korean essay competition

Call for Essays: The Understanding Korea Contest 2023

• Post author: Korea Centre
• Post published: June 26, 2023

Academy of Korean Studies, Republic of Korea has announced a Call for Essays for the Understanding Korea Contest 2023. Please review the guidelines outlined below and ensure to adhere them when submitting your essay. Hosted by the Center for International Affair at AKS, the Understanding Korea Project aims to rectify misconceptions and enhance the quality of content about Korea in international textbooks.

1. Essay Topics

※  Understanding Korea  materials published by AKS are available on the site below.

( https://www.aks.ac.kr/ikorea/english/  →  Understanding Korea  materials) 2. Eligibility :  Foreigners, Koreans living abroad

3. Submission :  Submit via the official website of the Academy of Korean Studies

– Language: Korean or English

– Essay Length: Approximately 3 pages in A4 format

※ Download the application form from information bulletins on the Center’s website and submit.

(Only the official form will be accepted.)

※ Applications can be submitted using either Topic 1, Topic 2, or both.

※ The awardee is responsible for all taxes and fees associated with prize receipt and/or use.

5. Application Period : June 1 – July 31, 2023, 18:00

※ Applications submitted after the deadline (Korea Standard Time) will not be considered for evaluation.

6. Announcement of winners :  September 25, 2023

※ The result of the contest will be posted on the Center’s website and all winners will be notified individually.

7. Contact :  The Center for International Affairs of the Academy of Korean Studies

– Email:  [email protected]

※ For any inquiries regarding the contest, please direct your questions exclusively via email.

Click here for Guidelines and Application Form

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Call for essays: the understanding korea contest 2024.

We are pleased to announce the Call for Essays for the  Understanding Korea  Contest 2024. Please review the guidelines outlined below and ensure to adhere them when submitting your essay. Hosted by the Center for International Affair at AKS, the  Understanding Korea  Project aims to rectify misconceptions and enhance the quality of content about Korea in international textbooks.

1. Essay Topics

  ※  Understanding Korea  materials published by AKS are available on the site below.

       ( https://www.aks.ac.kr/ikorea/english/  →  Understanding Korea  materials)  

2. Eligibility :  Foreigners, Koreans living abroad

3. Submission :  Submit via the official website of the Academy of Korean Studies

  – Language: Korean or English

  – Essay Length: Approximately 3 pages in A4 format

  ※ Download the application form from information bulletins on the Center’s website and submit.

      (Only the official form will be accepted.)

  ※ Applications can be submitted using either Topic 1, Topic 2, or both.

  ※ The awardee is responsible for all taxes and fees associated with prize receipt and/or use.

5. Application Period : June 1 – July 31, 2024, 18:00

  ※ Applications submitted after the deadline (Korea Standard Time) will not be considered for evaluation.

6. Announcement of winners :  September 25, 2024

  ※ The result of the contest will be posted on the Center’s website and all winners will be notified individually.

7. Contact :  The Center for International Affairs of the Academy of Korean Studies

  – Email:  [email protected]

  ※ For any inquiries regarding the contest, please direct your questions exclusively via email.

• 2024_Contest_application.doc
• 2024_Contest_Information.pdf
• 2024_Contest_Poster.pdf

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Home > national > k-campus.

Sungkyunkwan University hosts annual Korean essay contest

Participants of last year's Sungkyun Hangeul Essay Contest pose for a photo while wearing hanbok (traditional Korean dress). [SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIVERSITY]

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Essay Contest

The Korean Literature Essay Contest, hosted by the Korean Language Program at UC Berkeley, offers students a unique opportunity to engage with Korean literature. Since its first contest sponsored by the Korean Literature Translation Institute, this competition encourages participants to read selected Korean literary books and craft insightful review essays. With active engagement from approximately 50 to 100 students annually, it fosters cross-cultural connections and celebrates Korean literary talent. Winners of the contests are announced and awarded at the annual Korean Day in April, where their literary achievements are recognized. Although temporarily paused during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the contest was revived in 2022 with the support of the Center for Korean Studies at Berkeley. As we move forward, we remain committed to promoting a deeper understanding and appreciation of Korean literature among our student community.  Check the information on the essay contest of 2024 ! 

Below is the list of books for the essay contest each year.

