• Strategy21
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• s.36
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• pp.5-32
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• 2015

Geopolitics or Political Geography is an essential academic field that should be studied carefully for a more comprehensive analysis of international security relations. However, because of its tarnished image as an ideology that supported the NAZI German expansion and aggression, geopolitics has not been regarded as a pure academic field and was rejected and expelled from the academic communities starting from the Cold War years in 1945. During the Cold War, ideology, rather than geography, was considered more important in conducting and analyzing international relations. However, after the end of the Cold War and with the beginning of a new era in which territorial and religious confrontations are taking place among nations - including sub national tribal political organizations such as the Al Quaeda and other terrorist organizations - geopolitical analysis again is in vogue among the scholars and analysts on international security affairs. Most of the conflicts in international relations that is occurring now in the post-Cold War years can be explained more effectively with geopolitical concepts. The post - Cold War international relations among East Asian countries are especially better explained with geopolitical concepts. Unlike Europe, where peaceful development took place after the Cold War, China, Japan, Korea, the United States, Taiwan and Vietnam are feeling more insecure in the post-Cold War years. Most of the East Asian nations' economies have burgeoned during the Cold War years under the protection of the international security structure provided by the two superpowers. However, after the Cold War years, the international security structure has not been stable in East Asia and thus most of the East Asian nations began to build up stronger military forces of their own. Because most of the East Asian nations' national security and economy depend on the oceans, these nations desire to obtain more powerful navies and try to occupy islands, islets, or even rocks that may seem like a strategic asset for their economy and security. In this regard, the western Pacific Ocean is becoming a place of confrontation among the East Asian nations. As Robert Kaplan, an eminent international analyst, mentioned, East Asia is a Seascape while Europe is a Landscape. The possibility of international conflict on the waters of East Asia is higher than in any other period in East Asia's international history.

• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.25-33
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• 2011

• Strategy21
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• s.36
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• pp.33-58
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• 2015

In 1996, China, Japan and the ROK all became the party to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Since then, the UNCLOS has been a fundamental basis for the resolution and management of maritime disputes amongst them. However, there still remain acrimonious disputes in the region. Resources nationalism and the revival of geopolitics aggravates the disputes particularly on sovereignty over disputed islands, maritime delimitation and the legal nature of military activities in other States' Exclusive Economic Zones. Under the circumstances, why have the demands for the conclusion of a regional agreement been raised in this region? A desirable regional agreement regarding ocean affairs should be compatible with the rights and obligations under the UNCLOS, a universal norm regarding ocean affairs. This paper will propose a desirable regional agreement by adopting an incremental approach.

• Korea and Global Affairs
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.137-162
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• 2018

This paper covers the issues including geopolitical effects of sea power on sea space in East Asia and its nature in a perspective of the past and the present. This paper analyzes the significance of Sea Power which is emphasized in Mahan's Theory of Insular Dominance and grasps the geopolitical nature of Sea Power. Along with this awareness, it deals with the problem of designated strategic phenomenon that is spreading to the Pacific Ocean with the concept of the Island Chain in China in the 21st century. Around the turn of 20th century, Japan materialized the policy of Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere which was planned to expand power sphere in sea space in the East Asia based on sea power and China took shape of the concept of Island Chain in the 21st century, which has divided sea space in East Asia. Under the circumstance that China's policy of island chain faced the resistance from countries in the East Asia as well as the USA, the question about whether Korea's policy of depending on sea power is valuable even in the 21st century has been raised.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.161-180
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• 2018

Pax Sinica is a historiographical term, modeled after the original phrase Pax Romana. It refers, in Latin, to a Chinese-provided peace which in turn is used to describe an era of peace in East Asia sustained by Chinese hegemony. In historical terms, both the Pax Sinica of the Eastern hemisphere through Han China and the Pax Romana of the Western hemisphere through Rome signified a trans-regional order based on rules and regulations. This orderly world of the Pax Sinica generated a number of positive results such as the intensification of travel, ever-expanding trade relations, an increase in the overall living standards of the populace, the proliferation of cities, and a demographic upsurge in Eurasia along the ancient Silk Road. During this period, China was the dominant civilization not only in the Eastern hemisphere but also in the Middle hemisphere due to its political, economic, military and cultural influence. This paper aims to reintroduce this historiographical term to elucidate the recent Chinese initiatives in Eurasia along the Silk Road to facilitate the integration and connectivity of the continent.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.133-162
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• 2017

