Korea, North

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…

The last several rounds of UN sanctions against the DPRK have been called the "strongest ever," and the new sanctions passed on November 30 are no different. There are some…

More than 100 million Americans cast their ballots on November 8, and we have a new president-elect. The Trump victory came as a surprise to most, with polls and pundits…

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 Kyle Ferrier South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s agenda of public sector-led economic and social reform has received much attention. The success of Moon’s strategy ultimately hinges on the aspiration that 810,000 new government jobs and providing a better work-life balance for employees will turn into more jobs and better working conditions in the private…

By Troy Stangarone In 2017, much of the world’s attention turned to the Korean Peninsula. South Korean politics underwent major changes as President Park Geun-hye became the first South Korean president to be removed from office and a snap election was held in May that saw the election of Moon Jae-in. North Korea also dominated…

By Troy Stangarone With the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics rapidly approaching, concerns about safety have been in the news. Earlier this year, France indicated that it might withdraw its athletes if their safety could not be assured, while U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has suggested that there may be the prospect of…

By William Brown In previous blogs we have looked at several anomalies in market and foreign trade data related to North Korea, including the crude oil situation and the won exchange rate. In the former, we conjecture that China’s government has simply put crude oil “off the books” since January 2014 and that the flow…

Please join KEI for a discussion on North Korea’s potential incorporation of AI into its cyber arsenal.