Economics

This article was published on The Korea Times on August 16, 2023. For much of the past year there has been a focus on how the CHIPS and Science Act…

This article was published in The Korea Times on June 14, 2023. The decision by the Cyberspace Administration of China to ban Micron Technology’s semiconductors in Chinese infrastructure has put…

What Happened The National Assembly has approved three supplementary budgets worth nearly USD 50.5 billion combined, setting a record high of total USD 431 billion of annual expense. Despite these increases, Korea’s debt to GDP ratio of 43.5% remains below the OECD average (109.2%) and that of other peer economies like the United States (106.9%), France (122.5%), and Japan (224.1%). Nonetheless,…

What Happened In response to the rapidly rising cost of housing in Seoul, the National Assembly passed a new bill that allows tenants to extend their contracts and placed a cap on the amount that rental deposits could be increased. However, observers expressed worry that this may lead landlords to favor monthly rental contracts over the traditional…

What Happened On July 29, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun announced that the government will “push for measures to lengthen the stay permits for foreign laborers” to combat worker shortages in agricultural areas. Many workers already in Korea are unable to return home due to Covid-19, and none of the 5,000 seasonal migrant workers that farms requested through a government…

This briefing comes from Korea View, a weekly newsletter published by the Korea Economic Institute. Korea View aims to cover developments that reveal trends on the Korean Peninsula but receive little attention in the United States. If you would like to sign up, please find the online form here. What Happened A recent report from the Korea Development Institute…