Wed, 26 August 2015
Modern international relations are a direct result of a series of Treaties ratified in Westphalia during the 17th century. The “Westphalian Peace” enshrined the rights of states to claim sovereignty over their domestic affairs and territories -- and thus promoted the fundamental principle that all states, no matter how weak or powerful, are equal in international law. The advent of the West has made these Westphalian principles the global norm of international affairs; and Asia is no exception. What is often forgotten, however, is that Asia before the arrival of the Western powers was under a fundamentally different system -- in effect a hierarchical order in which China held the highest status. Thanks to its might and advanced Confucian culture China was at the center of a system where there could be no equality among nations; yet where emulation and cooperation were possible, trade thrived and, importantly, stability could be found. This is the argument of Professor David C. Kang, who kindly agreed to be our guest for this episode. Together, we look back into the ancient regional order of premodern Asia and explore whether the history of Asian international relations can inform us as to the present state of affairs in the region -- and maybe even help us make sense of China’s rise. David C. Kang is Professor of International Relations and Business at the University of Southern California, with appointments in both the School of International Relations and the Marshall School of Business. He is also director of the Korean Studies Institute and the East Asian Studies Center. Professor Kang’s latest book is East Asia Before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute (Columbia University Press, 2010). He is also author of China Rising: Peace, Power, and Order in East Asia (Columbia University Press, 2007); Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines (Cambridge University Press, 2002); and Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies (Columbia University Press, 2003), co-authored with Victor Cha. Professor Kang has published numerous articles in top academic journals, and his co-authored article Testing Balance of Power Theory in World History was awarded “Best article, 2007-2009” by the European Journal of International Relations. David Kang has also written opinion pieces in the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. He received an A.B. with honors from Stanford University and his Ph.D. from Berkeley. |
Tue, 18 August 2015
On April 16th 2014, the MV Sewol, a ferry bound for the island of Jeju, capsized off the coast of Jindo County, the South-westernmost region of South Korea. Out of the 476 people on board, 304 died – most of them from Danwon High School in the city of Ansan. The Sewol disaster is one of the biggest human catastrophes in South Korea’s recent history and has triggered a significant amount of perplexity and soul-searching among its citizens. How could a disaster of this magnitude occur in such a technologically advanced country? Why were the rescue efforts so uncoordinated and inefficient? Is South Korea’s “palli palli” (fast) culture to blame; putting profit ahead of people’s safety? The families of the victims have been looking for answers ever since and continue to demand that an independent inquiry shed light on what really happened. Our guest for this episode, Jun Michael Park, has been following the Sewol families in their struggles, documenting their lives in the aftermath of the tragedy and their quest for truth and justice. We talk about his work, what the Sewol families are trying to achieve, and how we can explain the hatred far-right groups have demonstrated against them. Jun Michael Park is a documentary photographer and visual storyteller from Seoul. He has worked for Der Spiegel, Welt am Sonntag, Cicero Magazine and Brand Eins in Germany, as well as Greenpeace East Asia, Save the Children, Asia Society Korea Center and many more. Jun is a winner of a Silver Award in the Press-Feature Story category at Prix de la Photographie Paris (Px3) 2015 and is selected for this year's Eddie Adams Workshop in New York. |
Wed, 12 August 2015
The Democracy Index published by the British magazine The Economist ranks South Korea as a “full democracy”, ahead even of countries such as France or Spain. The CIA World Factbook also lists South Korea as a “fully functioning modern democracy”. Yet many experts and activists denounce what they consider to be a rise in authoritarian tendencies within the current Park Geun-hye administration, including: attacks on free speech, crackdowns on dissent and a general stalling of the process towards more liberties as well as better public management and stronger government transparency and accountability. At the same time, South Korea is party to the Open Government Partnership (OGP), an international membership organization of more than 60 governments that have pledged to improve their democracy and transparency. Our guest for this episode, Geoffrey Cain heads the Korea research team of the OGP and kindly agreed to talk to us about the state of Korean democracy, improvements that should be made and Korea’s commitments within the framework of the OGP. In addition to his duties at the Open Government Partnership, Mr. Cain is an award-winning journalist focusing on Asian affairs and the two Koreas in particular. He is senior correspondent for GlobalPost and has written for various outlets including The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, Far Eastern Economic Review, TIME and Foreign Policy. His reporting was a finalist for a 2015 Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award. A former Fulbright scholar, Mr. Cain holds an MA (Distinction) from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and a BA from The George Washington University, which he attended on a music scholarship. |
Tue, 4 August 2015
Much of our knowledge about North Korea comes from a limited number of sources: documents made public by foreign governments, defector testimonies, correspondents in neighboring countries, and ultimately North Korea’s official news agency. But what about intelligence agencies? How do they manage to gather intelligence – and how much do they actually know about North Korea? For this interview, we had the privilege to host Dr. Sue Mi Terry who provided us with a unique look into the U.S. intelligence community and its attempts to deal with North Korea. Dr. Terry is a Senior Research Scholar at the Columbia University Weatherhead East Asia Institute and founder of Peninsula Strategies Inc., an advisory firm specializing in Korean issues. She has also served as the National Intelligence Fellow in the David Rockefeller Studies Program at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Prior to her academic and consulting career, Dr. Terry served as Deputy National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council, and also served as Director for Korea, Japan and Oceanic Affairs at the National Security Council during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. Earlier in her career, she served as Senior Analyst on Korean issues at the CIA Directorate of Intelligence, where she was a top-rated Korean linguist. Dr. Terry earned her PhD in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She holds a Master’s in International Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from NYU. |