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Joel Atkinson

@joelatkinson.bsky.social
3K followers 330 following 513 posts

Researching and teaching Northeast Asian international politics in Seoul. Opinions my own. joel.p.atkinson@gmail.com

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Reposted by Joel Atkinson
Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I wrote something on Trump’s abrupt scaling down of the Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise with South Korea for the Prospect Foundation www.pf.org.tw/tw/pfch/13-1...
pf.org.tw
Reading Korea’s Early Autumn Winds: Trump Abruptly Scales Down a Major Joint Exercise
Prospects & Perspectives
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
www.google.co.kr/books/editio...
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A Korean folk poem for Chuseok (via a 1959 year book)
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I wrote something on Trump’s abrupt scaling down of the Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise with South Korea for the Prospect Foundation www.pf.org.tw/tw/pfch/13-1...
pf.org.tw
Reading Korea’s Early Autumn Winds: Trump Abruptly Scales Down a Major Joint Exercise
Prospects & Perspectives
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Just a reminder that we are hosting an event with the WSJ’s Jonathan Cheng tomorrow at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. So if you’re in Seoul and free tomorrow afternoon, please come along
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Rather remarkable story of a German woman initiated into Korean shamanism www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/g...
koreatimes.co.kr
[WEEKENDER] Korean shamanism spreads far beyond its homeland - The Korea Times
As Korea has taken its place among the world leaders in technology, many facets of its traditional culture also have found their way to a global au...
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Reposted by Joel Atkinson
Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Wall Street Journal China bureau chief (and former Korea chief) Jonathan Cheng will be at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies to discuss North Korea, China and the region on Sept. 15. So if you’re in Seoul and the schedule works, please join us
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Wall Street Journal China bureau chief (and former Korea chief) Jonathan Cheng will be at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies to discuss North Korea, China and the region on Sept. 15. So if you’re in Seoul and the schedule works, please join us
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
foreignpolicy.com/2026/05/06/c...
foreignpolicy.com
The United States’ Korea Strategy Is Working Against Itself
By pulling Seoul into its rivalry with Beijing, Washington is undermining the alliance’s core mission.
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
A "pattern of Chinese gray-zone pressure...closely tracks U.S.-South Korea alliance decisions, easing when South Korea accommodates China, intensifying when it aligns with the United States" (red = air, blue = maritime)
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
My new article on the South Korea's THAAD episode is now available (open access) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Some free downloads are available of my new article on the role of Chinese nuclear strike in decision making around the Korea THAAD episode www.tandfonline.com/eprint/PAWTC...
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Reposted by Joel Atkinson
BISA - British International Studies Association @mybisa.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
'Outsourcing anti-dependency: Brazil’s fraught embedded-autonomy approach to China' 🌟 New Review of International Studies article and video abstract OUT NOW 🚨 By Rute Ester Brasileiro da Silva co-authored with Joel Atkinson 🎉 Read and watch here! 👉 ow.ly/vovQ50XB999
Black and white photo of the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Its strategy involves a major military buildup combined with various carrots and sticks to keep opposition to its goals divided and ineffectual."
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
"In many ways THAAD and Takaichi are two chapters in the same ongoing episode. Beijing is dissatisfied with the East Asian status quo -- U.S. alliances and forces and China's own unrealized territorial ambitions, especially regarding Taiwan...
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
Wrote something on South Korea's 2016-2017 THAAD troubles with Beijing and the ongoing episode over Japanese Prime Minster Takaichi's Taiwan comment asia.nikkei.com/opinion/sout...
asia.nikkei.com
South Korea's THAAD pain shows what Takaichi can expect from China
Beijing pressure campaign on Seoul provides an object lesson for Japan's new PM
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Pacific Standard 🚜🌻☂️ @pacstandardtw.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
"...many in Taiwan quite reasonably expect the Lee Administration will cooperate substantively with China at Taiwan’s expense. But the reality is... here in Seoul, the secular trend is for relations to continue to worsen even with these periodic cycles of warming."
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Wrote something on the recent US-China-South Korea summitry and implications for Taiwan for Taiwan's Prospect Foundation www.pf.org.tw/tw/pfch/13-1...
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Reposted by Joel Atkinson
Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
I have a new article out with co-author Rute Ester Brasileiro da Silva on Brazil-China relations in Review of International Studies. It’s open access so free to read. You can access it here: doi.org/10.1017/S026...
