On March 21, 2018, RIAC hosted a meeting for the students of the Joint Educational Module of Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. The discussion was devoted to Russia-the U.S. relations, as well as the situation around North Korea.
On March 21, 2018, RIAC hosted a meeting for the students of the Joint Educational Module of Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the...
... greater, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea offered an unexpected olive branch to the Republic of Korea. Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un hinted at rapprochement in
his New Year address
; eight days later,
his envoy met with interlocutors
from South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the demilitarized zone for the first face-to-face meetings between North and South since 2015. The parallels to 1914 were cemented when, a month later,
both sides fielded a joint-team at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics
...
US Antipathy to Inter-Korean Rapprochement and Russia’s Role in Conflict Prevention
Thanks to the “New Year’s” initiatives of Kim Jong-un – to which South Korean Moon Jae-in responded for his own reasons – significant progress was made in the inter-Korean dialogue at the highest level during the recent Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang (the possibility of an inter-Korean summit is even on the table),...
The parties discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula as well as prospects for cooperation between the two think tanks.
On February 2, 2018, Igor Ivanov, President of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), held a meeting with Lee Sihyung, President of the
Korea Foundation
.
Prof. Eom Gu Ho, Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies and Director of the Asia Pacific Research Center at Hanyang University, as well as officers of the Korea Foundation also took part in the...
... Eastern Studies, Alexander Vorontsov, Head of Korea and Mongolia Department at RAS Institute for Oriental Studies, and other leading experts on Russia-Korea relations and security issues in Northeast Asia took part in the discussions on the Russian side. South Korea was represented by Gu Ho Eom, Head of Asia-Pacific Research Center at Hanyang University, Ko Je Nam and Shin Beom-chul, Professors at Korea National Diplomatic Academy, as well as experts on international affairs from the leading Korean universities ...
... of the Republic of Korea to the Russian Federation Yoon-keun Woo and diplomats of the Embassy.
Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, and Ksenia Kuzmina, RIAC Program Coordinator, also took part in the meeting.
The discussion focused on Russia – South Korea relations, the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the prospects for the inter-Korean normalization, as well as on the pending issues of Russia – U.S. and Russia – EU ties.
... breaking out of a seemingly hopeless dead-end
2018 started with a sensation in Asia – a “New Year’s gift,” if we are to use the words of Ri Son-Gwon, head of North Korea’s delegation at the inter-Korean talks held on January 9, 2018 in the South Korean segment of the demilitarized zone in Panmunjom.
In his traditional New Year’s speech, supreme leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un proposed that an inter-Korean dialogue be launched. The proposal was timed to the participation of North Korean ...
... Peninsula: while it is described formally as the ABM defense, in the regional context such actions not so much reduce but rather increase tensions. The presence of the ABM tempts North Korea to strike first and to try to evade a retaliation blow. Thus South Korea happened to be involved in the US–North Korean confrontation.
The probability that the North Korean problem would be resolved by force has grown. Through its chief executives, the US leadership clearly voices its position, which “does ...
... with a sense of unease.
China expected Trump to make decisive statements about the “North Korean dossier” and the growing trade deficit between the two countries, and would attempt to demonstrate that Washington today is a hard-line negotiator. South Korea was concerned Trump would denounce the United States–Korea Free Trade Agreement. Japan was worried the President of the United States would force them to enter negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement. Both Seoul and Tokyo feared ...
... the deepening economic and technological gap between the two Koreas. It was some 40 or 50 years ago that the top brass in Pyongyang were forced to come to the inevitable, albeit unpleasant conclusion, that a balance in terms of conventional arms with South Korea would be impossible to maintain in the long run. An asymmetric response to the ever-growing economic and technological superiority of the South, reinforced by the overwhelming military might of the United States, was needed. Their response ...
