ISDP Voices

Alec Forss reflects on his impressions from a recent trip to South Korea on the new mood of peace and the potentials for deepening inter-Korean cooperation. On a recent trip to South Korea, a friend and former colleague invited me to share in the new optimistic mood of peace in the country. Just months before, […]

Britain and France have announced that their navies will conduct a joint freedom of navigation exercise through the South China Sea in June. This could signal a shift in their engagement towards the Indo-Pacific, with major implications for regional security dynamics and Chinese policy. Power Games in the Indo-Pacific The growth of China’s influence in […]

Mats Engman looks at the military and political consequences of suspending the joint U.S.-ROK military exercises announced at the recent U.S.-DPRK Summit in Singapore. Annual joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea are an integral component of the two countries’ defense alliance, based on the U.S.-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty signed in 1953. Accordingly, […]

The #MeToo movement has sent shockwaves through South Korean society. Alice Privey discusses its emergence with Hawon Jung, Seoul correspondent for AFP (Agence France Press), as well as offers her own reflections on its potential implications. While the world has its eyes on Trump, Kim and Moon, following closely the latest peace developments on the […]

On May 24, 2018, Burkina Faso’s Minister of foreign affairs, Alpha Barry, announced that after 24 years of cooperation, his country had decided to cease diplomatic relations with Taipei and re-engage with Beijing. While Taiwan, also known as the Republic of China (ROC), views itself as an independent sovereign state, the People’s Republic of China […]

In the wake of the shifting security environment, and with the emergence of new security threats, the protection of overseas citizens and interests has become a diplomatic priority for Beijing. While much attention has been given to the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) role in managing security needs abroad, few observers have taken an interest in […]

The past few months of frenetic diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula, including a highly symbolic summit between the two Korean leaders in April, have represented a remarkable turnaround from the brinkmanship of last year. In fact, at times it has almost seemed too good to be true. Last week, perhaps to be expected, North Korea […]

The meeting between the leaders of China and India in April 2018 appeared to indicate a thaw in relations between the two powers. However, the security deal India signed with Oman in February allowing its navy access to the port of Duqm may suggest otherwise. Only a few years ago, a group of Chinese investors […]

Under the slogan of a new start for peace, the inter-Korean Summit was the first meeting between Korean leaders in over a decade, and just the third since the end of the Korean War. Alec Forss, a project coordinator with ISDP’s Korea Project, discussed its implications with Korea expert Dr. Ramon Pacheco Pardo, KF-VUB Korea […]

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 […]