On August 10, an all-republican summing-up meeting on emergency anti-epidemic work was held in the capital, Pyongyang, convened by the WPK and the DPRK Cabinet, chaired by Kim Jong-un, who announced a complete victory over COVID-19 and an easing of the “maximum stringent emergency quarantine” level. The total number of cases was 4.77 million out […]
In 2022, the competition between Australia, the United States and China over spheres of influence in Oceania, the planet’s vastest region occupying the South Pacific, intensified. This has led to destabilization of relations of the small island states in the region. And while it has turned out to be easy to destroy decades-old architecture, the […]
Before the end of 2022 and especially before the beginning of autumn, the author expects a seasonal rise in tension on the Korean peninsula due to large-scale US and South Korean military exercises. From August 22 to 25, 2022, the 54th nation-wide Ulchi exercise will be held in the ROK. The Ministry of Security and Public […]
On August 10, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced the new personal composition of the country’s 19-minister government. Only five members of the previous cabinet, including Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, retain their previous posts. Of the 14 new ministers, nine had never been at this level of government, the other five had previously been part […]
On August 12, 2022, President Yoon Suk-yeol approved a list of those subject to a special amnesty on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule. It comprises 1,693 people, including major businessmen. They include Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong, who was previously released from prison on parole, […]
In response to Nancy Pelosi’s stubborn – and provocative – visit to Taiwan, China has initiated military drills in the Taiwan Strait. This military drill amounts to a naval blockade of not only Taiwan but prolonged drills, with live shooting in the sea, could ultimately create a crisis that will, very much like the Ukraine […]
On August 7, a delegation of 11 Lithuanian officials led by Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Agnė Vaiciukevičiūtė arrived in Taiwan on a five-day visit. According to the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry, the purpose of the delegation’s visit is to “strengthen strategic cooperation and business ties in advanced sectors.” In reality, however, the Lithuanian vice-ministers […]
What many in the West at first dismissed as a tantrum thrown by Beijing over the unauthorized visit of US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan appears instead to be a carefully thought-out strategy designed to incrementally reassert Chinese sovereignty over the island territory. Beijing’s ability to do this is underwritten by the […]
In recent decades, the PRC has achieved outstanding success in foreign policy by developing economic and political relations with various countries around the world. However, relations with the nearest neighbors are of particular importance for any country, and the security of the state often depends on relations with them. Every powerful state that plays a […]
The last years of Moon Jae-in’s reign were remembered for the war of the prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of Justice, which resulted in the election of the former Prosecutor General by the president. But it seems that during the reign of Yoon Suk-yeol, we can observe a confrontation between the presidential administration, the Ministry […]