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Reposted by Joel Atkinson
Michael Kovrig @kovrig.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
“North Korea is actively enhancing its nuclear and missile capabilities. It’s opening new enrichment facilities, new rocket engines... nuclear-capable destroyers,” I explained in a recent @globalnews.ca interview with @jeffsemple.bsky.social that appears in their vivid report on Operation NEON.
globalnews.ca
Operation Neon: RCAF members tracking North Korean ships suspected of UN violations | Watch News Videos Online
Watch Operation Neon: RCAF members tracking North Korean ships suspected of UN violations Video Online, on GlobalNews.ca
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
I have a new article out with co-author Rute Ester Brasileiro da Silva on Brazil-China relations in Review of International Studies. It’s open access so free to read. You can access it here: doi.org/10.1017/S026...
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Reposted by Joel Atkinson
Cambridge University Press Political Science & IR @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org · 18/11/2025
#OpenAccess from @risjnl.bsky.social - Outsourcing anti-dependency: Brazil’s fraught embedded-autonomy approach to China - cup.org/4o18uEW - @joelatkinson.bsky.social & Rute Ester Brasileiro da Silva #FirstView
Logo for "Review of International Studies" featuring a partial image of the moon in the background with the text "#OpenAccess" on the bottom right.
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
economic and ontological security gains, played a central role in Brazil’s accommodation of China’s preferences. To borrow Lula’s words, ‘the Chinese turned the tables’.”
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
power status through BRICS We attribute this disconnect to Brazil’s deeply rooted narrative of embedded autonomy. Brazil reached out in solidarity to build an international regime with China. This ‘outsourcing’ of antidependency, with its expectations that China would provide Brazil with outsized...
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
has likely contributed to Brazil’s de-industrialisation and dependency. Nevertheless, the perception persists that increased Chinese trade and investment is beneficial, despite its reproduction of the colonial centre-periphery relationship, and that the country is rising alongside China to major...
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
My new article with Review of International Studies on Brazil-China relations is now online open access: “There is a paradox at the core of Brazil’s partnership with China: despite aiming to advance industry, technology, autonomy, and national prestige, the relationship... doi.org/10.1017/S026...
doi.org
Outsourcing anti-dependency: Brazil’s fraught embedded-autonomy approach to China | Review of International Studies | Cambridge Core
Outsourcing anti-dependency: Brazil’s fraught embedded-autonomy approach to China
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Call for submissions for The Journal of East Asian Affairs @joeaa.bsky.social 38/2 (Spring 2026). Submissions are on rolling basis, but guaranteed consideration for next issue, if received by January 1 www.inss.re.kr/en/aboutus/P...
inss.re.kr
About JOEAA
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
The new issue of the Journal of East Asian Affairs @JOEAA_INSS is out, the English-language journal of South Korea’s Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS). (I am executive editor, with Mason Richey as editor-in-chief) www.inss.re.kr/en/publicati...
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
Most newsworthy thing coming out of APEC and it's not even close
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Reposted by Joel Atkinson
Matt Wheeler @mzwheeler.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Feeling confident? Think again — you’re probably wrong. www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2...
japantimes.co.jp
Feeling confident? Think again — you’re probably wrong.
A study finds that overconfidence by many national security experts “was so extreme that it essentially canceled out the knowledge that these individuals possessed.”
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
The full response they are selecting is "I understand the Trump administration's action as an unavoidable step by the immigration enforcement authorities"
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
If you want to know how Koreans are reacting to the immigration raid at the battery plant in Georgia, a recent poll has 59.2% responding “I am greatly disappointed in the Trump administration” and 30.7% responding “I understand the Trump administration’s measures” www.realmeter.net/%eb%a6%ac%ec...
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
I'm stunned by this. In 2019 SEALs killed 2-3 North Korean civilians diving for shellfish and now it's in the NYT www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/u...
nytimes.com
How a Top Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission Into North Korea Fell Apart
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Reposted by Joel Atkinson
Joseph Torigian @josephtorigian.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
In June 1983, Xi Zhongxun, the father of Xi Jinping, hosted Kim Jong-il, the father of Kim Jong-un, in Beijing. They watched a performance by Peng Liyuan, who years later would marry Xi Jinping.