Year        Book title Korean (author)   - English title

2011       빛의 제국 (김영하) - Your Republic is Calling You (Young-Ha Kim)

2012      엄마를 부탁해 (신경숙) - Please Look after Mom (Kyung-Sook Shin)

2013      먼 길 (김인숙) - The Long Road (In-Suk Kim)

2014      성탄 특선 (김애란) - Christmas Special (Ae-ran Kim) 

2015      우리들의 행복한 시간 (공지영) - Our Happy Time (Ji-Young Kong)

2016      고령화 가족 (천명관)  - Modern Family (Myeong-kwan  Cheon)

2017      채식주의자 (한강)  - The Vegetarian (Kang Han)

2018      홍길동전 (허균)  - The Story of Hong Gildong (Gyun Heo)

2019      꽈리열매 세탁공장 (이언호)  - Olympic Boulevard (Philip Onho Lee)

2022     아몬드 (손원평)  -  Almond (Won-Pyung Sohn)

2023     저주토끼 (정보라)  - Cursed Bunny (Bora Chung)

2024    로기완을 만났다 (조해진) - I Met Loh Kiwan (Haejin Cho)

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writing competition

• Applications
• Past essay winners
• Past sijo winners

essay division

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• Senior division
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• How to write sijo
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music competition

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music composition competition

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upcoming/ongoing events

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past events

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• Contemporary short stories (senior division)

essay competition

Past winners, sijo competition, how to write sijo, sijo resources, teaching sijo, wisijo competition, the 2021 sejong writing competition is now open., submission deadline: april 30, 2021 (11.59pm cdt).

Application form

Essay category

Focusing on introducing students and young adults to Korean culture and history through literature, our essay category utilizes folk tales and contemporary literature to explore Korean culture, past and present. All required readings are available from our website.

Adult division (age 30 and younger) : Contestants are to read Yi Sang's short story "The Wings" and write an essay in response to the provided prompt. Senior division (grade 12 and younger) : Contestants are to read both Choi Inho's short story "The Poplar Tree" and Yi Munyol's "The Old Hatter", and write an essay in response to the provided prompt. Junior division (grade 8 and younger) : Contestants are to write an essay in response to one of two provided prompts regarding a Korean folktale of the contestant's choice. Contestants must choose one of the stories listed on our junior competition page .

Sijo category

Our sijo category is divided into the adult sijo division , open to everyone age 19 and older, and the pre-college sijo division , open to students age 18 and younger.

Created in collaboration with the Korea Institute at Harvard University, the goal of our sijo category is to introduce students to a lesser-known style of poetry, the traditional Korean sijo. Read about how to write sijo , or see last year's winning entries .

Annual Wisconsin Sijo Competition

The Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Sejong Cultural Society are delighted to announce the introduction of a new annual sijo competition open to poets of all ages. This competition is only open to residents of Wisconsin.

About the Sejong Writing Competition

Mission : The goals of the Sejong Writing Competition are to discover children and young adults talented in writing and to encourage them to learn and write about Korean and its culture. Through this writing competition we hope to increase the awareness and understanding of Korea’s cultural heritage amongst the younger generations growing up in the United States.

Eligibility : This competition is open to all residents of the US and Canada regardless of ethnic background.

Sponsors : The Sejong Writing Competition is supported in part by grants from the LTI Korea, the Daesan Foundation, the Doosan Yonkang Foundation, and the Academy of Korean Studies.

GW Institute for Korean Studies

at the Elliott School of International Affairs

GWIKS Korean Media Essay Contest

The GWIKS Korean Media Essay Contest encourages students to engage with Korean media and promotes a better understanding of Korean culture. 

Video Essay Contest

Deadline: March 8, 2024

More Information on 2023 Contest

Documentary of the Year: “Sa-I-Gu” 

Essay Guidelines for 2022 Contest

April 1, 2022

2021 Book Contest Award Ceremony

Book of the Year: “I Met Loh Kiwan” by Cho Haejin

Essay Guidelines for 2021 Contest Undergrad Division

Essay Guidelines for 2021 Contest High School Division

Book of the Year: “Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982” by Cho Nam-Joo

Poster for 2020 Contest

More Information on 2020 Contest

Essay Guidelines for 2020 Contest

Book of the Year: “ Recitation”  by Bae Suah

Poster for 2019 Contest

More Information about the 2019 Contest

Essay Submission for 2019 Contest

October 25, 2019

2019 Award Ceremony

Photos of 2019 Award Ceremony

Summary of 2019 Award Ceremony

Book of the Year: “I’ll be right there”  by Kyung-Sook Shin

Poster for 2018 Contest

November 16, 2018

2018 Award Ceremony

Photos of 2018 Award Ceremony

Summary of 2018 Award Ceremony

Book of the Year: “The Vegetarian” b y Han Kang

Poster 1 for 2017 Contest

Poster 2 for 2017 Contest

November 10, 2017

2017 Award Ceremony

Photos of 2017 Award Ceremony

Program for 2017 Award Ceremony

Summary of 2017 Award Ceremony

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CKS News: 2023 Korean Literature Essay Contest

