Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: Yoon Young-kwan, Seoul National University
After North Korea’s sinking of a South Korean frigate, Cheonan, and shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in 2010, inter-Korean relations did not improve much in 2011.
There was limited official contact between the South and the North and between the US and the North to discuss the possible resumption of Six-Party Talks or food aid. Read more…
Author: Bradley O. Babson
At the moment of his accession to power, Kim Jong-il inherited the devastating impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the subsequent trade shock to North Korea’s economic output, the onset of the worst famine in modern history, and a humanitarian crisis that required a direct appeal to the outside world for help.
By the late 1990’s, he was forced to accept the realities of dependence on international aid, the rise of farmers markets as a grassroots response to the famine, and the introduction of capitalist notions such as ‘profits’ in the Constitution itself. Read more…
Author: Alexander Vorontsov, RAS
The Ulan-Ude summit on 24 August 2011 highlighted Russia and North Korea’s commitment to overcoming the Korean Peninsula nuclear problem — and they must be credited with considerable success.
Kim Jong-il confirmed that North Korea is ready to return to the Six-Party Talks without any preconditions, and both leaders agreed to advance with the construction of a gas pipeline linking Russia and South Korea via North Korea. Read more…
Author: Sergei Sevastianov, VSUES
On 24 August, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-il, met with President Medvedev during a highly-anticipated visit to Russia.
And it would seem that the meeting in Ulan-Ude may have generated positive changes for security and economic development on the Korean Peninsula — and even the rest of Northeast Asia. Read more…
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…
Author: Stephen Costello
In March this year, US Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry chaired a hearing on US policy toward North Korea.
After testimony from government and NGO witnesses, Kerry observed, ‘Based on [widely differing testimonials], I get the sense that we are misinterpreting what our interests are, vis-à-vis [North Korea] and how they view us. And if we are, how useful are six party talks?’ Read more…
Author: Aidan Foster-Carter, Leeds University
After three and a half years of a hard line with nothing to show for it except worsened inter-Korea relations, Lee Myung-bak is at long last executing a U-turn. Not openly and without fanfare of course; but the signs are clear.
In a speech in New York on 20 September, Lee sounded a note both old and new. As ever he stressed denuclearisation, but in a way which suggests this may no longer be a first step and precondition for progress. Read more…
Authors: Peter Hayes, RMIT and Chung-in Moon, Yonsei University
A declassified 1978 CIA report related to nuclear proliferation during the Park Chung-hee era shows that, far from making South Korea more secure, Park’s toying with the nuclear option made him an unpredictable and even dangerous client who needed restraint in the eyes of US policy makers.
The ROK’s nuclear ambitions, especially in the post-1975 period, resulted in the US threatening to rupture the security alliance if the ROK did not stop its nuclear intransigence. Read more…
Author: Aidan Foster-Carter, Leeds University
August found Kim Jong-il on the road again. Travelling only in his trademark armoured train, due to a fear of flying, restricts his choice of destinations considerably.
His previous three trips had all been to China, so it was time for a change. On August 20 Kim’s train crossed the border at Khasan into Russia. Read more…
Authors: Alexander Vorontsov and Oleg Revenko, Russian Academy of Sciences
Kim Jong-il’s recent visit to Russia and his brief meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev in Ulan-Ude continue to stir interest in political circles.
This was the North Korean leader’s first trip to Russia since 2002. Read more…
Author: Choi Kyung-soo, NKRI
The mining industry is one of the most important components of North Korea’s economy and minerals are its most important export commodity.
North Korea hosts sizeable deposits of more than 200 different minerals. Of those mineral resources identified, deposits of coal, iron ore, magnesite, gold ore, zinc ore, copper ore, limestone, molybdenite, and graphite are the largest and all have the potential for the development of large-scale mines. Read more…
Authors: Dong-Joon Park and Danielle Chubb, Pacific Forum CSIS, Honolulu
South Korea and Japan both consider the islands, known alternatively as Dokdo (Korea) and Takeshima (Japan), as part of their own respective territories.
The dispute over them has been a spoiler, on and off, over the course of their bilateral relationship. Read more…
Author: Ken Jimbo, Keio University
The sinking of the Cheonan and shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in 2010 raised concerns for both the South Korean and US governments that North Korea may no longer be conventionally deterred.
The two governments have been reviewing how their basic and extended deterrence policies should be reorganised to adapt to this new dimension in North Korea’s behaviour. Read more…
Author: Aidan Foster-Carter, Leeds University
Pyongyang’s angry disclosure in early June of secret talks about a summit with Seoul, with accusations of bribes offered and threats to publish transcripts, marks a new nadir in inter-Korean ties.
North Korea has signalled unambiguously that it wants no further truck with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, increasingly a lame duck now that his term of office is two-thirds over.
Author: Byung Min, Griffith University
Following the 1997 financial crisis, corporate governance reforms and government-initiated corporate restructuring were implemented in Korea.
In the past, the internally appointed board members tended to act as rubber stamps and failed to monitor the actions of the controlling shareholders. Read more…