On March 15, 2021, Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, issued a statement condemning the staging of scheduled joint military exercises by the United States and ROK. She stated that whether or not relations between the DPRK and South Korea “return to the new starting point of peace and prosperity as witnessed in those spring days […]
In May 2021, South Korea’s President paid a scheduled visit to the United State where he met with the recently elected US leader. The trip took place at a time when a number of internal political issues plague the ROK and the confrontation between the US and PRC continues. Prior to the visit, South Korean […]
This story is one of those that has always been perfectly obvious to me, living in Moscow, Russia, but, what with the news streams from around the world so focused this last year on the US, Donald Trump and COVID-19, this very visceral trend sort of got ignored. This trend is the extreme level of […]
On April 20, 2021, South Korea completed the ratification process for three key International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions. ILO Director-General Guy Ryder welcomed the ratification as an important step forward in the development of the nation’s labor relations. However, one needs to understand that the path towards the approval of documents on protection of workers’ rights […]
Local by-elections failed on April 7, 2021; the Conservative Party regained Seoul and Busan, South Koreas’ most prominent cities. This result has caused specific changes in the leadership of political parties in the Republic of Korea and the departure of the administration’s aggravation of factional struggle. One example was a high-profile story when five freshmen […]
April 29, 2021, The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea has passed the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act, which aims to prohibit government employees and elected officials from using insider information for personal benefit. This law complements the so-called Kim Young-ran Anti-Bribery Act, adopted in 2016. Over the past eight years, there have been […]
On April 21, 2021, “With the Century” hit the bookstores in Seoul. This is Kim Il Sung’s memoirs, written at the end of his life, covering the period from 1912 to 1945 (before the liberation of Korea). They describe the childhood of the North Korean leader and his actions in resisting the Japanese colonial regime. […]
The issue of the lawsuits that South Korea is bringing against Japan has a long history. When Japan and the ROK established diplomatic relations in 1965, Tokyo paid substantial compensation and provided interest-free loans to Seoul, which were not a determining but important part of the “miracle at Hangangan”. Although these sums were sent to […]
Brian Berletic | Understanding all of the turmoil in Southeast Asia and Asia requires a grasp of US plans to encircle and 'contain' China.
April 16, 2021 marks seven years the Sewol ferry disaster, which killed more than 300 people, mostly high school students. This makes us look at how work is progressing during the reign of Moon Jae-in to identify and ultimately punish the perpetrators of this tragedy. From the author’s point of view, the Sewol problem – […]