Back to CKS News

The 2023 Korean Literature Essay Contest , arranged by the Korean Language Program at East Asian Languages and Cultures and supported by the Center for Korean Studies, is open exclusively to attending undergraduate and graduate students at UC Berkeley who are interested in Korea and Korean literature. The book for this year's contest is " Cursed Bunny  ( 저주 토끼 )" by Bora Chung (정보라), a collection of short stories. A digital copy of the English version of the book can be accessed from the UC Berkeley C.V. Starr East Asian Library . Participants are invited to submit an original critical essay that addresses at least two short stories from the collection, including "Cursed Bunny," in an insightful and thought-provoking manner. Essay submissions can be written in either English or Korean and must be 1,000 words. Cash prizes will be awarded to multiple 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. Interested students must register to participate by February 28, 2023. Essay submissions are due by March 31, 2023 and the winners will be announced on April 21, 2023. More detailed information can be found in the  Contest Guidelines . Please direct questions to Soojin Lee at  [email protected] .

• 한국 홈페이지 (한국어)

KSCPP Korean Spirit & Culture Promotion Project

• Essay Contest

As young people today are growing up in a globally integrated society, it is important to gain exposure to different cultures. KSCPP has held essay contests in the U.S. for the last 17 years, targeting 3,000 middle schools, 6,300 high schools and the top 500 colleges, and we are now expanding the competition to students across the world.

Many students have expressed gratitude for the chance to learn historical examples of the Hongik Ingan philosophy (“To Live for the Benefit of humankind”) and the values of Chung Hyo Ye (filial devotion, loyalty, and respectful benevolence). Through this initiative, we have aimed to foster the spirit of altruism and compassion in the younger generation, and so contribute to the world's cultivation of greater peace and prosperity.

Korea is a country with a rich history and culture that is driven by moral values and honor, as illustrated in the collection of Korean stories shared in the book Chung Hyo Ye. While the book is divided into sections to represent devotion to parents, country and citizens, siblings, and a virtuous life, all the stories interweave these themes with Korea’s principal value of living and acting for the benefit of other people before yourself. All of these stories demonstrate the great Korean code of living unselfishly and thinking of others before thinking of your own needs. It is inspiring to me to think that many of the stories in the book Chung Hyo Ye are based on actual events, and that real people can be that unselfish.

In simply written, yet complexly crafted terms, the book told me that one must love, honor, and respect one’s family, friends, and country with all of one’s heart and must do so to the very brink of death. Perhaps in this day and age I will not be made a martyr, neither for country, family nor faith, but I will be called to put myself, in all my selfishness and defiance, to death. Stories of Hyangdok’s devotion and of Sim Chong, who became the eyes of her father, tell of such unfaltering loyalty. These, along with all the others, convicted me. I know that I may never live up to the example given by any of these brave and noble people, but a commitment to attempt to live in this fashion is not one that I am unwilling to make. I saw for the first time that vow, that desire to conform to the ways told in this book, is not separate and apart from my faith. It is rather a fulfillment of my faith. A few days ago I called my mother. It was a simple call, meant only to update her on my schooling, but instead, I wound up crying. I found myself asking for her forgiveness for not being the daughter I should be. I told her the story of Han Seokbong, about the mother who wanted the best for her son and the strong parallel I saw in us. Through quieted tears she replied that she was proud of me. Not because at 17 I received my associate's degree, or that now I am working on a bachelor’s degree and am looking toward medical school, but rather because I had finally learned the lesson that she had so earnestly attempted to impart to me.

• About KSCPP
• About Korea

The ASEAN-Korea Centre (AKC) is pleased to call for proposals for the ‘2024 ASEAN-Korea Academic Essay Contest’!

In collaboration with Pukyong National University and the Faculty of Economics and Business Management of the National University of  Laos (TBC), AKC will host the ‘ 2024 ASEAN-Korea Academic Essay Contest ’ under the theme of 'Way Forward to Enhance ASEAN-Korea Relations in the Comprehenship Strategic Partnership (CSP) Era'. 

AKC  invites graduate and undergraduate  students of ASEAN and Korean nationalities to the Contest and  looks forward to receiving proposals. You may refer to attachments for more details and requirements:  

1. AKC General Guidelines 2. AKC Proposal Guidelines 3. AKC Application & Consent Form 4. AKC Academic Recommendation Form

Notice ㆍ Call for proposals is only for proposal submission. Selected proposals will be notified via email on  May 14, 2024 . ㆍ Only selected proposals will proceed to the essay stage. ㆍ All participants who enter the essay stage will receive a certificate of participation. ㆍ For any inquiries, please contact us at Information and Data Unit,  Email:  [email protected]

Register Online Briefing Session HERE  : 

https://forms.gle/Xdnk9RtEMGon9Kyq8

For more information, please refer to the Video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NHJj5Q6zps

• 첨부파일 1. AKC General Guidelines.pdf View
• 첨부파일 2. AKC Proposal Guidelines.pdf View
• 첨부파일 3. AKC Application & Consent Form.docx View
• 첨부파일 4. AKC Academic Recommendation Form.docx View
• Next ASEAN-Korea Trade and Investment Roundtable 2024
• Prev [Call for Applications] 2024 ASEAN-Korea Youth Network Workshop

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2022 ASEAN-Korea Academic Essay Contest

The ASEAN-Korea Centre is calling for proposals for the 2022 ASEAN-Korea Academic Essay Contest.

