What has driven China’s policy toward United Nations (UN) sanctions on North Korea? While insisting on a peaceful settlement of North Korean nuclear issues via diplomatic dialogues, China has gradually loosened its protective stance regarding UN sanctions on North Korea. This article examines the factors that have pushed China to take a tougher position toward North Korea: North Korea’s increasingly aggressive nuclear policy, the influence of the United States on Chinese foreign policy, and the changing perception of North Korea in China. Through close examination of China’s domestic discussions on North Korea, this article concludes that, besides the external factors, a growing negative perception of North Korea has played an increasingly important role in changing China’s official stance. The findings suggest that closer attention should be paid to the changes in the domestic political environment of China to understand its current and future approach toward North Korea.

Why did Japanese Prime Minister Abe impose controversial export restrictions after rulings by the South Korean Supreme Court on wartime forced laborers? This article answers this question through the lens of domestic symbolism in economic sanctions studies. We argue that domestic political calculations led the Japanese government to adopt hawkish measures against South Korea. Abe wanted to ensure continued support from his constituents and to win the upcoming election. A series of political reforms since the early 1990s have empowered the prime minister and made LDP politicians pay more attention to public opinion than to factional topography. Strong anti-Korean sentiment among the Japanese public reduced the leadership’s concerns about the audience costs of economic countermeasures. Through an examination of the interplay among various domestic actors over the policy measure, this study provides insights on how domestic symbolism can serve as an origin of foreign policy decision-making in democracies.

What factors have driven South Korea

(1) Background: Although numerous artificial intelligence (AI)-based air pollution prediction models have been proposed, research that links key pollution drivers, such as regional industrial facilities, to actionable policy recommendations is required. (2) Methods: This study employs the radial basis function (RBF) and spatial lag features to capture spatial interactions among regions, utilizing a transformer model for analysis. The model was trained on air quality and industrial data from South Korea (2010–2022) and Japan (2017–2020). (3) Results: The transformer model achieved a mean squared error of 0.045 for the Korean dataset and 0.166 for the Japanese dataset, outperforming benchmark models, including Support Vector Regression, neural networks, and the AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average model. (4) Conclusions: By capturing complex spatial dynamics, the proposed model provides valuable insights that can assist policymakers in developing effective, data-driven strategies for air pollution reduction at the national and regional levels, thereby supporting the broader goals of sustainability through informed, equitable environmental interventions.

The Senkaku/Diaoyu dispute, a territorial dispute between Japan and China, has long been regarded as a ticking bomb, capable of blowing up the already volatile Sino-Japanese relations at any time. Would the differences over the islands lead China and Japan into major military confrontations, if not all-out war? This article argues that there is cause for optimism and that the Sino-Japanese relationship has displayed a remarkable level of resiliency through the years. In examining the three major diplomatic crises of 2004, 2010, and 2012 (and beyond) surrounding the Senkaku/Diaoyu dispute, this article shows that Japan and China have successfully engaged in bilateral crisis management by operating political, diplomatic, and military exchanges to prevent further escalation. Our analysis calls for a more informed and balanced view within academic discourse, so as to encourage accurate threat perceptions between China and Japan, mitigate the security dilemma, thereby eventually fulfilling the optimistic theory.