Digital Library

The Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) and the Korea-European Union Free Trade Agreement (Korea-EU FTA) are the major FTAs for the Korean economy. Although both FTAs share many similarities,…

In this episode we hear from author Mike Kim, who speaks with Korean Kontext about his experiences living and working with North Korean refugees on the China-North Korea border. Mike…

This study was undertaken to assess possible futures for the North Korean regime and the Korean peninsula that could affect U.S. and regional interests, and to consider which U.S. and…

This article is aimed at analyzing, in a comparative perspective, the economic reforms undertaken by Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) and Cuba since the demise of…

In this episode we hear from Korean-American filmmaker Michael Kang, who made his directorial debut at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival with The Motel, which was awarded the Humanitas Prize…

We bring the Korean Kontext studio to the U.S. Department of State to speak with Kathleen Stephens, current U.S. Ambassador to South Korea. Ambassador Stephens shares with us her personal…

In this episode we speak with Ambassador John Everard, who served as Ambassador of Great Britain to North Korea from 2006-2008. Ambassador Everard experienced firsthand life as one of only…

As this paper goes to press, relations on the Korean Peninsula are at their tensest level in more than 20 years. Since 2006, when the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea…

In 2006–08 Pyongyang had two kinds of markets. The first were "official" markets that had started out many years earlier as farmers markets selling only food but have since grown…

Hello again after the holiday break! Just before the holidays I spoke with Hawon Lee, who was just wrapping up his nearly four years as Washington D.C. Bureau Chief of…