The Bering Strait crossing would link the entirety of Eurasia to the entirety of the Americas, and it can be seen as a natural extension of the historical Silk Road. There are some immense geopolitical benefits to such a project. It would bring about a profound and lasting change to the global economic and political outlook. The most valued function of the Bering Strait crossing and the extension of the associated railroad network would be to release the massive natural resources trapped underneath the tundra and permafrost for the benefit of Russia and the world. Moreover, the railroad project(s) would also build development corridors in those underdeveloped parts of the Russian Federation. The development of the resources and their rapid transportation to the global markets would contribute not only to the overall development of the region but also would be valuable for the resource-poor countries of Northeast Asia such as Japan, Korea, and China (relative to its economic size). This paper will explore the possible impact(s) of the Bering Strait crossing as a formidable infrastructure project for the economic development of the Russian Far East (RFE) from the Russian perspective under the frame of geopolitics. Furthermore, it will equally scrutinize the implications for the adjacent countries in the region.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.887-905
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• 2003

In this paper, we first understand the concept of imperialism as a 'a dialectical relation between territorial and capitalistic logics of power', as suggested by Harvey, and its history with three phases, the last of which would be seen as the phase of new imperialism. Secondly, we examine the New Security Strategy of the U.S which can be seen as a reflection of the new imperialism of the U.S. with its neo-conservative Bush administration, and explain the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as the implementation of the new imperialism. And then we take a close look on the current geopolitical situation of East Asia, especially North and South Korea, Japan and China, in terms of the new imperialist foreign policy of the Bush administration. Finally, we consider the limits of the new imperialism of the U.S. and globally emerging movements of anti-imperialism.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.81-101
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• 2024

This paper examines the complexities and creative opportunities brought about by the transnational circulation of texts specifically in the areas of transmission, consumption, and adaptation. The circulation of texts and along with it creative elements such as generic forms, tropes, and frameworks for consumption form an integral part in the production and advancement of any form of popular culture. In the process of such circulation, adaptation becomes a form of social and political process necessary for domestic palatability. In this paper, I examine how these complexities can be illustrated in the circulation of one emerging popular form in East and Southeast Asia: Boys Love (BL) television and web series. Using the transnational movement of the BL genre from South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines, I examine how the circulation and adaptations are inflected by considerations related to regional geopolitics and domestic issues concerned with the creative praxis of representing gender and sexuality.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.873-892
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• 2016

2015 was the seventieth year from the liberation and the division of Korean peninsular. Although the research on the unification has been performed in various interdisciplinary fields since the liberation of Korea, the geographic research on the unification based on the space stays in a minority. It is time to wrap up the literatures and discourses centered on geography for preparing the unification and taking a view of Korean territory of future unification. The starting point is to define the concept of the geography for unification and give careful consideration to the geographic research trends related to the unification that has been achieved since the liberation of Korea. The geography for unification should be understood in the concept of time and space. First of all, the geography for unification can be composed of the stages such as the research for unification, the research for unification impact, the research for united Korea, and the geopolitics of East Asia under the concept of time. It also can be divided into the regions such as Korea, North Korea, borderlands between North Korea-China and North Korea-Russia including South and North Korea, and North East Asia and Pan Pacific Ocean. The geographic research on the unification embracing the concept of time and space can be defined as the geography for unification. The purpose of this study is to elicit the concept and the research field of the geography for unification in the perspective of discourse, investigate the research trends by geographic themes, and suggest the agendas of the geography for future unification.

• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.37-78
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• 2022

The U.S.-led international order, sustained by overwhelming national power since the end of the Cold War, is gradually being restructured from a unipolar international system to a bipolar international system or a multipolar international system, coupled with the weakening of U.S. global leadership and the rise of regional powers. Geopolitically, discussions have been constantly raised about the security instability that the reshaping of the international order will bring about, given that East Asia is a region where the national interests of the United States and regional powers sharply overlap and conflict. This study aims to critically analyze whether security discussions in Korea are based on appropriate crisis assessment and evaluation. This paper points out that the security crisis theory emerging in Korea tends to arise due to threat exaggeration and emphasizes the need for objective evaluation and conceptualization of the nature and the level of threats that the restructured international order can pose to regional security. Based on the analysis of changes in conflict patterns (frequency and intensity), occurring in East Asia during the periods divided into a bipolar system (1950-1990), a unipolar system (1991-2008), and a multipolar system (2009-current), this study shows that East Asia has not been as vulnerable to power politics as other regions. This investigation emphasizes that the complexity of Korea's diplomatic and security burden, which are aggravated by the reorganization of the international order, do not necessarily have to be interpreted as a grave security threat. This is because escalating unnecessary security issues could reduce the diplomatic strategic space of the Republic of Korea.