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Tit-for-tat behavior between Japan and South Korea has continued following the publication of the following article in Forbes on July 31, 2019, which I co-wrote with Brad Glosserman, deputy director of the Tama University Center for Rule Making Strategies. In light of the latest development, South Korea’s non-renewal of its intelligence sharing agreement with Japan, we […]

Show Notes The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty nears its end, tensions escalate in Northeast Asia, and the Democratic Party holds its second presidential debate.

Korea, like Germany, is an export driven economy that has been hit hard by the recent slowdown in global trade. Output fell in the first quarter. Like Germany, Korea specializes in manufacturing. It has been slowed by the broader global slowdown in auto demand—and Hyundai isn’t doing quite as well in North America as it […]

This post is authored by Patricia M. Kim, senior policy analyst with the China program at the U.S. Institute of Peace. It is part of a project conducted by the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, supported by the Smith Richardson Foundation and Korea Foundation. This series of posts will address the U.S. nuclear […]

Usually it is North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, or his father before him, who worries Seoul and Tokyo. Today it is not only Kim who rattles U.S. allies, but also new U.S. President Donald J. Trump. To be sure, each transition in the U.S. presidency brings back the phrase “all options are on the table” […]

Northeast Asia is facing profound political uncertainty: South Korea is immobilized by a political scandal that has resulted in the impeachment of its president, Park Geun-hye, and ensnared top business elites; Japan has been left high and dry after U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership, arguably the country’s best chance at growth; and […]

Stephen W. Bosworth of Tufts University and Korea University’s Han Sung-Joo join Richard C. Bush III of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies to discuss the history of nuclear negotiations with North Korea and outline the potential policy options going forward. The panelists warn that ideology has frequently trumped pragmatism in negotiations with North […]

Event Description Stephen Bosworth of Tufts University and Korea University’s Han Sung-Joo join Richard Bush of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies to discuss the history of nuclear negotiations with North Korea and outline the potential policy options going forward. The panelists warn that ideology has frequently trumped pragmatism in negotiations with North Korea, […]

In her testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Sheila A. Smith discusses the strategic importance of the United States’ relationship with Japan and South Korea and how President Barack Obama can promote the importance of both bilateral and trilateral relations.

Secretary of State John Kerry’s first visit to Northeast Asia came against the backdrop of increasing tensions stoked by North Korean evacuation announcements and missile-launch threats. His meetings with new leaders Park Geun-hye, Xi Jinping, and Abe Shinzo succeeded in changing the tone of the conversation about North Korea from a military to a diplomatic […]

President Obama, As you consider America’s foreign policy challenges, I would urge you to pay particular attention to Northeast Asia. I believe U.S. policy will be tested in this part of Asia, and that our maritime commitments in particular will require clear and committed action. There are leadership transitions there too that deserve some of […]

A few weeks ago, the blow up between Tokyo and Beijing over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands captured out attention. But a little less conspicuous is the new era of Japan-South Korean tensions in the seas of Northeast Asia. The eruption of tensions between Tokyo and Seoul resulted after South Korean president Lee Myung-bak visited islands at […]

August 15 marks the anniversary of the end of World War II in Asia. Japan’s defeat was complete, and its losses unprecedented. Today, Japanese television coverage traced the final days of devastation, with those who lived through the war (now in their 80s) narrating accounts of the firebombing that ruined most of Tokyo and the atomic bombing that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For Japanese it continues to be a day of national mourning for those lost, and an annual opportunity to remind the nation and its neighbors of Japan’s postwar commitment to peace.

Although this weekend’s East Asia Summit (EAS) is the sixth in the series, it will be part of American awareness for the first time as a result of America’s decision to join the group (with Russia) and President Obama’s first-time participation. In some respects, it will be a new start for the organization. EAS priorities […]

This excerpt is based on a report by See-Won Byun from the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy, “North Korea’s Provocations and Their Impact on Northeast Asian Regional Security.” North Korean provocations against South Korea through the sinking of the Cheonan in March 2010 and the artillery shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010 have not only […]

The latest BBC/World Service Poll conducted in January and released earlier this week has some results in Northeast Asia that offer some food for thought—at least for anyone who thinks that public views are a potentially decisive influence on foreign policy. The two most notable results in Northeast Asia are the precipitous rise in negative […]

Northeast Asia’s security environment constitutes a formidable foreign policy challenge for the United States. Issues such as the frozen war on the Korean peninsula, China’s expanding military prowess, growing tensions between the United States and China over a planned $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan, the Sino-Japan rivalry, and continued U.S. defense support to South […]

North Korea’s efforts toward nuclearization have posed an intractable foreign policy challenge for Washington. The regional security environment is further complicated by a frozen war in the Korean peninsula, China’s growing military prowess, growing tensions between the United States and China over a planned $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan, the Sino-Japan rivalry, and continued […]

This session was part of the CFR Symposium on the U.S.-Japan Partnership: An Agenda for Change, cosponsored with the Asahi Shimbun.