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Global Affairs Lab
Northeast Asian geopolitics
Why South Korea Is Wrong to Treat the Sino-Japanese Clash as Someone Else’s Problem
The recent surge in tensions between China and Japan, triggered by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks in the Japanese Diet, has been widely followed in Seoul with a sense of detachment. For many in South Korea, the episode appears to be little more than a bilateral dispute—an external confrontation with limited bearing on the Korean Peninsula. This perception is not merely complacent; it is strategically flawed. The current Sino-Japanese confrontation is unfolding not du
2025년 12월 16일


Why Kim Jong Un’s Daughter Matters to U.S. Security Interests
The recent appearance of Kim Jong Un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, receiving an independent salute from North Korean Air Force officers may seem like an obscure detail of Pyongyang’s opaque political theater. For the United States, however, it offers a revealing window into the regime’s long-term intentions — and raises important questions about the durability and future trajectory of one of Washington’s most persistent security challenges. According to North Korean state media, the
2025년 12월 10일


Russian, Chinese Bombers Fly Joint Patrol Near Japan, South Korea
Russian and Chinese bombers conducted a joint patrol Tuesday, flying over the East China Sea and Western Pacific, prompting Seoul and Tokyo to scramble fighter aircraft to monitor the flights. At approximately 10:00 a.m. local time, seven Russian military aircraft and two Chinese military aircraft entered the Korean Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ) over the Sea of Japan, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the same day in a news release . No airspace violation occ
2025년 12월 9일
North Korea’s Ukraine Gamble and the Hidden Costs of a Failed Patronage Deal
North Korea’s decision to dispatch troops to Russia’s war in Ukraine was designed to serve multiple strategic purposes: to demonstrate loyalty to Moscow, to extract hard currency and advanced military technology, and to reinforce Kim Jong-un’s narrative of North Korea as a consequential military actor beyond the Korean Peninsula. Yet mounting evidence suggests that this gamble is unraveling—and with consequences far more destabilizing than Pyongyang appears to have anticipate
2025년 12월 4일
What If North Korea Opened Its Doors to Foreign Pop Culture?
This article paints an imagined scene of what life could look like if North Koreans had unrestricted access to global pop culture. In a university classroom in Pyongyang, film students sit in rapt attention, watching the climax of The Shawshank Redemption. As Andy Dufresne stretches out his arms in the rain, embracing freedom, gasps of admiration ripple through the room. Kim Young-chul (21), a junior student, walks down the hallway with friends after class and says, “I wish N
2025년 9월 18일
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