Unlike the relationship between China and North Korea, which demonstrates a long-standing traditional friendship, the situation with South Korea is more complicated. On the one hand, high-ranking officials of China openly criticize the policy of the ROK, thereby Seoul periodically starts to claim Beijing’s interference in the internal affairs of the country. Thus, on June […]
Much of the talk about how long the DPRK regime will last under sanctions and the country’s “self-isolation” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is rooted in the question of what role Beijing will play in supporting Pyongyang. In 2019, China accounted for about 95 per cent of North Korea’s total trade, according to […]
The various developments accompanying the Taiwan issue, the most dangerous one on today’s political map of the world, require constant attention and as accurate a description as possible. That is, without distortion, and with the minimum author’s comments. Their simple chronological presentation speaks for itself. It depicts the relations between the two leading world powers, […]
Throughout 2021, Pyongyang and Beijing continued to actively demonstrate their long-standing traditional friendship by exchanging messages and holding ceremonial events. On February 19, it was reported that Pyongyang appointed Ri Ryong-nam, a former vice-premier in charge of trade policy in North Korea’s Cabinet from June 2016 to January 2021, as ambassador to China. Previously, Ri […]
On October 26, in the 89th year of his life, the former President of South Korea Roh Tae-woo passed away, leaving an ambivalent mark in the history of South Korea. He was, on the one hand, Chun Doo-hwan’s first associate in the 1979 military coup, later convicted of corruption and other crimes; on the other, […]
In what at first glance looked like the European Union getting onboard with the US-led confrontation with China, a recent delegation led by Raphael Glucksmann sent to Taiwan supposedly representing the EU tells a story less of supposed mainland “interference” within the island territory, and instead, a story about US interference within the EU. Glucksmann […]
On October 31, lower house election was held in Japan, the primary outcome of which can be summed up as the preservation of the domestic political status quo. With some noteworthy caveats, as discussed below. The final data published on the distribution of the parliamentary seats received by the opponents show that the ruling Liberal Democratic […]
Not too long ago, there was an interesting review on the NEO website about women in the armies of the Middle East. Continuing with this theme, the author will talk about women in the military in South Korea outside the Sex and Violence theme. It’s about two pieces of information. First, in 2021 the idea of […]
On October 24, 2021, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service stated that media reports about the North Korean leader’s sister committing a coup against her brother were fundamentally untrue. The primary source of the ‘hype’ is the October 23 report of the American tabloid magazine Globe about the coup d’etat in North Korea. It turns out […]
While the world was discussing the DPRK’s SLBM, a lot was going on south of the 38th parallel. On September 15, South Korea successfully launched a locally produced ballistic missile (SLBM) from a submarine, becoming the seventh country in the world to do so. On September 28, Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Ulsan shipyard held a launching […]
