The Ukraine war and North Korea’s provocations have catalyzed renewed debate in South Korea over whether to develop a nuclear weapons program.
South Korea
Demographic change within Asia’s aging powers leads to rising investment in Asia’s growing states, enabling them to leverage competition between China, Japan, and South Korea.
By learning from a MERS outbreak in 2015, South Korea was prepared and acted swiftly to ramp up testing when the new coronavirus appeared there. Meanwhile, the U.S., plagued by delay and dysfunction, wasted its advantage.
The dispute is being played out within a complex confluence of historical grievances, domestic politics, the ongoing US-China trade war, and a looming global recession.