A "pattern of Chinese gray-zone pressure...closely tracks U.S.-South Korea alliance decisions, easing when South Korea accommodates China, intensifying when it aligns with the United States" (red = air, blue = maritime)
Joel Atkinson
@joelatkinson.bsky.social
Researching and teaching Northeast Asian international politics in Seoul. Opinions my own. joel.p.atkinson@gmail.com
My new article on the South Korea's THAAD episode is now available (open access) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Some free downloads are available of my new article on the role of Chinese nuclear strike in decision making around the Korea THAAD episode www.tandfonline.com/eprint/PAWTC...
'Outsourcing anti-dependency: Brazil’s fraught embedded-autonomy approach to China' 🌟 New Review of International Studies article and video abstract OUT NOW 🚨 By Rute Ester Brasileiro da Silva co-authored with Joel Atkinson 🎉 Read and watch here! 👉 https://ow.ly/vovQ50XB999
Wrote something on South Korea's 2016-2017 THAAD troubles with Beijing and the ongoing episode over Japanese Prime Minster Takaichi's Taiwan comment asia.nikkei.com/opinion/sout...
South Korea's THAAD pain shows what Takaichi can expect from China
Beijing pressure campaign on Seoul provides an object lesson for Japan's new PM
asia.nikkei.com
"...many in Taiwan quite reasonably expect the Lee Administration will cooperate substantively with China at Taiwan’s expense. But the reality is... here in Seoul, the secular trend is for relations to continue to worsen even with these periodic cycles of warming."
Joel Atkinson@joelatkinson.bsky.social · 8mo agoWrote something on the recent US-China-South Korea summitry and implications for Taiwan for Taiwan's Prospect Foundation www.pf.org.tw/tw/pfch/13-1...
Wrote something on the recent US-China-South Korea summitry and implications for Taiwan for Taiwan's Prospect Foundation www.pf.org.tw/tw/pfch/13-1...
I have a new article out with co-author Rute Ester Brasileiro da Silva on Brazil-China relations in Review of International Studies. It’s open access so free to read. You can access it here: doi.org/10.1017/S026...
“North Korea is actively enhancing its nuclear and missile capabilities. It’s opening new enrichment facilities, new rocket engines... nuclear-capable destroyers,” I explained in a recent @globalnews.ca interview with @jeffsemple.bsky.social that appears in their vivid report on Operation NEON.
Operation Neon: RCAF members tracking North Korean ships suspected of UN violations | Watch News Videos Online
Watch Operation Neon: RCAF members tracking North Korean ships suspected of UN violations Video Online, on GlobalNews.ca
globalnews.ca
I have a new article out with co-author Rute Ester Brasileiro da Silva on Brazil-China relations in Review of International Studies. It’s open access so free to read. You can access it here: doi.org/10.1017/S026...
#OpenAccess from @risjnl.bsky.social - Outsourcing anti-dependency: Brazil’s fraught embedded-autonomy approach to China - https://cup.org/4o18uEW - @joelatkinson.bsky.social & Rute Ester Brasileiro da Silva #FirstView
My new article with Review of International Studies on Brazil-China relations is now online open access: “There is a paradox at the core of Brazil’s partnership with China: despite aiming to advance industry, technology, autonomy, and national prestige, the relationship... doi.org/10.1017/S026...
Outsourcing anti-dependency: Brazil’s fraught embedded-autonomy approach to China | Review of International Studies | Cambridge Core
Outsourcing anti-dependency: Brazil’s fraught embedded-autonomy approach to China
doi.org
Call for submissions for The Journal of East Asian Affairs @joeaa.bsky.social 38/2 (Spring 2026). Submissions are on rolling basis, but guaranteed consideration for next issue, if received by January 1 www.inss.re.kr/en/aboutus/P...
About JOEAA
inss.re.kr
The new issue of the Journal of East Asian Affairs @JOEAA_INSS is out, the English-language journal of South Korea’s Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS). (I am executive editor, with Mason Richey as editor-in-chief) www.inss.re.kr/en/publicati...
Most newsworthy thing coming out of APEC and it's not even close
Feeling confident? Think again — you’re probably wrong. www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2...
Feeling confident? Think again — you’re probably wrong.
A study finds that overconfidence by many national security experts “was so extreme that it essentially canceled out the knowledge that these individuals possessed.”
japantimes.co.jp
If you want to know how Koreans are reacting to the immigration raid at the battery plant in Georgia, a recent poll has 59.2% responding “I am greatly disappointed in the Trump administration” and 30.7% responding “I understand the Trump administration’s measures” www.realmeter.net/%eb%a6%ac%ec...
I'm stunned by this. In 2019 SEALs killed 2-3 North Korean civilians diving for shellfish and now it's in the NYT www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/u...
How a Top Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission Into North Korea Fell Apart
nytimes.com
In June 1983, Xi Zhongxun, the father of Xi Jinping, hosted Kim Jong-il, the father of Kim Jong-un, in Beijing. They watched a performance by Peng Liyuan, who years later would marry Xi Jinping.
Kim Jong Un's daughter, Ju-ae, has apparently accompanied him on the visit to Beijing
N. Korea publicly announces leader's plan to attend China's Sept. military parade | Yonhap News Agency en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN2025...
N. Korea publicly announces leader's plan to attend China's Sept. military parade | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Friday publicly announced leader Kim Jong-un&apo...
en.yna.co.kr
Ah, the customary and highly symbolic presidential exchange of MAGA hats www.koreatimes.co.kr/photos/photo...
This is pretty dark stuff from Lankov: "achieving success in nuclear development will be difficult. But if it does not succeed, I doubt whether the Republic of Korea will have a long-term future" m.news.nate.com/view/2025082...
Lim Eul-chul, Kyungnam University: "North Korea is seeking to push the Lee Jae Myung administration into making a more drastic shift...by exerting maximum pressure...The key question is whether...[Lee-Trump summit] will show...greater diplomatic autonomy vis-a-vis the US”
Kim Jong-un issues inter-Korean policy rejecting Seoul’s olive branch
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday conveyed his inter-Korean policy plan through his sister Kim Yo-jong, who handed it down during a meeting with key Fo
m.koreaherald.com
Important piece on the abuse of migrant fishers in Taiwan by @michaelturton.bsky.social, who argues that the government has the power to do something about it—if they wanted to.
Notes from Central Taiwan: Subsidies at root of Taiwan’s migrant fishers abuses - Taipei Times
Bringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan
taipeitimes.com
My new Pacific Review article explains why China’s economic & diplomatic coercion of South Korea over the USFK THAAD deployment had little—if anything—to do with protecting its nuclear deterrent www.tandfonline.com/eprint/PAWTC...
My new Pacific Review article explains why China’s economic & diplomatic coercion of South Korea over the USFK THAAD deployment had little—if anything—to do with protecting its nuclear deterrent www.tandfonline.com/eprint/PAWTC...
The details/quotes in this story are pure gold www.koreatimes.co.kr/lifestyle/pe...
How a small Seoul hat maker crafted 'MASGA' hat that helped unlock tariff talks - The Korea Times
A red baseball cap embroidered with the slogan “Make America Shipbuilding Great Again (MASGA)” has emerged as an unlikely symbol of progress in recent U.S.-Korea tariff negotiations. Behind the scenes...
koreatimes.co.kr