In The News

Koizumi Visits Energy-Rich Russian Region, Seeking Oil

James Brooke January 13, 2003
Search for a secure source of energy has been a major concern for industry-rich, resource-poor Japan. It is a concern that has been further heightened by growing insecurity in the world and rising tension in the Middle East -- its principal energy source. A new geopolitical concern about competition from a rising China has now been added to Japan’s foreign policy calculations. In a diplomatic...

Tensions Rise as N Korea Abandons Nuclear Treaty

John Burton January 10, 2003
Saying recent actions by the US has left it little choice, North Korea announced that it is withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The country had been a seeking written statement that American military would never move to attack North Korea, but thus far US President Bush has only offered verbal assurances. "North Korea is pursuing its classic tactics of ratcheting up the...

What Does North Korea Want?

January 10, 2003
In a background report on North Korea, the staff of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations provides an excellent overview of the recent tensions between the US and North Korea. The question-and-answer format addresses the following: What does North Korea want? What is North Korea’s latest move? Is the decision final? Will the United States meet North Korea’s demands? Why has the...

N. Korea Pulls Out of Non-Proliferation Treaty

Peter S. Goodman January 10, 2003
Responding to North Korea's announcement that it is withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung said today "The nuclear issue is tied to our life and death… We must have the patience to resolve the issue peacefully." The Washington Post, in this in-depth analysis of the situation, reports that "Shortly after making its...

Recognise China's Value in Defusing North Korea Crisis

Pei Min Xin January 8, 2003
Writing in Singapore's Straits Times, China scholar Pei Min Xin argues that the US is bungling its relationship with China in the current crisis with North Korea. As a major source of energy and food aid to North Korea, China could play a key role in convincing the reclusive communist country to cease its nuclear program again. Although the Bush administration claims it recognizes China...

Bush Plays Down Rift With Allies Over U.S. Stance on North Korea

David E. Sanger January 3, 2003
North Korea’s decision to re-start its nuclear program has much of Asia, the US, and others on edge. How to deal with the communist country’s ambitions is creating a degree of tension between the US and its allies. The US has been pursuing a diplomacy-centered route in handling the issue, a policy that has invited greater scrutiny of its attitude toward another “Axis of Evil” member, Iraq....

Northeast Asia in the Coming Decade

Immanuel Wallerstein January 1, 2003
Social theorist Immanuel Wallerstein argues that the situation in Northeast Asia – including the current US-North Korean conflict – must be evaluated with a long-term perspective. Each of the three main zones of northeast Asia, he says, is currently seeing only its own narrow concerns: Korea is focused almost solely on unification, Japan is paralyzed with uncertainty over how to re-establish its...