Won Gon Park, Chair of EAI’s North Korea Research Center and Professor at Ewha Womans University, examines the issues and limitations of the Lee Jae Myung administration's approach to North Korean denuclearization as revealed through the ‘Three-Step Denuclearization Initiative’ and the ‘END Concept’. The author points out that the South Korean government's North Korea policy remains declarative in structure, necessitating improvements in conceptual clarity, focus of threat perception, and implementation mechanisms. To overcome these limitations, Professor Park proposes measures such ...

Commentary

• Won Gon PARK
• October 10, 2025

Inhwan Oh, Senior Research Fellow and Executive Director at EAI, discusses the role of the U.S. Congress in ROK-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation and North Korea policy, and its implications for the future of U.S. maritime hegemony and South Korea’s strategy. Dr. Oh observes that ROK-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation is constrained by U.S. legislations related to naval buildup and the shipbuilding industry. In response, the author contends that to overcome these legal and political constraints, a comprehensive diplomatic approach targeting the U.S. Congress is imperative. Through multifaceted engage...

Commentary

• Inhwan Oh
• September 29, 2025

Seungho Jung, an Associate Professor of the School of Northeast Asian Studies at Incheon National University, analyzes the possibility that livelihoods of the North Korean people have worsened despite overall economic growth. Professor Jung assesses that a surge in consumer prices and the regime’s strengthened control on the economy suggest that the economic conditions affecting livelihoods have not recovered to their pre-pandemic standard. However, because these difficulties are unlikely to bring about immediate cooperation with the South, the author recommends that the South Korean governm...

Commentary

• Seungho JUNG
• September 24, 2025