News & Announcements

  Toda Peace Institute Director, Kevin Clements, will be a speaker at a webinar hosted by the Flemish Peace Institute to mark the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace on Wednesday 24 April.  The topic of the webinar is Implementing the New Agenda for Peace: Exploring Inventive Approaches.  Other speakers include Laura Pistarini from Patrir, and Nils Duquet and Merel Selleslach from the Flemish Peace Institute.  For more information and to register, please visit the Flemish Peace Institute website here. The webinar will run from 9:30 - 10:30 CEST.  

  "In the Pacific, our relationship with nature is a natural one. Nature is us, we are nature," writes Philip Malsale, senior climatologist for SPREP in Vanuatu. "I believe that if our leaders want to manoeuvre our course through the changing climate, Governments need to start re-adjusting how they do business at the national, provincial, district and village level to ensure that traditional knowledge is not lost." Read more at Radio New Zealand International Pacific News.   Image: https://www.shutterstock.com/g/terohakala

  The existential threat posed by climate change remains the biggest concern for the new Tuvalu administration. The government is also about to launch a drive to better inform the people about the contents of a treaty with Australia and its leader is firm that the country is not getting into bed with Beijing. These are some of the matters discussed in an expansive interview RNZ Pacific's Don Wiseman had with the newly elected Prime Minister Feleti Teo. Read more at Radio New Zealand International Pacific News Image: mtcurado/istock.com

  Thousands of people are being impacted by drought in the Federated States of Micronesia. The four states - Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae - have all been experiencing drier than normal weather since December last year with the US National Weather Service predicting things are likely to worsen under current El Nino conditions. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), people in affected communities are in desperate need of food and water. Read more at Radio New Zealand International Pacific News   Federated States of Micronesia President Wesley Simina  has declared a national emergency due to severe drought, and sent it to his country's Congress for review. The president's signed declaration said the nation has been experiencing "extremely and unusually low levels" of rainfall, and it is anticipated that this condition will continue to intensify in the coming months. Read more at Radio New Zealand International Pacific News Image: KKKvintage/shutterstock.com

  By Kenji Yoshida This article was first published in The Diplomat on 4 March 2024. As the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East grind on, another conflict brews miles away in East Asia.  Wrapping up 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his military to “thoroughly annihilate” South Korea and the United States if provoked. The saber-rattling continued as Pyongyang fired some 350 artillery shells into a disputed sea in January, followed by a barrage of missile tests in recent weeks.  So far, South Korea’s response has been fighting fire with fire. President Yoon Suk-yeol has vowed that its retaliation will be “multiple times stronger” should the North take belligerent actions. Seoul’s deepening military pact with Washington and Tokyo since the Camp David Summit last August has amplified the Yoon administration’s resolve. Rising tension in the Korean Peninsula has caused many experts to speculate on what lies ahead. Two leading experts in the United States argued that the Kim regime has made a “strategic decision” to wage war, whereas an ex-U.S. diplomat warned of a possible nuclear crisis in the region.  Amid the many uncertainties, The Diplomat spoke to Moon Chung-in, former special adviser for diplomacy and national security to President Moon Jae-in (no relation). Moon, now the James Laney Distinguished Professor at Yonsei University and vice chair of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, shared his views on the recent developments with The Diplomat. Bracing for War?  Kim Jong Un’s warmongering is worsening by the day. This year alone, the regime has launched multiple cruise and ballistic missiles from its western coast, one of which is said to have been topped with a hypersonic glide vehicle.  In the backdrop is Pyongyang’s attempt to sway South Korea’s legislative elections in April and the U.S. presidential election in November by showcasing its advanced military capabilities.  The Diplomat asked Moon if Kim’s military pursuits were merely an attention-seeking maneuver or a forecast of a serious collision course with the South.  “Verbal cues by both Kim Jong Un and Yoon Suk-yeol indicate that planned, large-scale armed conflict between the two Koreas is unlikely,” Moon said.   “Take, for instance, Kim’s speech from the December 2023 plenary meeting or one from early January. While his language is bellicose in nature, everything is conditional. In other words, Pyongyang’s actions are contingent upon the actions of Seoul and vice versa.”  Moon, however, cautioned that an “accidental clash and escalation” is plausible given the fraying inter-Korean safety net and the strained dialogue between the two nations. “Under Yoon’s presidency, the 9.19 Comprehensive Military Agreement between the two Koreas was terminated, a buffer zone in the West Sea was nullified, critical communications lines have been suspended, while rearmament in the demilitarized zone has restarted,” Moon pointed out, giving examples of how major cords of the safety net have snapped.  “With vital guardrails and infrastructures torn down and shrinking confidence-building measures, unplanned clash and escalation cannot be ruled out,” Moon added.  Continue reading in The Diplomat   Image: Goga Shutter/shutterstock.com