The 2022 ASEAN-Korea Academic Essay Contest invites graduate and undergraduate students of ASEAN and Korean nationality with proposals for promoting the ASEAN-Korea relationship and suggestions as to how ASEAN and Korea can further expand and deepen their cooperation toward a more sustainable ASEAN-Korea partnership.

Click: Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2022

• Win up to KRW 2 million
• Get a chance to present your work at the ASEAN-Korea Forum in November 2020

Prize Catagories

• Grand Prize (3 Teams): KRW 2,000,000
• Excellence Prize (3 Prize): KRW 1,000,000
• Merit Prize (3 Prize): KRW 500,000

You might also like: Save Water for ASEAN Essay Competition 2022

 eligibilities.

• The contest is open to all undergraduate and graduate students with ASEAN or Korean nationality.
• Applicants must submit a proposal as an individual or as a team, consisting of up to 3 students.
• Also, applicants must submit a recommendation form by their academic advisor.

Eligible Regions:  ASEAN and Korea

Also check out: Earnest $5,000 scholarships 2022 || No Essay, No Entry Fee!!

Application process.

• Participants must submit a proposal by 29 May 2022.
• Selected proposals will be notified via email on June 27, 2022.
• Only selected proposals will proceed to the essay stage.

Specifications

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2023 korean literature essay contest.

Arranged by the Korean Language Program within the East Asian Languages and Cultures department and supported by the Center for Korean Studies, we are happy to announce the second annual Korean Literature Essay Contest. This contest is open exclusively to attending undergraduate and graduate students at UC Berkeley who are interested in Korea and Korean literature. The book for this year's contest is " Cursed Bunny  ( 저주 토끼 )" by Bora Jung (정보라), a collection of short stories. Participants are invited to submit an original essay that addresses at least two short stories from the collection, including "Cursed Bunny," in an insightful and thought-provoking manner. Please refer to the  contest guidelines  for further instructions on essay requirements and submissions.

Iris Law’s New Korean Gel Manicure Is Perfect For Short Nails

Although Iris Law 's roots are firmly planted in London's Primrose Hill, it’s no secret that the model is well-traveled. Whether she’s power walking around New York City or strolling along the beach in Barbados, there's usually a quirky independent dessert shop or trinket store she’s dying to share with her Instagram and TikTok followers. One city that has really stolen the star’s heart? Seoul in South Korea, which is home to the glassy nail trend that we’re all obsessing over – Iris Law included.

Nail artist Mei Kawajiri has been applying Korean gel nails for over 10 years and says that still now the trend “is only getting bigger.” Different from the bottles of gel nail polish that are readily available on the Western market, “Korean gel sets are comprised of more neutral base colors, rather than the bright neons you might see in America.”

Manicure by Girls Don’t Cry Nails

Korean manicures can be layered to create a stunning kaleidoscopic effect. “The gels are very fast-drying and cure quickly, so they’re not sticky – this makes it very easy to experiment with," Kawajiri explains.

Kawajiri cites Law as “a big fan of Korean gel nails,” having worked with her in the past on a crystal blue 3D manicure for the Met Gala , as well as with close pal and fellow model Jordan Daniels .

“In the USA, everyone loves long pointed nails, but in Korea it’s trendy to have a short, rounder style,” Kawajiri goes on. Perfect for anyone who is constantly on the go, but still wants to indulge in abstract nail art.

YOu might be wondering: How long do Korean manicures last? “They last for three or four weeks – I usually recommend that my clients wait at least three weeks before returning for an infill,” Kawajiri advises.

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Opinion Guest Essay

This New Olympic Sport Is One of America’s Greatest Cultural Exports

Dancers at a Paris workshop demonstrated a style of dance called “debout.” Credit...

Supported by

By Jeff Chang

Photographs by Giulia Frigieri

Mr. Chang is the author of “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation.”

• Aug. 9, 2024

On Friday, breaking makes its Olympics debut at the Place de la Concorde in Paris. This form of dance, created by Black youths in the Bronx in the early 1970s, has traveled far from its birthplace. It is now studied, practiced and performed enthusiastically in countries all over the world — and has inspired Olympic-bound B-boys and B-girls, as the dancers are called, from a diverse group of countries including Canada, Ukraine, Japan, South Korea and France.

Over a half-century from its origins, breaking has become another American-grown art form that, much like jazz, other nations are now cultivating more imaginatively than we are.

