In April and early May this year, Japan was particularly active in the current phase of the “Great World Game”. This, by the way, is further proof of the fact that Tokyo has returned to the global game table (after the catastrophe of 1945) as one of the most important participants in all that is happening on it today. Let us recall the state visit of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to the United States in the first half of April.

In the last article in this series we mentioned that after the parliamentary elections on April 10, 2024, which preserved the existing level of confrontation between president and National Assembly, preparations began for a meeting between President Yoon Suk-yeol and opposition leader Lee Jae-myung. This is significant, as the leaders of the two blocs have not met since Yoon became president…

South Korea’s parliamentary elections have resulted in the presidential-parliamentary confrontation remaining alive until the end of Yoon Suk-yeol’s presidency. The Conservatives failed to deprive the Democrats of the majority in the parliament while the Democrats did not manage to increase this majority to 2/3 in order to impeach the president. Nevertheless, the situation is generally perceived as a defeat for the Conservatives, because until the end of his term, President Yoon will have to deal with the parliament existing in the logic of factional struggle…

On April 10, South Korea held elections for members of the 22nd National Assembly, with the leading opposition Democratic Party retaining its majority in parliament. The media described the election outcome as a confident and crushing victory for the opposition, but when compared to the 2020 election, where the score was 180:103 in favor of the Conservatives, the Democrats rather maintained their position, and even lost a little without Cho Kuk. Rather, the Conservatives failed to deprive the Democrats of a qualified majority of half of the mandates, and the Democrats did not gain two-thirds, after which they could have impeached the president. As they say, ‘they held their ground.’

The topic of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s state visit to the U.S., which took place from April 8 to April 14 and was earlier described in the NEO, deserves another discussion. This is in order to dwell in more detail on one of the centerpieces of this unprecedentedly long trip, which was the guest’s speech at a joint session of both houses of Congress…

One year ago, after ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol radically changed his focus and outlined a policy shift embracing Japanese partnership during a speech commemorating the 104th anniversary of the March First Independence Movement against Japanese colonial rule, this author began waiting to see how this important anniversary would play out this year. His premonitions did not fail him!

From 15 to 17 April, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz led a delegation of three ministers and business representatives on a working visit to China. Since taking office as head of the German government in December 2021, this is his second visit to the leading power of the Asian continent, where the focus of all global processes is constantly shifting. This is a continuation of the tradition of regular contacts with the Chinese leadership established under his predecessor, Angela Merkel. Incidentally, of all Western politicians, she has always received the most praise in China…

On March 28, 2024, Russia vetoed the extension of the mandate of the UN panel of experts to monitor the sanctions against the DPRK until April 30, 2025. This is important, because according to the established procedure, the decision to extend the term of office of the so-called 1718 Sanctions Committee must be made by April 30, otherwise it will be unable to continue with its activities…

In the complex game being played by the major world powers in connection with the Taiwan issue, a remarkable event took place at the beginning of April this year, which attracted the attention of media around the world. This is about a tour of the PRC (or “Mainland China”) by former President Ma Ying-jeou accompanied by a certain Taiwanese youth group. Between May 2008 and May 2016 (i.e., two consecutive four-year terms), Ma Ying-jeou…

Parliamentary elections in South Korea have taken place, and their outcome partly matched this author’s predictions. Therefore, in this final block of articles on this topic, we will first recall how we thought the outcome would be, and then we will describe how the population actually voted, comparing the results of the 2024 election and the results of the 2020 election. We will touch on irregularities separately to remove interference factors…

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s week-long visit to China, the second in less than a year, which began on 3 April, represents a remarkable development in relations between the world’s two leading powers. Among other things, it is noteworthy because it came almost immediately after the telephone conversation between the two leaders, which was the first contact between them since they met in San Francisco on the sidelines of the next APEC summit in November 2023. In the six months since then, the long process of accumulation of various kinds of negativity in the bilateral relationship has continued…

In late March 2024, South Korea marked the 10th anniversary of the sinking of the ROKS Cheonan corvette near the western maritime boundary between North and South Korea. The March 26, 2010 tragedy claimed the lives of 46 out of the 104 sailors on board and was also politically significant, as it changed the course of relations between the two Koreas. After some deliberation the south Korean authorities announced that the corvette was sunk by a North Korean stealth midget submarine. This announcement triggered a further deterioration…