Lee Jong Eun News Today

On April 20, the U.S. House of Representatives ended months of legislative gridlock and passed four individual legislative bills. These bills respectively provided foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and required TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform to a non-Chinese company. Shortly afterward, the U.S. Senate passed the omnibus legislation combining the four House-passed bills. On April 24, Biden signed the $95.3 billion foreign aid bills into law, declar...

This month, a South Korean missionary was arrested in Russia on charges of espionage. According to Russia’s official news agency, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a South Korean citizen on suspicion of passing state secrets to a foreign intelligence service. Other sources have speculated the missionary’s involvement in assisting North Korean defectors in Russia motivated the arrest. Since then, South Korea’s embassy has been in confidential negotiations with Russia to...

During the start of the Cold War, the U.S. Republican Party experienced internal debates over which regions of the world the U.S. should prioritize. The Trans-Atlanticist Republicans, such as Senator Arthur Vandenberg, favored prioritizing Europe’s security from Soviet expansion. They supported the Truman Administration’s Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe and establish the NATO Alliance. The “Asia First” Republicans, such as Senator Bob Taft, advocated for the U.S. to focus on confronting ...

The United States will hold a presidential election in November, . likely to be a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. As such, there are already multiple predictions on how U.S. foreign policy could change after the election. Some U.S. allies, in particular, are apprehensive that a Trump return to the presidency will lead to similar diplomatic challenges they faced during his first term -- a more unilateralist and unpredictable U.S. foreign policy.

The United States will hold a presidential election in November, . likely to be a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. As such, there are already multiple predictions on how U.S. foreign policy could change after the election. Some U.S. allies, in particular, are apprehensive that a Trump return to the presidency will lead to similar diplomatic challenges they faced during his first term -- a more unilateralist and unpredictable U.S. foreign policy.

Last December, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the United States for the second time since the start of the Russia-Ukraine War. The U.S. reception, however, was starkly different from that of Zelenskyy’s previous visit, when he received a standing ovation during his address to the U.S. Congress and reassurances for continued U.S. support against Russia’s invasion. This time, Zelenskyy’s visit failed to convince Congress to approve additional aid to Ukraine.

South Korea today faces multiple geopolitical challenges. North Korea continues to advance its missile and nuclear capacity, while China’s conflict with Taiwan threatens security in the South China Sea. Beyond East Asia, the Russia-Ukraine War has widened the geopolitical divide between the West and revisionist states. The strategic competition between the U.S. and China increases concerns for South Korea’s economy, which depends on reliable access to the world’s two largest economies. Fin...

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, the Russia-North Korea partnership has visibly expanded. Already since last year, North Korea has been accused by Western intelligence agencies of supplying arms and munitions to Russia’s military operations. Russia, in return, has used its veto in the U.N. Security Council to protect North Korea from international resolutions imposing new sanctions against its multiple missile tests.

In August, the leaders of the United States, South Korea and Japan held a historic trilateral summit at Camp David. In a joint statement, the three leaders pledged comprehensive cooperation over the economy, technology, missile defense and maintaining the status quo “in the waters of Asia-Pacific” against China’s “dangerous and aggressive behaviors.” After the summit, some policy experts, however, raised concerns about the sustainability of the trilateral partnership, observing the con...

Eighteen months ago, Europe experienced the first major conventional military conflict since WWII when Russia launched a so-called “special military operation” against Ukraine.