Support for hip-hop education in the States typically comes from nonprofit organizations, after-school programs and for-profit dance schools. Despite breaking’s American roots, it has never been institutionally supported in public schools as part of a coordinated national policy. In France, however, an enlightened arts education effort is helping to identify and train the dancers who could represent the form’s future.

Consider what’s happening in Paris’s chic Third Arrondissement, about three miles northeast of the Olympic dance floor. The Lycée Turgot, a public high school housed in a majestic 19th-century building, has for the past seven years been home to France’s premier national hip-hop dance program .

Each year, about 50 dancers compete for admission to some 15 slots at Lycée Turgot’s “section of hip-hop dances excellence.” One-third of the dancers are breakers, while the rest dance in a style that the French call “debout” or “standing” dance, which includes popping, locking, house and “hip-hop newstyle.” The dancers admitted to the program receive three years of some of the best arts education any aspiring breaker could imagine.

In addition to taking courses in traditional academic study, Turgot’s hip-hop cohort focuses on developing the elements of breaking — mind, body and soul — by following an expansive hip-hop pedagogy. For up to 12 hours a week students train, learn technique and analyze hip-hop history and battle strategy, all while being instructed in respect, openness and self-knowledge.

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Roundtable in Asia Policy 19.3

Confronting the nuclear challenge north korea’s ambitions and regional strategies.

Amid the crescendo of global security challenges, the question remains: what to do about North Korea? This Asia Policy roundtable contains six essays that examine the current state of the challenges North Korea poses to regional and global security from different vantage points.

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North Korea’s Strategic Choices amid Shifting Geopolitics

The gathering storm: a confluence of north korea’s looming crises.

Chung Min Lee

The United States and North Korea: New Threats, New Challenges, and the Need for New Resolve

Evans J.R. Revere

Grappling with Great-Power Competition: China Bandwagons with Petulant North Korea

Andrew Scobell

Going Tactical: North Korea and Two-State Theory in War Strategy

Hideya Kurata

The Korean Peninsula’s New Geopolitics: Why North Korea Is Shifting toward an Alliance with Russia

Artyom Lukin

Introduction

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) has ratcheted up its saber-rattling alarmingly over the past few years. It has labeled the Republic of Korea (ROK, or South Korea) a hostile state to be subjugated by war, increased testing of ballistic missiles, adopted a war-focused posture, and warmed ties with Russia, culminating in a new comprehensive strategic partnership agreement between Pyongyang and Moscow in June 2024. More than ever, North Korea has the potential to be disruptive in an already-fraught geopolitical environment. Amid the crescendo of security challenges, the question remains: what to do about North Korea? This Asia Policy roundtable contains six essays that examine the current state of the challenges North Korea poses to regional and global security from different vantage points.

Jenny Town opens the roundtable with a reminder that the North Korea nuclear issue cannot be solved in isolation from broader global realities. Kim Jong-un has demonstrated a canny ability to exploit openings in the geopolitical landscape and to play the major Northeast Asian actors against each other. He used the isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic to reset expectations, restore traditional values—including ideological unity and enemy narratives—and recalibrate Pyongyang’s approach. During this period, North Korea became “one of the first countries to embrace the idea of a new cold war emerging.” The clock cannot be set back on its WMD program; instead, Town argues that getting back to a global disarmament agenda will require political leadership from the great powers to look for geopolitical openings and “change the narrative about what makes countries more secure.”

Chung Min Lee next looks at how the growing WMD threat from North Korea is worryingly combining with a convergence of internal threats: an imploding economy, the weakness of ideological indoctrination among the younger generation, the high risks of succession, and Kim Jong-un’s determination to strengthen his WMD inventory at the expense of the economy and North Korean citizens’ well-being. With North Korea teetering on the edge of simultaneous crises, he argues that the effectiveness of the response will depend on who is in power in Seoul and Washington. In Lee’s words, “the United States and South Korea would do well to prioritize planning and preparing for the ‘gathering storm’ that North Korea presents rather than focus on engagement-building and incentives to return to denuclearization negotiations.”

Evans Revere suggests that given current geopolitical challenges, combined with the upcoming fray of elections in the United States, we can expect Pyongyang to “try to keep the United States and its allies off balance.” Revere demonstrates that nuclear weapons are the best support of Pyongyang’s central goal—the security of the Kim family regime—as well as bolster other related ambitions such as weakening the U.S.-ROK alliance and reducing the U.S. military presence on and around the peninsula. With any future efforts at denuclearization negotiations likely to repeat past failures, the United States and its partners must act carefully but determinedly to up the ante for Pyongyang going forward: “since North Korea’s desire for nuclear weapons derives from its belief that these weapons will bring security and ensure regime survival, U.S. policy should focus on convincing the regime that the opposite is true—that is, that nuclear weapons will only bring the regime’s demise closer.”

