Three international thunderbolts of late June and early July drew intense responses in the South Korean media. The decision to deploy THAAD in South Korea was recognized as destabilizing relations with China and Russia, affecting the diplomatic balance that Seoul had been striving to cultivate since the end of the Cold War. The international court ruling on the South China Sea was perceived as exacerbating regional polarization in East Asia, the Sino-US divide and putting more pressure on Seoul to clearly declare its support for the US. Finally, the Brexit decision posed uncertain economic consequences in Northeast Asia as elsewhere. All of these developments played out against the backdrop of a rapidly changing landscape on the peninsula, much to the concern of Korean commentators.

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