ISDP Voices

The gesture of sending participants to the winter Olympics in Pyeonchang, together with the invitation from Kim Jong-un to the U.S. president for a summit meeting are reflective of a sudden change in North Korean behavior. And this switch, from a policy of repeated belligerence to a charm offensive, has put Japan in a rather […]

There is once again cautious optimism of breaking the deadlock on the Korean Peninsula. A flurry of inter-Korean diplomacy, a “commitment” to denuclearization by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and the prospect of a U.S.-North Korea summit have spelled a dramatic change after the peaking of tensions last year. But while these developments bring […]

Vladimir Putin’s annual press conference in December 2017 came a few days after the Russian president took part in the launch of the new Yamal LNG plant in the Russian Arctic, a $27 billion project aiming to overtake Qatar’s leadership in the gas sector. The biggest industrial project in the region, the plant is operated […]