South Korea

Asia is bound to be a focus for Leon Panetta as US defence secretary. With China’s rise, India and Pakistan squabbling and a belligerent North Korea, there’s plenty to do.

Indonesia and South Korea are working on a new fighter, the KFX. But is there really any need for the programme?

South Korean politicians are discussing the possibility of redeploying tactical nuclear weapons. Could it happen?

Relations between the US and South Korea have been steadily warming. The problem is, it could push North Korea into even worse behaviour.

Disillusioned over underinvestment in education, university students are taking to the streets. It’s just one front in a broader political battle.

The hundreds of North Koreans escaping into China each year are facing ever tougher border controls. Those caught face imprisonment and torture.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has been in China for the past week. Did he get everything he wanted?

As public opinion turns against nuclear power in Asia’s democracies, could China step in and grab some extra strategic clout in the process?

Worries about inequality and high youth unemployment raise questions over President Lee Myung-bak’s shift to the right.

Japan’s stance on the Dokdo / Takeshima issue has quickly shifted South Korean attitudes post-earthquake and tsunami, from sympathetic to ambivalent.

China’s objections to US Navy activity in Asia are part of a policy-based strategy, not a legal one.

France wants to take a bigger slice of the nuclear pie from countries such as South Korea. But caution is essential.