July 13, 2022 North Korea has officially recognized the independence of the DPR and LPR, becoming the third country in the world after Russia and Syria to do so. DPRK Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui sent her counterparts in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics the following letters: “…the DPRK government has decided to recognize the […]
On July 10 Japan held elections for 125 of the 248 seats (i.e. 50%+1) in the House of Councillors, the upper house of the Japanese Parliament. The results of these elections have attracted special interest owing to a number of different factors. These factors include both immediate and long-term issues, and relate to both domestic […]
The author has followed the career of 36-year-old conservative party leader Lee Jun-seok with great attention, and not just to the uneasy relationship between him, the classical conservatives and supporters of Yoon Suk-yeol. Since his election as party leader, Lee Jun-seok has committed himself to pushing for a change in the norms of political culture, […]
If the Russia-Ukraine war has seemingly ‘united’ Europe and the US at a time when Europe seemed to be weaning away from NATO to establish ‘European autonomy’, this war has also led to multinational alliance configuration elsewhere as well – an alliance that supports altering the west-centric international system. Its major manifestation came through the […]
On July 1, the PRC celebrated the very remarkable event that occurred exactly 25 years earlier with the return of Hong Kong to the country. It was not only extremely important for China itself, but also had a significant foreign policy component. And the importance of foreign politics only increases with time. This was borne […]
On June 27, 2022, South Korea’s Ministry of Justice appealed to the Constitutional Court against the new laws aimed at reforming and, in time, ending the Prosecution Service’s authority to investigate crimes. The Ministry believes that these laws are unconstitutional. This is the latest round in a political struggle which reached its height at the […]
The density of foreign policy activities by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cannot but attract attention. At the end of April, he received German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Tokyo. Immediately after that, he went on a week-long tour to three countries in Southeast Asia and a subsequent flight to Europe. There, he held talks with […]
One June 29-30, 2022, a NATO summit was held in Madrid that was attended for the first time by the President of South Korea Yoon Seok-yeol. South Korea is not a member of the military alliance, but was invited as a partner country along with Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. For Yoon, this was his […]
For years, the West has made every effort to predict the fall of Russia-China ties. The frenzy reached its climax when Russia began its military operation in Ukraine in late February 2022. Many in the West – both politicians and the media – saw this war as the beginning of the end of Sino-Russia ties. […]
The first months of Yoon Suk-yeol’s rule were marked by an impressive action of workers. Starting from June 7, the Cargo Truckers Solidarity trade union declared a general strike demanding freight rate increase and other support measures to cope with the drastic fuel prices growth. Increasing oil prices due to the Ukrainian crisis entailed growing […]
