The most imperative duty of the third-generation Kim Jong Un is the “survival” of North Korea. This will require not only a smooth transfer of power from his father but also shoring up the national economy. This is because I feel the current regime will sooner or later come to the end of its...
Korean Peninsula
One of the few countries that managed to successfully transform itself from an aid-receiving country to a donor country, South Korea is an economic success story which is often seen as a role model for emerging countries in the region and beyond. Its foreign policy seeks to capitalize on these assets but, as a middle-power, Seoul is also active in shaping a regional architecture for East Asia.
However, the erratic behavior of its northern neighbor persistently undermines the stability of the peninsula, making its objective difficult to achieve. Ifri's Center for Asian Studies examines the developments on the Korean peninsula from these two complementary perspectives.
Senior Advisor, Center for Asian Studies
...The Green Growth Policy in South Korea has symbolized a paradigm shift to cope with climate change, fossil fuel depletion, and global economic recession. The emerging paradigm stands to create new engines for economic growth through green technology and clean energy. The government recently...
After two years of existence at the Heads of State and Government level, the Group of 20 (G20) has reached a turning point. In this new context, a number of questions need to be addressed-in particular, as to how to ensure the transition from a crisis management body to a global governance...
The Direction of Trade Statistics by IMF is the most representative statistical data for bilateral trade with North Korea. However, IMF statistics underestimate North Korea's international trade since they do not classify inter-Korean trade as international trade. Therefore, this study...
Despite the resumption of high-level diplomatic contact between Washington and Pyongyang in late 2009, realization of a non-nuclear Korean Peninsula remains a very remote prospect, with the DPRK insisting that a peace agreement between the U.S. and North Korea and hence the cessation of ...
This brief analysis of the current external economic relations of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) leads to a number of conclusions.
Japan and the Democratic People"s Republic of Korea (DPRK) are as far away as ever from establishing anything resembling ‘normal" relations, let alone official diplomatic ties. This paper traces the history of the ups-and-downs in the Japan-DPRK relationship during the...
A number of countries have chosen recently to shift away from an exclusive support to trade multilateralism and towards regional or bilateral trade agreements. Being no exceptions in this respect, the Republic of South Korea and the European Union have engaged in a bilateral...
The Korea-France Cultural Association (President Cha Young-Koo), consisting of Koreans who had studied in France, and the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) jointly organized the first Korea-France Forum. Since the second forum in 1997, it has been held alternately in Korea and...
Marianne Péron-Doise,Working group 'Strategic Culture and Defense Policy in Asia', working paper presented to the 3rd Congress of Réseau Asie, 26-27-28 September 2007, Maison de la Chimie, Paris.