South Korea, now the world’s sixth-ranked military power, has demonstrated remarkable strategic and technological prowess. The signing of the Washington Declaration in April between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and US President Joe Biden marked a pivotal moment in bolstering nuclear deterrence on the Korean Peninsula. Complementing this pact, the establishment of the Nuclear Consultative Group […]

The post South Korea’s military at a dual crisis crossroads appeared first on Asia Times.

Nearly two years into the presidency of Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea has made a geopolitical pivot of potentially historic proportions. The Yoon administration has firmly rejected the prioritization of engagement with North Korea that had been a foundation of the previous president Moon Jae-in’s progressive government, embarking on an increasingly confrontational approach to the […]

The post South Korea’s global geopolitical pivot appeared first on Asia Times.

The South Korean dog meat trade will officially end in 2027 after a bill was passed making the slaughter of dogs and the sale of dog meat for human consumption illegal in the country (though the consumption of dog meat will still be legal). People who violate this new law could be fined up to […]

The post South Korea finally banning the sale of dog meat appeared first on Asia Times.

South Korea’s bachelor time bomb is about to really go off. Following a historic 30-year-long imbalance in the male-to-female sex ratio at birth, young men far outnumber young women in the country. As a result, some 700,000 to 800,000 “extra” South Korean boys born since the mid-1980s may not be able to find South Korean […]

The post South Korea’s bachelor time bomb ready to explode appeared first on Asia Times.

Under the existing Republic of Korea-United States defense arrangement, in the event of war in the Korean theater of operations, combined component commands – air, naval, ground and marine corps – under the Korea-US Combined Forces Command play vital roles in maintaining the rock-solid combined defense posture that defends the lives of innocent citizens in […]

The post South Korea’s reserve forces need to emulate the US appeared first on Asia Times.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has introduced a profound shift in the country’s foreign policy, aligning it more closely with the United States. Yet this bold strategic redirection has not necessarily translated to an uptick in his domestic approval ratings. Yoon – devoid of a foreign policy background – took the reins of the […]

The post Yoon’s US embrace not lifting his saggy popularity appeared first on Asia Times.

On May 10, 2022, Yoon Suk-yeol was inaugurated as South Korea’s president. Yoon promised a presidency characterized by “freedom“, “fairness and common sense,” and a “value-based alliance” with the United States. But one year later, Yoon’s government faces a politically divided South Korea. Yoon’s approval rating has declined from the low 50s since his inauguration and has fluctuated […]

The post Why S Korea’s Yoon just isn’t popular appeared first on Asia Times.

Around the world, nations are looking at the prospect of shrinking, aging populations – but none more so than South Korea. Over the last 60 years, South Korea has undergone the most rapid fertility decline in recorded human history. In 1960, the nation’s total fertility rate – the number of children, on average, that a […]

The post S Koreans need to procreate or die an economic death appeared first on Asia Times.

South Korea is edging closer to the long-term deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile defense system, a controversial move that threatens to stoke tensions with China and North Korea. This month, Jane’s reported that South Korea’s Ministry of Environment (MOE) had completed an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the US […]

The post S Korea inching toward long-term THAAD deployment appeared first on Asia Times.

Stranded in the deteriorating East Asian security environment, South Korea is witnessing unprecedented turbulence. The nuclear build-up in North Korea has baffled the South Korean security elite.  While policy options have been floated to reduce South Korea’s insecurity, measures to change the status quo could potentially intensify Seoul’s vulnerability and expose it to strong reactions […]

The post The case against a nuclear South Korea appeared first on Asia Times.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visit to Washington to meet with US President Joe Biden in April 2023 marked the 70th anniversary of the US-South Korea alliance. The meeting provided an opportunity for the two leaders to highlight US-South Korean alignment and deepening cooperation on issues of peninsular, regional and global significance. Of […]

The post Why South Koreans want the bomb appeared first on Asia Times.

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, started 2023 with a January 1 missile launch and kept at it throughout the winter. This followed record-breaking 2022 North Korean missile tests and demonstrations, which totaled approximately 70 launches of around 100 projectiles. Given the near-zero prospects for North Korean denuclearization and the growing arsenal at Pyongyang’s disposal, it is understandable that any […]

The post S Korea’s call for nuclear weapons has quieted – for now appeared first on Asia Times.

South Korea finds itself embroiled in an all-out gender war – and it keeps getting worse. The animosity between Korean men and women has reached a point where some women are outright refusing to date, marry and have kids with men – a phenomenon known as the 4B movement. As a Korean feminist scholar living […]

The post Why South Korean women don’t date, marry or birth appeared first on Asia Times.

A new Cold War structure is emerging in Northeast Asia that is creating polarization among countries in the region. North Korea’s unprecedented aggression, China’s assertiveness and the Russian invasion of Ukraine indicate that now is the time for countries to choose a side, not hover indecisively between camps. South Korean President Yoon Seok-Yeol has made […]

The post South Korea taking clear sides in New Cold War appeared first on Asia Times.

South Korea’s fertility rate — the number of babies born to women in their lifetime — fell again to hit a record low of 0.78 in 2022, the lowest in the world. The country’s fertility rate is forecast to fall to as low as 0.61 in the next few years. It is an alarming trend, […]

The post Scant South Korean fertility rate portends disaster appeared first on Asia Times.

South Korea has unveiled plans for an “arsenal ship,” a massive missile-laden vessel designed for land-attack missions against strategic targets such as command centers, logistics hubs, air defense sites, and military infrastructure. This month, Naval News reported that the Republic of Korea Navy had announced that it had selected Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) […]

The post Seoul eyes arsenal ships bristling with ballistic missiles appeared first on Asia Times.

There are signs of a thawing in the frosty ties between South Korea and Japan. It began with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s controversial attempt to salvage the relationship, dropping demands for an apology and compensation from Japan over wartime forced labor. Though Japan’s response has been more tepid and skeptical, the countries’ leaders have […]

The post Yoon’s risky Japan wager looking like a losing bet appeared first on Asia Times.

The recent resurgence of public debate over nuclear weapons in South Korea can be attributed to both Korean peninsula and global drivers. South Korean support for nuclear weapons reveals the country’s desire for greater agency and control over its ability to respond to evolving and uncertain external security challenges. The greatest driver of these desires […]

The post South Korea’s hot and risky nuclear weapon debate appeared first on Asia Times.

With the year-end release of its Strategy for a Free, Peaceful, and Prosperous Indo-Pacific Region, South Korea adopted specific Indo-Pacific terminology. And it’s worth studying in some detail. The key takeaway: The SFPPIP and President Yoon Suk-yeol have signaled an end to South Korea’s “strategic ambiguity” under the previous president, Moon Jae-in. Seoul is pivoting away from […]

The post Tilting to US, S Korea ends era of ‘strategic ambiguity’ appeared first on Asia Times.

Two critical issues have been increasingly affecting the situation between Washington and Seoul, whose frequent invocations of rock-solid alliance cooperation belie unease about crucial areas of partnership First, South Korea desires ever more alliance-partner defense and security reassurance from the US in the face of a growing North Korean nuclear threat and Chinese revisionism. Yet […]

The post US-South Korea alliance needs urgent repair appeared first on Asia Times.