A combined structural and geochronological study was carried out to identify the tectonic evolution of the northern Verkhoyansk Fold-and-Thrust Belt, formed on the east margin of the Siberian Craton during late Mesozoic collision. Fault and fold geometries and kinematics were used for palaeostress reconstruction along the Danil and Neleger rivers cross-cutting the central and western parts of the Kharaulakh segment of the northern Verkhoyansk. Three different stress fields (thrust, normal and strike-slip faulting) were identified after separation from heterogeneous fault-slip data. Thrust and normal faulting stress fields were found in both areas, whereas a strike-slip faulting stress field was only found in Neoproterozoic rocks of the Neleger River area. U–Pb laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) dating of calcite slickenside samples reveals the following succession of major deformation events across the northern Verkhoyansk: (i) The oldest tectonic event corresponding to the strike-slip faulting stress field with NE–SW-trending compression axis is Early Permian (Cisuralian, 284 ± 7 Ma) and likely represents a far-field response to the late Palaeozoic collision of the Kara terrane with the northern margin of the Siberian Craton. (ii) A slickenfibrous calcite age of 125 ± 4 Ma is attributed to the Early Cretaceous compression event, when the fold-and-thrust structure was formed. (iii) U–Pb slickenfibre calcite ages of 76–60 Ma estimate the age of a Late Cretaceous – Palaeocene compression event, when thrusts were reactivated. Slickensides related to both (ii) and (iii) compressional tectonic events formed by similar stress fields with W–E-trending compression axes. (iv) From the Palaeocene onwards, extensional tectonics with approximately W–E extension predominated.

This article investigates the growth of cross-border movement and migration in the northern portion of the Yellow Sea during the sixteenth century, which generated ongoing interactions and tensions with the coastal governance of Chosŏn Korea and Ming China. The fluid flow of private seafarers reconnected the northern Yellow Sea and revitalised its maritime economy, making this space an integral part of wider trade networks. Meanwhile, the Chosŏn and Ming authorities also attempted to discern, categorise, and institutionalise this transmarine mobility in their discursive, administrative, and geographic spaces. Instead of considering the two polities as land based and inward looking, this article foregrounds the dynamics of their coastal control mechanisms, while at the same time paying close attention to their constraints on filtering and scrutinising maritime violence.

During my attendance at the ‘Transeurasian Millets and Beans, Words and Genes’ conference in Jena (January 2019), Martine Robbeets invited me to comment on the articles that are published in this Special Collection in the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences. My comments are focused on the seven articles that deal with the ‘Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis’, one of the key theoretical constructs discussed during the conference. I consider how the hypothesis might aid an understanding of the prehistory and early history of the Transeurasian language family.

The aim of this study is to analyze the different impacts of the determinants of free trade agreements (FTAs) based on the stage of the FTA discussions. By disaggregating the FTA formation process into four stages, this study finds that the influence of industry interest groups has a positive impact on FTA formation in the first stage, when two countries initiate the discussion by establishing a joint study. In contrast, it has a negative impact in the last stage, when signed FTAs need to be ratified in order to enter into force. Political institutions emphasized in the existing studies are likely to be significant in the initial stages, but lose their significance as the process moves forward. The findings of this study collectively support the hypothesis that a given FTA is the result of sectoral politics where interests and the power of industries have a significant influence on trade policy decision-making.

Archaeolinguistics, a field which combines language reconstruction and archaeology as a source of information on human prehistory, has much to offer to deepen our understanding of the Neolithic and Bronze Age in Northeast Asia. So far, integrated comparative analyses of words and tools for textile production are completely lacking for the Northeast Asian Neolithic and Bronze Age. To remedy this situation, here we integrate linguistic and archaeological evidence of textile production, with the aim of shedding light on ancient population movements in Northeast China, the Russian Far East, Korea and Japan. We show that the transition to more sophisticated textile technology in these regions can be associated not only with the adoption of millet agriculture but also with the spread of the languages of the so-called ‘Transeurasian’ family. In this way, our research provides indirect support for the Language/Farming Dispersal Hypothesis, which posits that language expansion from the Neolithic onwards was often associated with agricultural colonization.

This article is a critical review of published data from the earliest evidence of pressure knapped microblade technology from various regions in Northeast Asia (Siberia, Korea, China, Mongolia, Japan, Sakhalin, and Russian Far East), including discussions not only on published dates, but also on published artifacts (drawings and photos) relating to these assemblages. The issue concerning the geographical and chronological origin of microblade technology in Northeast Asia remains a widely debated concern, not only as new data emerge, but also due to researchers having different definitions of the term “microblade” and “microblade core”. In this case, by microblade technology, I refer to the systematic production of microblades using the pressure knapping technique. I therefore review the data in light of this defining feature and conclude that, based on the present state of research, pressure knapping microblade technology probably emerged in the Far East (China, Korea, or Japan) around 30,000–25,000 cal BP, in spite of most authors considering that microblade technology emerged in southern Siberia 40,000–35,000 years ago. In the discussion section, I argue about the potential role of obsidian in the emergence of pressure knapped microblade technology.

This article aims to understand the policies of three major Northeast Asian states toward the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court (ICC) that it established. Using a unique measurement tool, it traces the interactions of South Korea, Japan, and China with the Court since negotiations on its formation in the late 1990s. Included in this analysis is a focus on how Northeast Asian states have responded to recent efforts to bring North Korea into the Court's orbit for that country's military actions in 2010 and its human rights record over several decades. Data is based on publicly available documents as well as interviews with diplomats, legislators, legal experts, and activists in Japan, South Korea, and China conducted in 2015.