An Australian National University publication with academic commentary on politics, economics, and security across East Asia.
HN commenters cite it in discussions of North Korea, China's economy and tech crackdowns, and South Korea, with some disputing its accuracy.
This article is wildly off-base and totally misrepresents South Korea, both factually and in tone. There are many ways that South Korea is a great country but this article misses the mark. Source: I've been married to a South Korean for 10 years.
> South Korea was able to make these achievements without a citywide nor a nationwide lockdown.
A large part of the country is literally in Level 4 lockdowns now (no gatherings >5, beaches closed, pubs closed, daycares closed, etc). [1]
South Korea has mandatory military service for all men. They're required be in the military for nearly two years. [2]
Korean society is high patriarchal. Domestic violence is persistent. Families are not complete until they have a son. Multiple daughters are considered a burden. Gender roles are consistently enforced.
Sex crimes are a major issue [3]. Nearly every woman has been assaulted in a serious and unusual way (men outside windows, breaking into their apartment, flashing, etc). By law cellphone manufacturers have to program their phones to produce a shutter sound when a photo is taken. This was an attempt to curb upskirt and other voyeur photos. Female-only train cars are common due to rampant groping on public transit.
People absolutely do not trust their government. In 2016 the president was impeached in one of the most bizarre political scandals of the last decade. [4] There was a dizzying array of conspiracy theories involving the ferry boat that killed 294 people (mostly highschool…
The question is rather, what (possibly horrible, dystopian) methods will we use to prevent a demographic crisis as fertility rates are plummeting most places in the world, as most projections now suggest population decline will start within a century.
Turns out the method that have worked the best against "those who insist on breeding like rats" is to treat them humanely, reduce childhood mortality, increase education and provide a more stable economic environment - do that and fertility rates plummet - with or without additional pressure like China's infamous one-child policy.
As it stands, China is set to face decline within a decade or two despite having dropped their previous draconian measures to reduce fertility rates - their fertility rates are now slowly increasing, but they're still far below replacement. India is set to see decline ~3-4 decades later - they're now about at replacement, with fertility still dropping, but there's a lag of a few of decades from the decrease in fertility to population decline. Sub-saharan Africa will likely be last, but even those countries are seeing declining birth rates (e.g. even Niger, which has one of, if not the, highest fertility rates in the world is at around 6.6 births per woman now, but the rate peaked at 7.9 in 1983 and has been declining consistently since, currently at a rate of about 1.3% a year; UN projections suggest they'll reach ~4 by 2050, and around ~2.3, slightly above replacement, around year 2100)
As a…
This is a good article on that in a nutshell: http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/09/13/hostile-neighbors-china-vs-japan/
Lots of things have been happening between the two countries for a while now, not since 2011.
As others have said, there is a territorial dispute that to the best of my knowledge really flared up when Japan actively nationalized the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. China's moves in the South China Sea have not made things better.
Aside from that,
China blocked rare earth minerals to Japan in 2010. [1]
There have been numerous boycotts by China (to the point of outright vandalism of Japanese cars, business property) over political issues [2]
There is always the whole WW2 apology issue (over comfort women, wartime crimes, etc.) In 2015, China made a jab at Japan during their 70th anniversary of WW2 victory. [3]
On the bright side, China did help Japan out during the big earthquake/tsunami of 2011. [4]
[1] http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2013/08/18/did-china-really-ban-rare-earth-metals-exports-to-japan/
[2] http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-boycott-hurts-japan-2012-9
[3] http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-boycott-hurts-japan-2012-9
[4] http://www.npr.org/2011/03/15/134567659/china-acts-fast-in-aiding-japan-post-earthquake
Youths overthrew the government in Bangladesh last year based on similar outrage circulating on social networks. And what happened? The interim government banned the political activities of the only party that's won an election in recent memory: https://www.doughtystreet.co.uk/news/bangladesh-ban-awami-league-violation-fundamental-human-rights. Meanwhile, the Islamist parties have been un-banned and are resurgent: https://thediplomat.com/2025/08/resurgence-of-jamaat-e-islami-shifts-bangladesh-politics-to-the-right; https://eastasiaforum.org/2025/04/07/political-islam-could-fill-bangladeshs-power-vacuum/. Youths are fucking dumb.
As George Washington said in Hamilton: "Ah, winning was easy, young man. Governing's harder."
In regards to Boris Johnson and Gavin Newsom, IMO that is a straw man argument. You talking hypocrisy and now not about illegal fishing. This is about protecting ocean resources and there is de facto evidence China is not. If the United States and the EU buying illegally caught fish. please post a link so it can be investigated and prevented. As for China, they have overfished their waters and there is de facto evidence that China is depleting populations of over 90 other countries: https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2022/08/03/chinas-efforts-to-reel-in-overfishing/#:~:text=China's%20enormous%20fishing%20fleet%20is,countries%20and%20depleted%20fish%20stocks.
> ...but the LDP has been in power since WWII almost continuously.
My impression is that gerrymandering initially associated with the Reverse Course[0] has much to do with those electoral results.
(But maybe not? A cursory search turns up an article[1] complaining that voters in a rural district had —only— twice the voting power of urban voters, which certainly sounds inferior to the extent of US practise)
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_Course
[1] https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2022/04/29/fixing-japans-gerrymander/