Andrew Scobell examines the state of North Korea–China relations, noting that “China has tolerated North Korean episodes of saber-rattling and provocations with fluctuating levels of irritation and ire.” But with Pyongyang yo-yoing its relations with Washington and Seoul since summitry in 2018 and 2019, and more recently improving ties to Moscow, Kim seems to have provoked Beijing into a more active relationship. Scobell describes how Chinese leaders are concerned about maintaining China’s influence amid the “thickening relationship between Russia and North Korea”—a vulnerability that North Korea has adroitly exploited. As a result, Scobell argues that “the least bad policy option for Beijing is to bandwagon with small but geostrategically important Pyongyang against its great-power rivals and allies,” which limits the prospect that China will use its influence for any hoped-for positive containment role in North Korea’s nuclear trajectory.

Hideya Kurata addresses North Korea’s nuclear doctrine in its two military strategies: its “war deterrent strategy” and “war strategy.” His essay focuses on the possibility for a conventional armed conflict between North and South Korea that could escalate with the North’s use of tactical nuclear weapons (TNW). He examines statements by Kim and other key figures in the regime that show the elevation of these weapons in North Korea’s concepts of preemption and escalation. Kurata also evaluates Pyongyang’s recent redefinition of South Korea as an enemy and endorsement of a hostile two-state situation on the peninsula. These nuclear and political postures are closely linked, Kurata argues: “The potential for the deployment of TNWs spills over into the realm of national unification. When South Korea is the target of an attack, as Kim Yo-jong suggested in her April 2022 statement, it can be justified by the assertion that the South is no longer part of the same nation as the North.” As North Korea expands and refines its nuclear arsenal, Kurata stresses the importance of the United States, South Korea, and other allies putting a corresponding escalation ladder in place.

Artyom Lukin studies the regional economic and military balances from the perspective of North Korea, noting that the “overall military balance on the peninsula is developing in a direction that is unfavorable to Pyongyang.” He elaborates that “the DPRK’s ability to deal on its own with the emerging external threats and risks is becoming increasingly strained, primarily due to its limited economic and technological base.” Despite a nuclear capability that places South Korea, Japan, and the United States in reach, North Korea faces a worsening economic situation, deteriorating conventional military capabilities, and a significant imbalance in both these areas with South Korea (as well as South Korea’s latency as a nuclear power and coverage by the U.S. nuclear umbrella). These challenges could be making the North Korean regime feel insecure. As a result, Pyongyang is under pressure to find a powerful ally, and “the only possible political-military ally for the DPRK is Russia.” The renewed alliance gives Moscow “a new lever over Washington, Tokyo, and especially Seoul” and offers the promise of defense industrial support. Pyongyang, for its part, gains prestige, formal security guarantees, and a greater opening for transfers of weapons and expertise. However, the limits to and boundaries of the partnership still remain to be seen.

Taken together, the essays in this roundtable point to a new phase in North Korea’s nuclear posturing and highlight key external relationships. The risks posed by a nuclear-armed North Korea have surged and will require new approaches in management focused on containment rather engagement.

Jenny Town is a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center and Director of the Stimson Center’s Korea Program and 38 North (United States).

Chung Min Lee is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (United States) and Chairman of the International Advisory Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). His forthcoming book, tentatively entitled Hard Choices: Correcting South Korea’s Looming Defence Deficit s, will be published by IISS as part of its Adelphi Book series in late fall 2024.

Evans J.R. Revere is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Asia Policy Studies (United States). A retired senior U.S. diplomat and career Asia hand, he served as acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. He serves on the Board of Advisors at the National Bureau of Asian Research and is a Senior Advisor at the Albright Stonebridge Group.

Andrew Scobell is a Distinguished Fellow with the China Program at the United States Institute of Peace (United States). He is also an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Hideya Kurata is a Professor in the Department of International Relations at the National Defense Academy of Japan.

Artyom Lukin is Professor and Deputy Director for Research at the Institute of Oriental Studies—School of Regional and International Studies at Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok (Russia).

• North Korea

About Asia Policy

Asia Policy is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal presenting policy-relevant academic research on the Asia-Pacific that draws clear and concise conclusions useful to today’s policymakers. Asia Policy is published quarterly in January, April, July, and October and accepts submissions on a rolling basis. Learn more

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Team USA’s Rose Zhang Aims to Pen Perfect Closing Chapter to Olympic Debut

Valhalla golf club to host 2028 solheim cup.

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SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – Ahead of her first tee shot at the Paris Olympics, Rose Zhang penned a letter from Paris, reflecting on how far she’s come since she was a little girl hitting balls off a mat in the desert dirt in a wide-open construction area in Southern California.

“I’m excited to compete – to show the world who I am,” she wrote. “I will always be that little girl hitting balls into the desert, but the person I am now is so much more than that, too. And I can’t wait for you all to meet her.”

