Digital Library

Sia Choi is Communications Intern at the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI) where she creates and supports multimedia and digital communications projects. She holds a Master’s degree in International…

A year after President Donald Trump imposed double-digit tariffs on South Korea, the tariffs may be doing less to reduce deficits than to generate revenue. The bilateral goods trade deficit has only moderately budged down by 11.5 percent in 2025, and monthly exports have been too volatile to credit tariffs alone. As Korean exports to…

The ceasefire in Iran may have halted the fighting, but the questions it raised for the Korean Peninsula are far from resolved. Energy security, alliance credibility, nuclear strategy, and North Korea's calculations all remain in flux. Throughout the conflict, KEI experts have analyzed its implications for U.S.-Korea relations in real time. Below is a selection…

The new U.S. national cybersecurity strategy presents both opportunities and challenges for the U.S.-South Korea alliance. The White House released the strategy on March 6, aligning federal cybersecurity policy initiatives with the “America First” doctrine that also shaped the Donald Trump administration’s National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy. Much like those previous documents, the…

The UN Human Rights Council continued its scrutiny of North Korea this month, with UN Special Rapporteur Elizabeth Salmón presenting a sobering assessment. She noted that over the past decade, the human rights situation in North Korea showed no improvement and, in many instances, “had degraded.” Salmón detailed the expansion of border fences, stricter restrictions…

The global price of oil hit USD 119 a barrel last week, and few countries are as vulnerable to the sudden increase as South Korea. Korea imports nearly all its energy and ships most of its crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz, which is now effectively closed. The country has imposed gas price caps,…