The East Asia Gazette

Latest Article

North Korea's Reasonable Folly

Suppose for a moment that North Korea is not as crazy as we are often made to believe. Despite the country’s iniquitous treatment of its people, let’s shun the facile argument that the Swiss-educated Dear Leader is an irrational psychopath. Rather, let’s briefly entertain the idea that he is just as rational as you and me. In recent weeks, Western media has hyped up a scenario of war between the Hermit Kingdom and its neighbors, South Korea and Japan, and their sworn ally, the United States. This is because North Korea has escalated its show of belligerence in a rather unprecedented fashion: from declaring a state of war with the South to cutting a 40-year-old emergency hotline; from halting access to the Kaesong joint industrial park to warning foreign ambassadors that...  read more

Park Geun-hye's Broken Promises

  In 1940, American President Franklin Roosevelt vowed that his countrymen would absolutely not partake in World War II. Upon Japan’s attack of Pearl Harbor, this promise was broken; within an hour of Roosevelt’s speech on that dreaded “date which will live in infamy,”...  read more

Contaminated water from Fukushima Plant to be dumped back into Pacific Ocean

Following the March 11, 2011 tsunami in the north-eastern coast of Japan and the ensuing nuclear discharge from the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, contamination of the Pacific Ocean has once again come to haunt us. On December 5, 2011, The Guardian released an article that noted large quantities...  read more

Unit 61398 - China's army of hackers

  This article also appears on Nation of Change. Let’s face it: China has a meager track record when it comes to warring with foreign opponents. Taiwanese scholar Lung Chang once commented that the Sino-French War of 1883-5 was the Qing Dynasty’s sole victory against an outsider....  read more

Shinzō Abe to remilitarize Japan?

On 1 February, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe reiterated he would like to amend the constitution of Japan, so that the country’s Self-Defense Forces (jieitai – lit. self-defense squad) may turn into armed forces (kokubō-gun – lit. national defense military). During a recent interview...  read more

ROKStyles - Documenting South Korea's street fashion

Although the Korean fashion industry is still not as recognized or popular as its Western counterpart, in recent decades Korean style has started to acquire increasing momentum by boldly voicing its unique presence in the market. In late October 2012, the Seoul Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2013 saw a...  read more

Winds of change are sweeping through China

There is an undeniable tantalizing wind of change sweeping through China in recent years. During a massive unanimous online appeal for organized protests against China’s stifling one-party system in February 2011, which was inspired by the Tunisian Jasmine Revolution, citizens from a dozen...  read more