Archives ROK - Page 5 of 6 - New Eastern Outlook

On December 26, 2022, five North Korean small reconnaissance drones invaded South Korean airspace, and the South responded by sending its drones into North Korean airspace. As the drones could not be stopped and one of them breached the no-fly zone near the Yongsan Presidential Office, the South Korean media avidly debated the situation. The invasion startled authorities by exposing the inadequacies of Seoul’s air defenses and small drone detection systems. Meanwhile, the drones might theoretically carry lethal weaponry aimed at vital locations in the South…

Although the rule of President Yoon Suk-yeol began with declarations of national unity, by late June or early July 2023, there have been a number of actions that hint to a rightward tilt. These actions go beyond the appointment of a new unification minister, which the author has already discussed. Recall that when Kim Yung-ho was selected for the ministerial position, he stated that human rights in North Korea should be a top priority in Seoul’s inter-Korean policy and that pressure must be exerted on the North. On June 28, 2023, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol stated that “anti-state forces with a distorted view of history and an irresponsible view of the state begged for the lifting of UN Security Council sanctions…

The “third neighbor” for Mongolia is a set of the large states that do not have a direct geographical boundary with Mongolia and are distinguished by a high level of socio-economic development and a democratic political system. The very concept of the “third neighbor” dates back to the events of the early 1990s, when US Secretary of State James Baker, during his visit to Mongolia (1990), called his country “Mongolia’s Third Big Neighbor.” The idea of balancing between Mongolia’s two enormous direct neighbors (Russia and China) by building intense and deep partnerships with…