The Strategic Weight of Diplomatic DiscourseIn international relations (IR), the language states use to describe their role — the frames, metaphors, and identity claims embedded in policy documents and diplomatic communications — tends to shape what they can ask for,
IntroductionAs Korea and Bulgaria mark the 36th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2026, their bilateral ties are entering a new phase defined less by symbolism and more by converging strategic interests. What was once a relationship characterized largely by cordial
Introduction: The Geopolitics of Digital RegulationThe politics of digital regulation has become one of the clearest examples of how economics, technology, and geopolitics now overlap. What might once have looked like a technical debate over competition law, online safety, or
IntroductionThe Korean nuclear debate has been among the hidden political taboos in the Korean political agenda and inter-Korean relations for more than five decades. Yet, President Trump’s decision to re-deploy the U.S. Terminal High Attitude Area Defense (THAAD) system from
The global security order in 2026 looks nothing like it did even two years ago. When the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28, few predicted how rapidly the geopolitical map of the Middle East would be
The future of South Korea–India relations will depend less on diplomatic rhetoric than on the political economy of investment. For more than a decade, Seoul has regarded the revision of the Korea–India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) as the principal
South Korea has a new president openly willing to talk to North Korea. The United States has a president who has never hidden his desire to sit across from Kim Jong-un. And yet, North Korea trusts neither of them. This
While the eyes of the world are on turmoil in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, and on Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine, the relevance of an assessment of relations between a European and an East Asian
Introduction: Managing Risk in an Unstable Environment The contemporary international environment is characterized by the simultaneous coexistence of strategic calculation and impulsive, risk-acceptant behavior, generating heightened uncertainty across the global system. South Korea has not been immune to these dynamics,
Introduction: A Shifting Security Landscape Since 2022, the international security environment has undergone a structural transformation. The war in Ukraine revealed the depth of interdependence between European and Indo-Pacific security dynamics, accelerating a shift in how major multilateral institutions define