A South Korean citizen arrested in Russia earlier this year on suspicion of spying is to remain in custody until mid-June, Russia’s state news agency TASS said Monday. The news agency said it is the first time that a South Korean has been arrested for espionage in Russia. TASS said the man, identified by the … Read more
At the time of writing, some 12,000 medical interns and residents have quit their hospitals in South Korea. That’s 92 percent of all medical trainees in the country. Physicians and nurses are plodding through a string of shifts without a break. Medical schools have postponed their spring term as most of their students have refused … Read more
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in currently on a tour of East Asia, with stops in South Korea (March 5-6) and in Japan (March 6-8). In both countries, Jaishankar sought to step up security and economic cooperation and more generally boost ties as India, Japan, and South Korea all respond to China’s growing influence … Read more
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its allies put in place an extensive set of sanctions to limit Moscow’s export earnings. Russian fossil fuels were one major target. While South Korea joined the initial set of U.S. and EU sanctions on Russia shortly after the war began, Seoul did not adopt sanctions … Read more
In 2011 a dinner reception hosted by a think tank in New Delhi sparked the idea of a formal trilateral between India, South Korea, and Japan. The idea soon bore fruit: the first India-Japan-ROK Trilateral Dialogue, involving a secretary from India’s Ministry of External Affairs and the ambassadors to India of Japan and South Korea, … Read more
As the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East grind on, another conflict brews miles away in East Asia. Wrapping up 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his military to “thoroughly annihilate” South Korea and the United States if provoked. The saber-rattling continued as Pyongyang fired some 350 artillery shells into a disputed … Read more
South Korea at one time topped all other countries in the region in one export to its allies in the West – children. Since 1953, over 200,000 Korean children have left the shores of the small peninsular country to be adopted by families in the United States, Europe, and other allied nations. More than half … Read more
“Korea is so screwed, wow!” This remark from feminist legal scholar Joan Williams, made during an interview with South Korean educational public broadcaster EBS and aired on July 13, 2023, became an instant meme in South Korea. Williams was expressing her astonishment at the country’s unprecedentedly low fertility rate of 0.78, a figure she admitted … Read more
South Korean and U.S. troops will begin their expanded annual military drills next week in response to North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats, the two countries said Wednesday, a move that will likely enrage North Korea because it views the allies’ joint training as an invasion rehearsal. In recent months, North Korea has inflamed animosities on … Read more
On February 23, the People’s Power Party’s interim leader, former Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, graced the inauguration of the People’s Future Party, a satellite entity of the PPP, geared toward the forthcoming National Assembly election in April 2024. Han vowed to be the foremost supporter of this newly minted party, pledging to combat what he … Read more