This paper aims to emphasize the necessity of beginning and developing judicial politics in Korea. Law is constitutive of politics, and judicial politics is vital in understanding how politics is influenced by law. Disappointingly, social science in Korea has not recognized the importance of judicial politics. Judicial branch in Korea does not have the capacity to constrain the executive or other government agencies governed by elected officials. The rule of law does not work. Judicial politics has not yet been introduced in Korea, despite its enormous importance in shaping political economy. The rule of law and courts are believed to be the institutional foundation for economic growth. Law embodied in "no one is above the law" is recognized to provide fairness and stability with a democracy. Little attention to judicial politics results in leaving behind a missing link in a polity. The fortification of the rule of law is necessary to make democracy consolidated in Korea, as shown in impeachment of former president Park Geunhae. A new scholarship in Korea on judicial politics is in need to discuss what conditions under which the rule of law is possible and how to make it sustainable.

This study takes a close examination of the Saturday protest movement in Korea and explores how the politics by social movements challenges the extant theorization of democratization. The paper begins with a brief description of the presidential scandal, the eruption of massive protests, and its impact on formal politics. By situating the Korean case in a comparative theoretical discussion, it engages with important debates in the latest scholarship of democracy that complicate given assumptions and conceptualization. The paper closes with theoretical suggestions of how the Korean drama of protest movements contributes to altering the imagination of democratic politics, both conceptually and substantively.

The situation in Korean peninsula, globally and regionally, which followed the global huge uncertainty, changed a lot. Because of the political crisis, ROK falls into a chaos. And DPRK goes into a policy changing period by the internal issues, international sanctions and assassination accident in Malaysia, which is confirmed to be DPRK's Supreme leader, Kim Jong Un's half brother. Under this changing circumstances, the perspectives of regarding China and the Korean peninsula, must be undated accordingly. Only by understanding the Sino-US relations, the DPRK nuclear issue and the regional dilemmas can we formulate reasonable policies to contribute to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula.

Russia's push in the Asia-Pacific region stems from its interests that have the national, regional and global dimensions. In their turn, the aims of this policy are civilizational, geopolitical, economic and prospective, with a long-term outlook. In the course of their achievement, cooperation with Northeast Asia's countries will play one of the key roles owing to the factors of geographic proximity, Northeast Asia's economic potential, risk hedging and a growing influence Northeast Asia exerts upon the global development. A new cooperation paradigm between Russia and the states of Northeast Asia should be based upon establishing and cementing self-reproducing ties. This is the central aim of Russian initiatives in relations, with Japan, the Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Mongolia and China. However, numerous obstacles ranging from Russia's absence in the regional free trade agreements and supply-production chains of value-added production to the permanent international instability generated by Pyongyang's missile-nuclear developments hamper the practical implementation of this task. Realizing the necessity to give an additional impetus to this new cooperative paradigm, Russia has to develop directions with an apparent consolidating effect. The most promising may be the establishment of a permanent security forum based upon Northeast Asia Peace and Security Mechanism chaired by the Russian Federation. The urgency of this measure and its expected support stem from the necessity to strengthen security in Northeast Asia, a task neither the US-led hub-and-spoke system nor ASE-AN-led multilateral dialogue venues have been able to resolve. The issues addressed at the security forum must include the unification of approaches to North Korean nuclear issue and producing a document specifying actions of the claimants on the disputed maritime territories in the "direct contact" situations. At the expert level, Russia has elaborated on the idea to establish such a forum outlining the spectrum of the key directions of cooperation. With the urgency in the establishment of this dialogue venue, its agenda has to be coordinated with the agendas of the existing security systems presented by the US alliances and the ASE-AN-led multilateral negotiations. The practical implementation of this initiative will strengthen security in Northeast Asia as its challenges will be resolved in the pre-emptive way based on coordinated approaches. Therefore, Russia as the Eurasian state will be one of the role players in the advent of the Asian century.