Country Report: China (June 2019)

In the spring of 2019, Chinese experts assessed China’s relations with the United States and Russia forty years after reform and opening began. They also evaluated China–Japan–South Korea […]

Country Report: Japan (April 2019)

In early spring Japanese media noted the upcoming transition to the Reiwa era on May 1, the plan for Donald Trump to come in late May for a […]

Explaining South Korea’s Sharp Shift in 2018 toward Japan

Japan-ROK relations stand at a great crossroads. What brought about this big test was the ruling issued in October 2018 by the South Korean Supreme Court on conscripted […]

Negative Scenario II

Jennifer Lind has sketched positive prospects for South Korean-Japanese relations and the history issue. She broadly finds that geopolitical pressures will overwhelm historical narratives of animosity or re-write […]

Positive Scenario II

Those hoping for progress in historical reconciliation between Japan and South Korea would have been disappointed by Seoul’s recent commemoration of the March 1 independence movement. Such holidays […]

Country Report: Japan (April 2018 with Focus on Korea)

Not only was Abe battered by a domestic scandal, his foreign policy was rocked by diplomacy, history, and trade shocks. The North Korean presence at the Winter Olympics […]

With Friends Like These: Japan-ROK Cooperation and US Policy

Although they share a common ally, history and politics keep Japan and South Korea at arm’s length and severely limit their defense cooperation. Since at least the mid-1990s, […]

Positive Scenario I

“History Bows to Strategy” In East Asia, disputes over history seem to be either roiling the region’s international relations—or lurking just beneath the surface. China emphasizes Japan’s atrocities […]

Japanese views of Korean history

For many Japanese, Korean history—including the history of South Korean ties to the outside world—is viewed through the lens of the country’s modern relations with Japan. Whether looking […]

Country Report: South Korea (March 2014)

Two themes have been in the forefront in Korean media coverage of international relations in the region: diplomacy related to reunification and ROK-Japan relations. The former was sparked […]