Minghao Zhao, Professor and Deputy Director at the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, underscores the urgent need for strategic vigilance on the Korean Peninsula amid a confluence of destabilizing factors. Professor Zhao examines the deteriorating security environment shaped by North Korea’s military expansion, U.S.-China strategic rivalry, the repercussions of the Russia-Ukraine war, and shifting domestic politics in South Korea and the United States. The author presents a sober reassessment of the denuclearization impasse, critiquing past U.S.-North Korea diplomacy while warn...

Commentary

• Minghao ZHAO
• July 11, 2025

Jihwan Hwang, Professor at the University of Seoul, analyzes the Lee Jae Myung administration's pragmatic, national interest-centered diplomacy toward North Korea and its implications for the inter-Korean relations. Professor Hwang assesses the strategic opportunities and limitations facing Seoul’s inter-Korean initiatives and calls for an approach that departs from past ideological binaries and addresses the structural realities surrounding the Korean Peninsula. The author argues that it is essential to formulate a long-term, proactive North Korea policy based on South Korea’s national po...

Commentary

• Jihwan HWANG
• July 04, 2025

Seong-ho Sheen, Professor at Seoul National University, analyzes the different political goals of four countries' leaders surrounding the outbreak and development of the Korean War and their implications. Sheen explains that while South and North Korea fought a total war with the pursuit of unification, the U.S. and China engaged in a defensive limited war to secure their spheres of influence in Korea. He points out that the political interests of the U.S. and China continue to be the most critical factor that shapes the fate of the Korean Peninsula, and suggests that South Korea must assume a...

Commentary

• Seong-ho SHEEN
• July 02, 2025