By Scott Snyder

I spent last week at several meetings in Tokyo, Seoul, and Jeju that revolved around the Cheonan incident and its implications for regional security. The Lee Myung-Bak administration got high marks for its handling of the immediate aftermath of the incident. It is important to remember that in the hours following the Cheonan’s sinking on March 26th, there was no rush to judgment, but rather a deliberate decision to mount an international investigation of the incident. The day after the sinking, Yonhap quoted a South Korean senior official as saying that chances are “slim” that North Korea was involved.
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By Scott Snyder

Two months ago, the sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan appeared to mark a turning point in inter-Korean relations. The South Korean interim investigation identified a North Korean torpedo as the cause of the sinking, providing South Korea and the United States with a strong case to take the issue to the UN Security Council and hold North Korea accountable for its actions. But the July 10 UN Presidential Statement failed to explicitly hold North Korea accountable. This series of events has turned out to represent a setback for all concerned.
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The vision of a world free of nuclear weapons was boldly initiated three years ago by four U.S. senior statesmen – Henry Kissinger, George Schultz, William Perry and Sam Nunn. To achieve the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and to bring the world back from the tipping point, the vision aims to reduce nations’ reliance on nuclear weapons, prevent them from falling into dangerous hands, and to rid the world of nuclear weapons as a threat.

We highly appreciate the initiatives taken by these four wise men that have helped to make progress toward a world free of nuclear weapons. We also appreciate President Barack Obama’s efforts to courageously translate this vision into specific policy measures. In his historic Prague speech in April 2009, Obama emphasized America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. In April 2010, President Obama signed a New START agreement with President Medvedev of Russia, in which the leaders solemnly declared their joint commitment to eliminate all nuclear weapons globally and agreed to substantially reduce their respective strategic nuclear weapons.

Our support for these efforts is directly related to the grim reality we face in Korea and the vision of the Korean Peninsula without nuclear weapons.

The above is an excerpt of a statement published on June 23 in JoongAng Daily made by former Prime Minister and Asia Foundation Trustee Lee Hong-ko;, Ambassador Han Sung-joo, former Foreign Minister of South Korea, a member of the Board of Directors of the Friends of The Asia Foundation in Korea, and head of the Northeast Asia task force on The Asia Foundation’s America’s Role in Asia project; along with two other prominent Koreans. The statement was timed for the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. Read the full statement.

On June 15, The Asia Foundation’s Center for U.S.-Korea Policy director Scott Snyder, along with a “task force” composed of roughly two dozen experts, released a landmark report: U.S. Policy toward the Korean Peninsula, which emphasizes that “despite the difficulty of the challenge, the danger posed by North Korea is sufficiently severe, and the costs of inaction and acquiescence so high, that the United States and its partners must continue to press for denuclearization.” The United States cannot risk “the potential spread of nuclear weapons to rogue states, terrorist groups or others – especially in the Middle East.”

The Council on Foreign Relations Independent Task Force members – including Asia Foundation’s President Doug Bereuter and representing a wide variety of backgrounds –  concludes as tensions on the Korean peninsula rise after an international investigation found that North Korea was responsible for the sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean warship, and warns that North Korea’s continued provocations pose a serious threat to its neighbors and that its nuclear weapons program must be stopped. Read the full report.

By Edward Reed

In spite of their appropriately firm responses to North Korea over the sinking of the South’s naval vessel in March that left 46 dead, both the United States and South Korea have left open the door for humanitarian assistance to the North, especially aid to vulnerable populations. This is a positive signal in the midst of a dangerous crisis and escalating rhetoric. Continuation of aid, especially by South Korea, is justified both on humanitarian grounds and as a means of maintaining a channel for contact between opposing camps. History indicates that it is a safety valve that both the South and North have made effective use of in past crises.

In 2002 a serious naval clash took place between the South and North in the West Sea of Korea near the same place where the Cheonan was struck. A South Korean ship was destroyed and six South Korean sailors lost their lives. All official contact between South and North Korea was halted while tensions mounted.
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By V. Bruce J. Tolentino

As tantalizing hints of recovery from the global financial crisis pop up in international economic statistics, a curious dichotomy of narratives about the status of various Asian economies has emerged in the international media:

China Dominant

First, there is the big story, related with relish and surprise, of unexpected and robust economic recovery in most countries across Asia, with a dominant, triumphant China leading the way. Meanwhile, more-developed Asian economies – such as Japan, which is commonly portrayed as somewhat stuck in a low-growth, lack-luster rut – are seen as mere supporting players.
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By Scott Snyder

The Washington Post reports that interim results of a South Korea-led international investigation into the March 26th sinking of the 1,200-ton corvette Cheonan near Baek-ryong Island are due to be released by the South Korean government on Thursday morning (Wednesday evening EST). The report, which concludes on the basis of strong circumstantial forensic evidence that a North Korean torpedo sunk the Cheonan, will provide an initial basis upon which the South Korean government will pursue a range of policy responses. These responses can be categorized according to four different tracks: 1) domestic, 2) inter-Korean, 3) the U.S.-ROK alliance, 4) international.
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By Scott Snyder

The latest BBC/World Service Poll conducted in January and released earlier this week has some results in Northeast Asia that offer some food for thought—at least for anyone who thinks that public views are a potentially decisive influence on foreign policy. The two most notable results in Northeast Asia are the precipitous rise in negative Chinese (and Russian) views towards North Korea and the strikingly positive feelings that exist between the South Korean and Japanese publics toward each other on the one hundredth anniversary of Japan’s annexation of the Korean peninsula.

Read the full piece on the Council on Foreign Relations blog Asia Unbound.

Scott Snyder directs The Asia Foundation’s Center for U.S.-Korea Policy. He can be reached at ssnyder@asiafound-dc.org.

By Lee Kyung-sook

In early March, the Cambodian government imposed a provisional ban on international marriages to Korean nationals. The purpose – as reported in a formal document to the Korean Embassy – was “to prevent the trafficking of Cambodian women.”

The business of Korean international marriage brokers boomed in the last decade. In 2005, marriages to foreigners accounted for 14 percent of all marriages in South Korea. Marrying women from developing countries, such as Cambodia, became increasingly popular in Korea as more Korean women from rural areas moved to cities to pursue work opportunities, making it more difficult for the remaining rural male population to find marriageable Korean women. In March 2008, the Cambodian government, citing fears of human trafficking due to falsely brokered marriages, banned marriage-brokering all together, allowing only “love matches.”
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By Jill Kosch O’Donnell

The recent news from Korea that the country is stepping up cooperation with Denmark on energy efficient and renewable technologies marked the latest triumph in President Lee Myung-bak’s push to build international support for his green growth vision. In Seoul, Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen said that Korea’s green growth plan can serve as a model for the world. The announcement was emblematic of the Lee administration’s growing global posture. Korea is aiming to be the first “me” in what Lee has called the “me first” approach to climate change, referring to the need for nations to take the initiative instead of waiting for others to act first.

President Lee has described his National Strategy for Green Growth as a “new national development paradigm that creates new growth engines and jobs through green technology and clean energy.” The underlying premise of his approach is that economic growth and environmental protection are compatible, and even mutually reinforcing.
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