Less than a month after Lee Jong-sup was appointed South Korea's (RoK's) ambassador to Australia, he was forced to resigned on March 29, amidst protests in South Korea and Australia. Seona Cho, an activist with Melbourne Candlelight Action, explains the background to this scandal and its links to the growing ties between US, Australian and South Korean arms manufacturers.
China
Lai Ching-Te (William Lai) won Taiwan’s presidential election on January 13, with 40.5% of the vote, achieving a record third term for the incumbent Democratic Progressive Party, reports Alex Salmon.
Marxist sociologist and author William I Robinson speaks to Green Left’s Federico Fuentes about how contradictions between a globally integrated economy and a nation-state-based system help explain, among other things, rising US-China tensions.
Youngsu Won is a socialist and coordinator of the International Forum in South Korea. Speaking to Green Left’s Federico Fuentes, he discusses how rising tensions between the United States and China impact South Korean politics.