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 Sang Kim and Jenna Gibson With a cold snap freezing South Korea this week, we collected a list of 10 useful winter-related Korean words that could help you get through the season. Check out the list and please leave any useful words that we didn’t include in the comments below!        …

By Hwan Kang and Jeff Zwick Twenty years ago, South Korea was enjoying its height as a roaring “Asian tiger” with record economic growth, led by manufactured exports, transforming a war-torn, poor country into a member of the rich nation’s club – the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). However, such confidence masked many…

By Troy Stangarone After conducting a series of missile tests in the summer and late fall, including its first two intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests, North Korea went 75 days without a missile test. In some corners there had been hope that North Korea’s pause indicated an openness for talks, but that prospect was always…

By Hwan Kang Although interpretations vary, the general consensus over President Donald Trump’s nomination of Jerome Powell as the new Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) Chair is that Powell is a safe bet. He is considered to be more or less aligned with former Chair Janet Yellen who consistently followed through on gradual monetary tightening, but…

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