Kenneth Lee

Kenneth Lee

Kenneth Lee is a Senior double majoring in International Relations/Global Economy and East Asian Area Studies at the University of Southern California. On campus, he is a fellow at the USC Korean Studies Institute where he has written and presented on the research papers regarding South Korea’s nuclear weapons program and its economic history. He was the Vice-President of Competition for MUNSC, USC’s Model UN team, attending conferences around the country. He also participates in the USC Teaching International Relations Program, teaching students international relations at local high schools. Kenneth was also chosen to participate in the Fulbright US-UK Summer Institute and studied at SOAS in London in 2016.

Comparing China’s Minority Relations

China’s known across the world for its unfortunate repression of the Tibetan and Uyghur peoples’ right to self-determination. Tibet and Xinjiang (home to China’s Uyghurs, an Islamic, Turkic ethnic group) are both restive regions that capture the world’s attention from ...

Shrimp Among Whales: South Korea’s Balance Between Great Powers

In describing the history of Korea’s foreign relations, there is an appropriate phrase: “Between a fight of whales, the shrimp is crushed.” While the Korean peninsula’s relative geographic isolation has protected its peoples’ ancient, independent streak, every few centuries the ...

Trying to Lift the Siege: North Korea’s Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea

During the cold December of 1592, General Kwon Yul faced an impossible task. The Japanese had trapped Korea’s only major army in Doksan Castle and cut off water supplies. A month into the siege, as water supplies began to dwindle ...

Cracking the Politics of Language

Mokusatsu. In stating the Japanese cabinet’s position on the Potsdam declaration, Premier Kantaro Suzuki uttered this notoriously vague word, which could mean either to remain in a state of “wise and masterly inactivity” or to respond with “silent contempt.” While ...

Ghosts of Mao: Xi Jinping’s Cult of Personality

Not only known as the leader of the most populous country in the world, President Xi is also affectionately called “Daddy Xi”, with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sanctioned rap videos containing brilliant lyrics about his effectiveness as China’s top leader. ...

South East Asia Check-In: Glimpses of Democratization

This piece is the third of Glimpse’s “Regional Check-In Series.” To read about Latin America, click here. To read about the Caucasus and Central Asia, click here. With a population of 600 million and a total GDP of $1.9 trillion, South ...

The Second Scramble For Africa

As late as the 1870s only 10% of the African Continent was colonized. Less than 30 years later, the “Scramble for Africa” had rendered 90% of the continent under the control of European powers. This race to conquer the continent ...

Historical Compromise: Japan, South Korea and “Comfort Women”

In the final days of 2015, the governments of South Korea and Japan surprised the world with a deal addressing the issue of Korean “comfort women”. This term describes the thousands of women and girls from Japan’s Pacific-Asian colonies during ...

Russia’s Game Plan in Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin once remarked, “Sometimes it is necessary to be lonely in order to prove that you are right.” Putin has not shied away from unilateral action and is proving to be a calculating realist leader who is ...

Songdo: The 21st Century City

Though we are well into the 21st century, the infrastructure and design of most of the world’s cities still reflect the zeitgeist of 20th century modernist urban planning. Urban planning is struggling to keep up with the new, progressive values ...