Eastern Asia

What’s the problem regarding radioactive water discharge from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant? A delegation of South Korean scientists visits the NPP. Part 2

The disputable situation surrounding the safety of discharging water from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which the author discussed in Part 1, prompted a team of 21 South Korean experts to visit Japan from May 21 to 26 to inspect the plant and the treatment of radioactively contaminated water that Japan plans to […]

A Kaleidoscope of Stories about Korean Society

Review of the book The Koreas: The Birth of Two Nations Divided by Theodore Jun Yoo In 2023, the book The Koreas: The Birth of Two Nations Divided by South Korean Professor Theodore Jun Yoo was published in Russian. It was praised in the West as “a rare multidisciplinary study of the two Koreas from […]
Сообщение A Kaleidoscope of Stories about Korean Society появились сначала на New Eastern Outlook.

Chinese Prime Minister’s Trip to Europe

From June 19-23, Li Qiang, leader of the State Council (i.e., prime minister of China), who only took office in March of this year, made his first trip abroad. The focus of his first foreign tour was the European continent. Specifically, the two leading countries of the European Union, Germany and France, as well as […]
Сообщение Chinese Prime Minister’s Trip to Europe появились сначала на New Eastern Outlook.

Is Lee Jae-myung ready for trial?

In a speech to the RoK Parliament on June 19, 2023, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, stated that he intended to renounce his parliamentary immunity in order to dispute the prosecutor’s allegations against him. Let us take a moment to reflect on what came before this really significant action. The […]
Сообщение Is Lee Jae-myung ready for trial? появились сначала на New Eastern Outlook.

Europe Says No to China Decoupling

Following active US diplomacy over the past few years, Europe seems to have now decided to say no to the US geopolitics of “decoupling” from China. This is nothing short of a major diplomatic blow for the US, although this blow has not received as much attention in the mainstream Western media due to its […]
Сообщение Europe Says No to China Decoupling появились сначала на New Eastern Outlook.

What’s the problem regarding radioactive water discharge from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant? Part One. The technical side of the issue

As previously noted, the outrage over Japan’s discharging of over 1 million tons of radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean (“discharge” for short) continues to persist. For instance, thousands of Koreans rallied in downtown Seoul on May 20, 2023, to protest the discharge. The leader of the main […]

Washington’s Real Policy Toward China

After an intense escalation between the US and China over the former’s persistence in “containing” the rise of the latter, and particularly over US interference with the island province of Taiwan, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken traveled to Beijing supposedly to repair tattered US-Chinese relations. As part of the process, Secretary Blinken even publicly […]
Сообщение Washington’s Real Policy Toward China появились сначала на New Eastern Outlook.

New complications in relations between South Korea and China

Recently, while outlining the deterioration in relations between Beijing and Seoul, the present author commented on a new scandal that further inflamed tensions. It has to do with highly critical comments made by Xing Haiming, China’s ambassador to Seoul, concerning South Korea’s foreign policy. The problems began on June 8, 2023, when South Korean opposition […]

Japan: early elections on the agenda

The prospect of an early dissolution of the lower house of parliament, with an immediate deadline set for the election of a new parliament, is gradually coming to the forefront of Japan’s domestic political turmoil. Under the current constitution, the prime minister has this power and usually uses it for certain purposes. More often than […]
Сообщение Japan: early elections on the agenda появились сначала на New Eastern Outlook.

A chronicle of the escalation between North and South Korea in late April and May 2023

In this latest in his series of digests on the increasingly tense situation on the Korean peninsula the author presents an overview of the situation up to mid-June 2023. On April 15, in response to Pyongyang’s test of its new solid-fuel ICBM, the Hwaseong-18, the US and South Korea conducted joint air force exercises involving […]