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East Asia
Rodrigo Duterte: The ‘Moderately Successful’ Populist
On a recent visit to Israel, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s confounding ability to surprise was on full display. Visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Israel in early September, he laid a wreath and said he could not imagine a country obeying an insane leader like Hitler: “I could not…
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East Asia
Abe’s More Assertive Japan: Will He Defy Expectations Again?
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in power since 2012, has consistently defied expectations. He first came to the office in 2006, as the protégé and successor to Japan’s most popular and arguably most successful post-war prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi. By skilfully using a major electoral reform in 1994 and an…
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East Asia
Indonesia Must Lead in the Indo-Pacific Region
The notion of the Indo-Pacific region has experienced a contemporary revival and is now mentioned frequently in the capitals of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and elsewhere. In its simplest terms, the Indo-Pacific region covers the Pacific and Indian oceans. In recent years, China has introduced and promoted…
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East Asia
South Korea: CEO’s brutal attack on ex-employee
A video from a Korean investigative journalism team released Tuesday reveals the shocking moment a high-profile online business guru attacks a man at one of the companies he owns. In the video report jointly produced by News Tapa and its investigative team Sherlock, a former employee of Korean online file-sharing site WeDisk…
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East Asia
Peace in Korea: Next Steps
I thank the organizers of the Jeju Forum for giving me the opportunity to contribute to these important discussions. I am not an expert on Korea. I am sorry to say it, but I must admit that I do not even speak Korean, as all modern people should. I can…
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East Asia
Neglected No Longer: Washington Returns to Central Asia
Central Asia is not, and has never been, a United States foreign-policy priority. Neither will it displace the importance of other regions to Washington anytime soon. Moreover, numerous analysts discount it as a promising area for expanded attention. Indeed, they expect US and European presence and influence there to decline…
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East Asia
Moon Jae-in and the Politics of Reform in South Korea
One year and five months have passed since South Korean President Moon Jae-in took office. During this period, Moon’s democratic leadership style and spirit of service have lifted public morale and salved past wounds. In his inaugural address, he voiced his desire to become a president who communicates with the…
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East Asia
North Korea Ready to Expand Internet Access
North Korea is a country where residents do not have free access to the internet, but the country’s science-priority policies are leading to an expansion in the number of new users. On Aug. 31, the Korean Society for Internet Information (KSII), a South Korean institute focusing on information technology, published a…
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East Asia
Seoul taxis to implement QR code payment systems
The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) announced Tuesday it will launch a platform which people can use to pay their taxi fares via QR codes. According to the city government, it will establish a standard for the “taxi QR code simple payment” system and implement it in all 71,845 Seoul taxis starting…
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East Asia
Moon ratifies Pyongyang Declaration
President Moon Jae-in ratified an agreement signed between him and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at their third summit in Pyongyang last month. “Moon ratified the Pyongyang Joint Declaration. An official announcement will soon follow,” a Cheong Wa Dae official said. As a procedural step for the ratification, the Cabinet earlier…
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