Eastern character of Korea and not just its leaders (5)
I believe the answer is:
kanji
'eastern character' is the definition.
'kanji' can be an answer for 'character' (I have seen 'Oriental character' mean 'kanji' so perhaps 'character' could also mean 'kanji'). I'm not certain of the 'eastern' bit.
'korea and not just its leaders' is the wordplay.
'leaders' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letters of 'korea and not just its' is 'KANJI'.
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for kanji that I've seen before include "Oriental character" , "Chinese character in Japanese" , "Japanese writing system" .)