North Korea makes the international news far more often than other countries of its size. Its leader is a young, overweight guy with a funny haircut, and there are regularly big parades in the capital city featuring gaudy propaganda images and goose-stepping soldiers. But despite being a poor, inward-looking country, the North is a subject of major concern and fascination due to its growing arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Jeju Island is where South Koreans love to get away from it all. Hundreds of flights a day deposit mainlanders hungry for escape, relaxation and selfies. With its sea-locked isolation, black soil and relentless wind, Jeju feels almost like a different country altogether. So it’s hard to believe that
THAAD is a useful acronym to know if you’re interested in the geopolitical tensions in East Asia. The deployment of the U.S.’s Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea caused a sudden transformation of Korea’s relationship with China, its neighbor and number one
