ISDP Voices

Seen as the main source of social mobility, education is a highly charged issue in South Korea. As an advocate for educational reform, Hyunjung Kang argues the need to tackle inequality and stress, as students compete to get to the best colleges. Perhaps in most other countries the leakage of exam test papers at Seoul’s […]

On December 15, a Ukrainian church council will meet to establish an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), according to President Petro Poroshenko. This comes after, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople granted a “tomos on autocephaly” to the UOC – in essence de-jure religious independence from the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Ukraine has for most […]

Long-strained Sino-Japanese relations might have entered a “new historic phase”, as Japan’s Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and China’s President Xi Jinping expressed their shared willingness to transform the dynamics of bilateral relations “from competition to collaboration” during the official meeting in Beijing on October 26, 2018. On the same day, Abe Shinzo and Chinese Prime […]

Over the past weeks, Sri Lanka has been swept by political turmoil. On October 26, the incumbent Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was sacked by President Maithripala Sirisena in a surprise decision that has been described as a constitutional coup. Wickremesinghe, who is largely viewed as India-friendly, was replaced by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, a politician […]

Despite the much-publicized special relationship of U.S. President Donald Trump with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who have met about nine times (and shared three rounds of golf) since late 2016, Trump’s policy agenda on trade and North Korean dialogue signals a disquieting uncertainty in the U.S.-Japan security alliance. Separating increasingly fraught economic talks from […]

ISDP’s Sangsoo Lee and Alec Forss give the lowdown on South Korean President Moon’s visit to Pyongyang. Why did President Moon go to Pyongyang? Alec Forss: This is the third time that Moon and Kim Jong Un have met within the space of just five months – a remarkable flurry of bilateral diplomacy given that […]

Today, Russia kicked off what is set to be its largest-ever military exercise, Vostok-2018.  Taking place in Russia’s Eastern provinces, it has been reported that the “war games” will involve 300,000 troops, 36,000 military vehicles, 1,000 planes and 80 warships.  What’s more, Russia is not operating alone. For the first time, the Chinese People’s Liberation […]

This year marks the 40th anniversary of reform that contributed to the transformation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) into one of the world’s leading economic powerhouses. By embracing new economic principles and designing an initiative approach to trade, millions of Chinese citizens were provided with the means to lift themselves out of poverty. […]

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 […]