Corea del Sur (Continuación)

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Después de los cañonazos de Ucrania vendrán los de Taiwán. De hecho, estamos de lleno en ese periodo que los libros de historia titulan "antecedentes" para explicar quién disparó el primer tiro en una guerra.

Tranquilos, lo leeremos con relativa erudición en la Wikipedia del futuro.

El próximo gran conflicto mundial, oficializado cuando China lance sus garras sobre la acorazada isla, tendrá una magnitud bélica aún desconocida. Pero ya sabemos que participarán multitud de actores. Desde el invasor pekinés y sus palmeros habituales hasta Estados Unidos y sus aliados.

Y en este grupo hay uno que suele pasar desapercibido, oculto detrás de la unión de americanos, australianos, europeos y japoneses, y que se ha revelado como pieza fundamental: Corea del Sur.…  Seguir leyendo »

Las mujeres en edad reproductiva en Corea del Sur tienen menos bebés que cualquier otro país del mundo. JeongMee Yoon para The New York Times

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Después de llevar más de un año intentando persuadir a las mujeres surcoreanas de tener hijos, Chung Hyun-back dice que hay una razón que destaca de su fracaso: “Nuestra cultura patriarcal”. Chung, a quien el gobierno anterior encomendó la tarea de revertir la caída en picada de la tasa de natalidad del país, sabe de primera mano lo duro que es ser mujer en Corea del Sur. Ella, en lugar de casarse y tener hijos, optó por su carrera profesional. Como Chung, millones de mujeres jóvenes han rechazado colectivamente la maternidad con la llamada “huelga de natalidad”.

En 2022, una encuesta reveló que hay más mujeres que hombres —el 65 por ciento frente al 48 por ciento— que no quieren tener hijos.…  Seguir leyendo »

Women of reproductive age in South Korea are having fewer babies than any other country in the world. JeongMee Yoon for The New York Times

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After trying for over a year to persuade more South Korean women to have babies, Chung Hyun-back says one reason stands out for her failure: “Our patriarchal culture”. Ms. Chung, who was tasked by the previous government with reversing the country’s plummeting birthrate, knows firsthand how tough it is to be a woman in South Korea. She chose her career over nuptials and children. Like her, millions of young women have been collectively spurning motherhood in a so-called birth strike.

A 2022 survey found that more women than men — 65 percent versus 48 percent — don’t want children. They’re doubling down by avoiding matrimony (and its conventional pressures) altogether.…  Seguir leyendo »

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El terreno geopolítico en el noreste de Asia está cambiando y, afortunadamente, las dos grandes democracias de la región, Japón y Corea del Sur, avanzan en una dirección similar. Si se impone un liderazgo prudente y estratégico tanto en Tokio como en Seúl, la enemistad histórica entre los dos países tal vez quede, finalmente, relegada al pasado y quizá mejore la seguridad en toda la región del Indo-Pacífico.

El catalizador para reducir la fricción diplomática bilateral -un problema que data de los tiempos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial- fue la investidura de Yoon Seok-yul como presidente de la República de Corea en mayo pasado.…  Seguir leyendo »

Aides to South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol meeting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, April 2022. Kyodo / Reuters

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For the last four years, Japan and South Korea have been locked in bitter a feud. Tensions between the two countries date back more than a hundred years, centering on Japan’s brutal occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. During World War II, Japan forced nearly 750,000 Korean men to serve as laborers and 200,000 women to serve as sex slaves; many of these captives died or were maimed as a result. Countless others were killed. In just one day in 1919, the Japanese colonial police executed some 7,500 Korean protesters.

Disputes over apologies and reparations—known in South Korea as “history issues”— have flared time and again between the two U.S.-allied…  Seguir leyendo »

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Es un símbolo de Corea del Sur y de su transformación. Desde los años sesenta del siglo pasado ha servido para construir un relato del país y de un modelo de sociedad. Los surcoreanos, en general, se sienten orgullosos del llamado ‘milagro del río Han’, como en su día los alemanes se enorgullecieron con el del Rin. En este caso, da para eso y para más. Tras la II Guerra Mundial, después de 35 años de dominación japonesa, la península de Corea se dividió en dos partes, dos nuevos ‘estados’. Soviéticos y estadounidenses impulsaron la separación apoyando sus correspondientes intereses y a sendos líderes autoritarios –Kim Il-sung, en el norte, y Syngman Rhee en el sur–.…  Seguir leyendo »

U.S. and South Korean naval vessels taking part in joint exercises off the coast of South Korea, September 2022. Third Party / Reuters

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For four years, as an increasingly belligerent China breathed down their necks, the United States’ allies in Asia quietly endured a torrent of abuse from President Donald Trump. Under President Joe Biden, they again have a winning hand in Washington. By the time he took office, Biden, a leading optimist about cooperation with China when he was vice president, had transformed into a hardened skeptic. He has promoted key alliance builders to the top Asia posts at the National Security Council, the State Department, and the Pentagon and ensured that his first in-person summit was with Yoshihide Suga, then Japan’s prime minister.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Taiwán se ha convertido en el mayor dilema estratégico de Washington y Pekín en el juego de poder por dominar el tablero geopolítico global. Ya lo era antes de la visita de la presidenta de la Cámara de Representantes de los Estados Unidos, Nancy Pelosi, aunque su paso por la isla ha supuesto la actualización de las respectivas agendas estratégicas.

