China

As we approach the second US-DPRK Summit, the media in the United States is so focused on the dynamics between President Trump and Kim Jong-un that the interests and motivations…

President Donald Trump is off on his longest international trip yet, stopping in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. There, he is expected to tackle a range of…

For the first Korean Kontext podcast of 2017, five members of the KEI staff sat down with host Jenna Gibson for a chat about the volitility of 2016 and what…

In this episode, which originally aired in 2011, we hear from author Mike Kim, who speaks with Korean Kontext about his experiences living and working with North Korean refugees on…

By Jenna Gibson In The Economist’s recent ranking of the best and worst places to be a working woman, South Korea did not fare well. In fact, it was considered last among OECD countries. In what they call their “glass-ceiling index,” The Economist ranked OECD countries along various measures related to women in the workforce,…

By Thomas Lee With almost three months remaining before the 7th Korean Worker’s Party Plenum is scheduled to convene in May, South Korean intelligence sources state that North Korea appears to preparing for its fifth nuclear test. Although few if any signs of test preparations have been detected by satellite imagery, the recent experience with…

By Troy Stangarone With the passage of a new round of sanctions against North Korea, there is an expectation that Pyongyang will not go gracefully into negotiations over its weapons programs. While negotiating and passing a new resolution took the Obama Administration more than twice as long as any prior resolution in response to a…

By Junil Kim Known equally for inducing both sighs and groans from hopeful and jaded people worldwide, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner on February 14th. If the mere thought of Valentine’s Day is more headache-inducing than swoon-worthy, you could consider the wider array of South Korea’s romantically themed holidays. It doesn’t take an…

Please join KEI for a conversation with Markus Garlauskas and Axel Catellier on the factors driving South Korea’s recent military force development.