Well, get ready, world, because if you don’t know her name by now, it looks like this 21-year-old, two-time LPGA Tour winner could be on her way to Olympic glory.

While there are still 18 holes to go, Zhang put herself in prime position to step onto the medal podium thanks to a 5-under 67 on Friday that put her in a tie for second place at 7 under, just two shots behind co-leaders Lydia Ko of New Zealand and Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux. She did so in dramatic fashion as well, carding two eagles at 14 and 18 in a five-hole finishing stretch that also included a double bogey at 15.

“I think especially on this golf course, you can't put yourself too ahead of what's in front of you,” Zhang said. “Especially with how conditions played today – it played pretty difficult. You really just have to make sure that you hit your fairways, you hit your greens, and if opportunity allows you, try to make some putts. But other than that, that's all you can do.”

Perhaps that’s not all she can do. Zhang has endeared herself to the fans and media with her honest assessments and thoughtful demeanor, and her recent essay for The Players’ Tribune was just another way to showcase what a delight the 441-day-old professional is all about.

“(The essay) definitely gave me an opportunity to just showcase who I am and who I am before a tournament, after the tournament, during it,” said Zhang, who is still taking classes to finish her Stanford degree. “Sometimes people only see the actual competition, but we are all people, and I think we can all be voices of inspiration or just relatability to anyone.

“It's basically the same. I'm still me.”

Also staying true to herself was USA teammate and defending gold medalist Nelly Korda, who also moved herself into contention following her second consecutive round of 2-under 70. She stands five shots behind the leaders, but the reigning world No. 1 took comfort in the fact that none other than USA’s Scottie Scheffler was in a similar position ahead of his final round in the Olympic men’s competition and walked away with gold.

“I'm giving myself a chance,” she said as the leaders were finishing their round. “As of right now, I think I'm four back, so anything can happen. Scottie was (four) back … and he ended up winning.”

Korda pointed to the tougher, windier conditions as a challenge out of the gate Friday, and she dropped two shots early with bogeys on Nos. 1 and 3. But she battled back with birdies at Nos. 6, 7 and 9 to turn at 1 under, hitting a mid-round goal of making the turn under par. She followed up with two more birdies at 14 and 15 before giving one back with a three-putt bogey at 17.

“It's tough out here,” she added. “Like the wind is blowing a lot more than it has been. These fairways are tight. I mean, you're starting it over rough and you're hoping to get a good bounce even on the fairway. So I'm happy with the way that the day played out after the start that I had.

“Obviously, I wish I could take 17 back but I can't. I have six three-putts this week, and that's just the reality. I'm not going to be sad about it. I'm just going to go to the putting green right now and try to bounce back tomorrow.”

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America prepares for a new nuclear-arms race

Its build-up could start as early as 2026.

I N THE PENTAGON these days, those who plan for Doomsday have a new nightmare: no longer yesteryear’s dread of one big nuclear foe, but of several at the same time. What if, asks one official, Russia attacked a NATO country , drawing America in to defend Europe; then China seized on America’s distraction to invade Taiwan ; and then North Korea decided to attack the south? Three wars; three sets of friends and allies; three unpredictable nuclear crises. Could America handle them all?

The answer seems to be “probably not for much longer”, to judge from striking recent statements by senior American officials. Indeed, President Joe Biden’s administration has begun preparing for what until recently seemed unthinkable: the expansion of America’s deployed nuclear forces, after decades of deep cuts.

The build-up could start in 2026, with the expiry of New START , a treaty between America and Russia that restricts the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals. “If the president were to decide, upon the expiration of New START in February 2026, that we need to increase the size of the deployed force, we want to be in a position to execute relatively quickly,” says a senior American defence official. How far and how fast any build-up would go may depend in part on whether the next president is Kamala Harris, who may try to preserve Democrats’ efforts to limit nukes, or Donald Trump, who was a nuclear hawk in his first term.

Biden administration sources are careful to say that the current arsenal meets current threats, that they still hope for agreements to limit nuclear weapons and that no decision has been taken to deploy more nukes. But carefully in June, and bluntly this month, American officials are warning of growing nuclear risks. “We now find ourselves in nothing short of a new nuclear age,” said Vipin Narang, a senior Pentagon official, in a speech on August 1st. He pointed to the “unprecedented mix of multiple revisionist nuclear challengers who are uninterested in arms control or risk-reduction efforts, each rapidly modernising and expanding their nuclear arsenals”. Their actions, he added, “have forced us to shift to a more competitive approach”.

Under successive arms-control treaties, the world’s nuclear stockpile shrank from a peak of more than 70,000 warheads in 1986 to about 12,000 today. In 2009 Barack Obama spoke of seeking “a world without nuclear weapons”. As recently as October 2022, with the war in Ukraine already raging, the Biden administration’s nuclear posture review ( NPR ) still clung to the notion of “reducing the role of nuclear weapons in US strategy”.