En la nueva normalidad resultante, los intereses nacionales de ambas partes no cambian. Por parte de China, la intensificación de las maniobras militares en el estrecho es una clara advertencia a Taiwán, y a su opinión pública, de que en esta cuenta atrás acelerada hacia la reunificación se podrían desplegar escenarios de bloqueo de la isla que impidan la llegada de asistencia por parte de Estados Unidos y Japón.…  Seguir leyendo »

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (left) greets soccer player Son Heung-min at Seoul World Cup Stadium on June 2. South Korean Presidential Office via Getty Images

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Whether you were for or against U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Asia, you can’t overstate its importance. The legislator became the highest U.S. official to visit Taiwan, prompting a furious response from Beijing and adding to a U.S.-China rivalry that will shape the 21st century. Pelosi was welcomed by crowds in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital. On the Malaysia leg of her whirlwind tour, she lunched with Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob. In Japan, she met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

But after completing her historic visit to Taiwan, Pelosi’s flight landed at the U.S. Air Force base in Osan, South Korea—where no Korean official came to greet her.…  Seguir leyendo »

A woman watches a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile at a railway station in Seoul on Jan. 20. Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images

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A February poll found that 71 percent of South Koreans wanted their country to have nuclear weapons. Another in May found 70.2 percent supported indigenous nuclearization, with 63.6 percent in support even if that violated the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The drivers, unsurprisingly, are North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and China’s growing belligerence. These factors impact the Japanese nuclearization debate too, though interest there is noticeably lower. The United States has long opposed South Korean/Japanese counter-nuclearization. But in the light of the Ukraine war, Washington should not hegemonically dictate the outcome of its allies’ WMD debates.

NATO anxiety over possible Russian WMDs in the Ukraine war illustrates potential limits on U.S.…  Seguir leyendo »

A person walks past movie posters at a theater in downtown Seoul on Jan. 26, 2006, the year the country announced a reduction in its screen quota for domestically produced films. JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images

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On July 1, 2006, South Korean movie stars and directors such as Lee Byung-hun, Song Kang-ho, Choi Min-sik, Bong Joon-ho, and Park Chan-wook joined 2,000 other people on a street in Seoul. The celebrities—many of whom who would go on to earn international acclaim with drama series and films such as Squid Game and Parasite—were not there for a premiere but to protest a government measure that went into effect that day: the reduction of South Korea’s screen quota.

The South Korean screen quota dates to the 1960s and requires the country’s movie theaters to feature domestic films for a certain number of days; at its peak, the system required theaters to show South Korean productions for at least 146 days of the year under the banner of promoting the domestic film industry.…  Seguir leyendo »

South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi in Seoul, May 2022. Chung Sung-Jun / Reuters

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Ties between Japan and South Korea have sunk to historic lows in recent years. Although Japan’s colonial legacy and its behavior during World War II have long been a source of tension, relations began deteriorating markedly in 2018. That year, South Korean President Moon Jae-in closed a foundation established in 2015 to support the victims of Japanese wartime sexual slavery, and the South Korean Supreme Court ordered Japanese firms to compensate Korean plaintiffs who were subjected to forced labor during the war. The Japanese government, for its part, protested Moon’s decision and rejected the court ruling as inconsistent with the two countries’ 1965 normalization treaty.…  Seguir leyendo »

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En 2020, España y la República de Corea celebraron 70 años de relaciones bilaterales. El vínculo construido durante estas siete décadas no ha sido siempre tan intenso como aparece hoy, tras los recientes viajes de los reyes a Corea en 2019 y del presidente Moon Jae-in a España en 2021. Los antecedentes más sólidos corresponden a las últimas dos décadas, con el viaje oficial de los reyes en 1996 y, especialmente, con el Plan Asia-Pacífico que el gobierno español aprobó en 2000, en el contexto del cual la relación se ha vuelto progresivamente más intensa y compleja, un proceso completado en 2017 con el “diálogo estratégico” bilateral y, más recientemente, con la “asociación estratégica” confirmada entre los dos países tras la visita del presidente Moon a España en junio de 2021.…  Seguir leyendo »

Banderas ondeando en Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do, Corea del Sur. Foto: Daniel Bernard

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¿Cuál será el previsible impacto que tendrá el cambio de gobierno en Corea del Sur sobre su política exterior y sus relaciones con la UE y la OTAN?

