Robert Edwin Kelly | East Asia Forum

The future of EU-South Korean relations after the FTA

16th March, 2012

Jean-Marie Hurtiger, chairman of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Korea; EU ambassador to Korea Tomasz Kozlowski; South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon; and Sakong Il, chairman of the Korea International Trade Association pose in a reception at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on 1 July 2011 to mark the effectuation of the Korea-EU free trade agreement. (Photo: AAP)

Author: Robert E. Kelly, Pusan National University

With the EU regularly being ranked a top-five export market for South Korea, the two signed an FTA in 2009.

But while interest in future cooperation is high, deeper engagement beyond the FTA is unlikely, since neither side plays an important role in the basic security issues of the other. Read more…

American constraints on the US-South Korea alliance

8th November, 2011

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-Jin (R) shakes hands with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta (L) during a joint press conference in Seoul on 28 October, 2011. The US and South Korean defence chiefs vowed to raise combat-readiness near the disputed sea border with North Korea, saying any fresh attack or provocation 'is not to be tolerated'. (Photo: AAP).

Author: Robert E. Kelly, PNU

President Lee Myung-bak’s October trip to the US represents an ostensible high point in the US-ROK alliance.

But there are cracks in the relationship, primarily on the American side. Read more…

Comparing North Korea to East Germany

9th April, 2011

North Korean defectors demand the passing of North Korea peoples human rights laws from National Assembly at a protest earlier this month. Will South Korea have the resources to demand unification? (Photo: AAP)

Author: Robert Edwin Kelly, PNU

Whenever it comes, Korean unification will be more expensive per capita, more destabilising and more prone to outside intervention than that of Germany.

Examining the similarities between these two states, North Korea and East Germany have (or, of course in the case of East Germany, had) all the problems of the 20^th century’s ‘real existing socialism’, controlled by a corrupt ‘red bourgeoisie’ for whom regime ideology justifies oligarchy and luxury. Read more…