Now Mr Narang says the quarter-century of “nuclear intermission” is over. Russia has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. America says Russia also plans to deploy nuclear weapons in orbit, designed to destroy satellites, in breach of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. China’s arsenal, meanwhile, is expanding rapidly. The Pentagon estimates it could grow from a few hundred warheads at the turn of the decade to more than 1,000 by 2030 and perhaps 1,500 by 2035. North Korea has intensified tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles ( ICBM s) to carry its nukes. In June it signed a mutual-defence treaty with Russia. North Korea has supplied Russia with artillery shells. What is Russia giving in return? America fears it could be missile and other weapons technology. Similar worries apply to Iran, now a nuclear “threshold” state, which has supplied Russia with drones and missiles.

Russia has suspended key parts of New START , though both sides say they still abide by its limits for “strategic” (ie, long-range) weapons: 1,550 deployed warheads and 700 missiles and heavy bombers. Russia does not seem interested in resuming arms-control talks; China, wanting something closer to parity with its peers, has never much cared for them; and America’s nervous allies want more nuclear deterrence, not less of it. Preparing for a nuclear free-for-all, says Mr Narang, may yet “help incentivise our adversaries to engage in strategic arms-control discussions”; if not, America is “prepared to do what is necessary” to deter rivals and assure allies.

James Acton of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think-tank in Washington, DC , says such talk points to “the increasing inevitability of a new arms race”. It is also evidence that, as he puts it, the Pentagon and Strategic Command, which would oversee any nuclear war, “are increasingly convinced that they need more nukes” and are winning the bureaucratic battle.

The fate of the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile ( SLCM-N ) highlights the new mindset. The system was proposed in 2018 by Donald Trump’s administration to provide “low-yield” or “tactical” nuclear weapons, to be fired from ships or submarines in potential regional conflicts (as opposed to using strategic ones in an all-out nuclear war). The Biden administration tried to cancel SLCM-N , arguing it would “divert resources” from an already ambitious programme to modernise all three legs of America’s “triad” of land-, sea- and air-launched nuclear weapons. The upgrade includes new ICBM s (Sentinel missiles replacing Minuteman IIIs), new ballistic-missile submarines (Columbia-class boats succeeding Ohio-class ones) and new bombers ( B -21 jets superseding B -2s and B -52s); as well as new nuclear command-and-control systems.

Congress, however, has preserved SLCM-N . Now Mr Narang extols its virtues. Using tactical nuclear weapons in a regional crisis, he argued, would free strategic ones to strike at the growing number of strategic targets (eg, China’s large new ICBM silo fields which, officials say, are already straining the capacity of America’s nuclear force). He said SLCM-N would also reduce the “risk of miscalculation”, ie, that a foe could mistake a limited nuclear exchange for an all-out nuclear attack.

To comply with New START , America disabled some launch tubes on submarines, tipped long-range missiles with single rather than multiple warheads and converted some nuclear bombers to conventional use. America can still reverse the process by “uploading” some or all of the 1,900 warheads held in reserve, though this could take time. Officials will not say how long. One hint was offered in 2002 by an air-force general, Franklin Blaisdell, who suggested it could take just days to load reserve warheads onto aircraft; perhaps months to add them to submarines; and a year or so to convert ICBM s. Building a larger total stockpile would take longer, experts say.

How many nukes are enough? The American doctrine of “damage limitation”—using nuclear weapons to destroy the enemy’s weapons—necessarily means that the larger a foe’s arsenal the larger America’s must be. Mr Narang insists that America does not need to match its foes warhead for warhead. Officials add that much depends on esoteric calculations about the probability of destroying a particular target, whether nuclear-armed submarines can be destroyed by conventional means, how many weapons are likely to survive an enemy’s first strike and so on. Franklin Miller, a former Pentagon official, has suggested roughly doubling the current force to 3,000-3,500 deployed warheads.

Critics decry such reckoning as the madness of modern-day Dr Strangeloves. They also argue that, in war over Taiwan, say, China is unlikely to distinguish between tactical and strategic attacks on its forces. Some want a “minimum” deterrent: just enough to destroy the enemy’s main cities after a surprise attack. “What nuclear weapons are good for is destroying countries that use nuclear weapons against you,” says Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, an American graduate school. When it comes to confronting the likes of Russia, he says, America’s total stockpile of 5,000-plus warheads does not offer much more deterrence than France’s 300-odd.

Yet China, the most prominent proponent of minimum deterrence, has now adopted the logic that more nukes are better. What then of China’s rival, India; and of India’s rival, Pakistan? As a new nuclear arms race draws closer, it could be more complex than the terrifying Soviet-American rivalry of the cold war. ■

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