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Como suele suceder cuando hay alternancia entre progresistas y conservadores en el gobierno surcoreano, la llegada al poder de Yoon Suk-yeol muy probablemente implicará cambios sustantivos en la política exterior de este país. Los más relevantes serían un endureciendo de la estrategia hacia Pyongyang, el reforzamiento de la alianza con EEUU, asumiendo un mayor protagonismo en la seguridad regional, y un acercamiento a Japón. Además, es esperable un reforzamiento de la cooperación con la UE y la OTAN.…  Seguir leyendo »

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol celebrates with supporters in Seoul, South Korea, March 10, 2022

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It is tempting to compare Yoon Suk-yeol, the career prosecutor who was elected president of South Korea last week, to former US president Donald Trump. There’s his lack of political experience, his flip-flop from one party to another, his questionable acquisition of familial wealth, his misogyny, his distaste for the poor and appeals to the rich—even his hairstyle.

Yoon is unlike Trump in one regard: he won the popular vote, albeit by only 247,000 ballots in a country of 52 million. The South Korean system is first past the post, so the margin does not matter. Yoon’s conservative People Power Party won 48.56 percent, while the other major candidate, Lee Jae-myung of outgoing president Moon Jae-in’s liberal Minjoo Democratic Party, garnered 47.83 percent.…  Seguir leyendo »

Over 200 female protesters gathered in central Seoul on Feb. 27, calling for women's representation in South Korea's presidential election. (Min Joo Kim for The Washington Post)

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This week, Yoon Suk-yeol was elected the next president of South Korea, after leading a campaign that capitalized on “anti-feminist” policies and rhetoric. His win signals a major threat to women’s rights over the next five years and could herald increasing governmental and social backlash against feminist movements.

This presidential race was unique in South Korean history because of the way it weaponized feminism. Never before had gender politics been used by mainstream candidates to define key campaign strategies — and incite division between men and women. Profiting from hate and division is not new in politics; the South Korean example shows just how quickly the tides can turn against a progressive movement.…  Seguir leyendo »

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1. Cuando ya está escrutado más del 99 por ciento del electorado y con una participación de entorno al 77 por ciento del censo, parece que el partido conservador (PPP), con el candidato Yoon Suk Yeol, acaba de obtener hoy día 9 de marzo de 2022, una ajustada victoria sobre el candidato del Gobierno actual del partido demócrata (PD), Lee Jae Myung. Eso significa un giro a la derecha de la política surcoreana que ha sido pilotada en sus últimos cinco años, en un mandato de relativa estabilidad, por el social-demócrata presidente Moon Jae In.

El nuevo presidente electo es un antiguo fiscal general y ha conseguido atraer en el tramo final de la campaña a un tercer contrincante, Ahn Cheol Sool, cirujano y empresario de éxito, que se ha sumando a la candidatura del PPP.…  Seguir leyendo »

F-35A survolant la Corée du Sud. 2014. — © Keystone

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L’Asie-Pacifique se militarise à une vitesse foudroyante depuis plusieurs années, et la tendance s’accélère. Le Japon transforme actuellement deux porte-hélicoptères en porte-avions pouvant transporter des F-35B américains, et son nouveau premier ministre envisage de doubler le budget de la défense; la Corée du Sud prévoit de déployer son propre porte-avions en 2033 et a testé son premier missile mer-sol balistique stratégique, lancé d’un sous-marin, en septembre dernier; l’Australie a décidé mi-décembre de renouveler sa flotte d’hélicoptères et, quelques jours plus tard, signe un contrat d’armement de plus de 700 millions de dollars avec… la Corée du Sud.

Sans surprise, la Chine et la Corée du Nord sont pointées du doigt comme sources principales de cette militarisation régionale: Pékin continue de moderniser ses forces armées, entretient des conflits territoriaux avec une dizaine de pays, dont le Japon et la Corée du Sud, et étend son influence dans le Pacifique Ouest, aux portes de l’Australie; Pyongyang persiste dans le développement d’armes nucléaires et de missiles balistiques, menaçant Séoul et Tokyo.…  Seguir leyendo »

File image of North Korea leader Kim Jong Un inspecting the Defense Development Exhibition on Monday Oct 11, 2021. EyePress News / EyePress via AFP

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In the autumn months, the two Koreas put on something of a military show for the world. As they flexed their muscles – testing missiles and displaying new capabilities – commentators speculated about an accelerating arms race and wondered whether the peninsula might be headed for a crisis moment after several quiet years. Since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump exchanged taunts in 2017, including Trump’s famous threat to rain down “fire and fury” if Kim crossed his red lines, the peninsula has been relatively calm. But while the possibility of a sudden escalation in tensions can never be fully dismissed, particularly given North Korea’s penchant for wilfully unpredictable behaviour, the autumn’s activity does not necessarily augur a spike in near-term instability.…  Seguir leyendo »

Biden and Moon Are Getting North Korea Wrong

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The recent White House meeting between President Biden and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea produced a comprehensive and substantive joint statement emphasizing cooperation on climate change, global health, sustainable development, and democracy in Myanmar, among other issues.

Of course, the central task of this decades-long alliance remains to defend against the threat posed by North Korea. That country’s nuclear and long-range missile program is aimed at the United States, and recent reports suggest the regime of Kim Jong-un may have dozens of nuclear warheads in its arsenal.

But the lofty language that flowed from the White House meeting was worrisome, indicating that the United States and South Korea were on a path that could put both countries at greater risk from the North.…  Seguir leyendo »