South Korea

This article was published on The Korea Times on July 19, 2023. Dating back to last year’s presidential election, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration has sought to transform Korea’s foreign…

By Kenneth Lee Sixty years ago, virtually no one knew of Korea and the few that did would have described it as a war-ravaged backwater of a country. Now, Korea is slowly becoming recognized as a modern and prosperous country.  Companies like Samsung and Hyundai are now household names in the West; while Korea’s accomplishments…

By Troy Stangarone A little more than a year after North Korea initially withdrew its workers from the Kaesong Industrial Complex, South Korea announced that German manufacturer Groz-Beckert has received approval to open an office in Kaesong to supply industrial needles to textile factories in the complex. This will make Groz-Beckert the second foreign investment…

By Phil Eskeland Just prior to President Obama’s recent trip to Asia, critics of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) blamed the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) for the “exploding” U.S. trade deficit with South Korea.  Thus, opponents of FTAs use this specific bilateral trade statistic to argue against TPP and providing Trade Promotion Authority (TPA)…

By Phil Eskeland As President Barack Obama arrives in Asia, some critics of free trade use out-of-date or incomplete trade statistics on the Korea-U.S. (KORUS) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to justify opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). First, it is premature to offer a definitive opinion on the success or failure of any trade…