North Korea conducted a “hydrogen bomb test”. First, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake was recorded in the area of the North Korean nuclear test site.
December 16, 2015 in North Korea the 60-year-old Canadian citizen of Korean origin, Lim Hyeon-soo, was sentenced to life in prison. He is a Protestant pastor at the Light Korean Presbyterian Church. This story has led to another (though substantially smaller than previous ones) surge of stories on the persecution of Christians.
The complexity and intricacy of the situation in Northeast Asia (NEA) manifests itself, in particular, in the state of Japanese-South Korean relations. On the one hand, Japan and South Korea (Republic of Korea) are the closest regional allies of the United States. The largest group of US troops in Asia, performing the function of forward based forces under the strategy of China’s (the main US geopolitical opponent) deterrence, is located in the territories of both countries.