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Kim Jong Un's daughter, Ju-ae, has apparently accompanied him on the visit to Beijing
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Reposted by Joel Atkinson
Dr. Mark P. Barry ☯︎ @drmarkpbarry.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
N. Korea publicly announces leader's plan to attend China's Sept. military parade | Yonhap News Agency en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN2025...
en.yna.co.kr
N. Korea publicly announces leader's plan to attend China's Sept. military parade | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Friday publicly announced leader Kim Jong-un&apo...
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Asking if students have done the readings
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Ah, the customary and highly symbolic presidential exchange of MAGA hats www.koreatimes.co.kr/photos/photo...
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
Very colorful Lee and Trump Q&A www.chosun.com/english/nati...
chosun.com
Trump eyes new DMZ meeting with Kim Jong-un
Trump eyes new DMZ meeting with Kim Jong-un Trump presses for US base control; Lee clarifies probe did not involve American forces, says Seoul–Tokyo rift has eased
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
This is pretty dark stuff from Lankov: "achieving success in nuclear development will be difficult. But if it does not succeed, I doubt whether the Republic of Korea will have a long-term future" m.news.nate.com/view/2025082...
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Lim Eul-chul, Kyungnam University: "North Korea is seeking to push the Lee Jae Myung administration into making a more drastic shift...by exerting maximum pressure...The key question is whether...[Lee-Trump summit] will show...greater diplomatic autonomy vis-a-vis the US”
m.koreaherald.com
Kim Jong-un issues inter-Korean policy rejecting Seoul’s olive branch
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday conveyed his inter-Korean policy plan through his sister Kim Yo-jong, who handed it down during a meeting with key Fo
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Reposted by Joel Atkinson
Kerim Friedman 傅可恩 @kerim.one · 19/08/2025
Important piece on the abuse of migrant fishers in Taiwan by @michaelturton.bsky.social, who argues that the government has the power to do something about it—if they wanted to.
taipeitimes.com
Notes from Central Taiwan: Subsidies at root of Taiwan’s migrant fishers abuses - Taipei Times
Bringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan
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Reposted by Joel Atkinson
Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
My new Pacific Review article explains why China’s economic & diplomatic coercion of South Korea over the USFK THAAD deployment had little—if anything—to do with protecting its nuclear deterrent www.tandfonline.com/eprint/PAWTC...
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Along the way, I argue that rather than relying on Chinese scholars/researchers to inform you what motivates Beijing (or worse, mirror imaging), best practice is starting with assumption that Beijing is a rational actor & then working backwards from the known context
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
My new Pacific Review article explains why China’s economic & diplomatic coercion of South Korea over the USFK THAAD deployment had little—if anything—to do with protecting its nuclear deterrent www.tandfonline.com/eprint/PAWTC...
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
The details/quotes in this story are pure gold www.koreatimes.co.kr/lifestyle/pe...
koreatimes.co.kr
How a small Seoul hat maker crafted 'MASGA' hat that helped unlock tariff talks - The Korea Times
A red baseball cap embroidered with the slogan “Make America Shipbuilding Great Again (MASGA)” has emerged as an unlikely symbol of progress in recent U.S.-Korea tariff negotiations. Behind the scenes...
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
From Choo, Jaewoo. (2019). Conservative and progressives' stance on China and impact on South Korea-China relations. In Milani, M., Fiori, A., and Dian, M. (Eds.), The Korean Paradox: Domestic Political Divide and Foreign Policy in South Korea. Routledge.
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
This from prof of Chinese foreign policy at Kyung Hee University Jaewoo Choo in 2019 on South Korean progressives’ “pro-China approach” & “a more balanced US policy” helps contextualize the current Lee Jae Myung admin & progressive legislature (if you’re into that kind of thing)t kind of thing):
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Reposted by Joel Atkinson
Dylan Motin @dylanmotin.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
If you'd like to learn more about President Lee's policies towards China and Russia, you can check out @joelatkinson.bsky.social's and my appearance on KBS World from yesterday (episode from 07.08, at minute 8). world.kbs.co.kr/service/prog...
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Joel Atkinson @joelatkinson.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
If you want to know why Chinese leader Xi Jinping (probably) talks about “great changes unseen in a century” with Putin and elsewhere—and you definitely should want to know why—I’ve got you covered thediplomat.com/2025/07/the-...
thediplomat.com
The Embarrassing Reason Xi Talks about ‘Great Changes Unseen in a Century’
The formulation clearly means something important, but its origins are often obscured.
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