Korea, South

In this episode of Korean Kontext, I have the opportunity to speak with Richard V. Allen, who, in the weeks preceding his official instatement as National Security Advisor to President-elect…

We bring the Korean Kontext studio to the U.S. Department of State to speak with Kathleen Stephens, current U.S. Ambassador to South Korea. Ambassador Stephens shares with us her personal…

Hello again after the holiday break! Just before the holidays I spoke with Hawon Lee, who was just wrapping up his nearly four years as Washington D.C. Bureau Chief of…

In this episode, we are joined by Balbina Hwang, currently a visiting professor at Georgetown University and the National Defense University here in D.C. Ms. Hwang is here to speak…

By José Luis León-Manríquez To paraphrase the Rolling Stones, the song is not surprising and has been played more than once: the DPRK is a well-known exporter of weapons. Yet this time the singer (Cuba) is brand new. It is also noteworthy that the weapons traveled from Cuba to North Korea and not vice versa.…

By Jinho Park An intense political debate is currently taking place in South Korea on reforming the National Intelligence Service (NIS). The current controversy over intelligence reform is somewhat unique in that it is not caused by an intelligence failure, but rather by its alleged interference with the 2012 presidential election. Further adding to the…

By Andrew Kwon According to reports, this past weekend’s Xi-Obama Summit went “terrific.” While the two leaders spoke on sensitive issues, like cyber attacks, they found additional common ground on North Korea. They agreed to continue to pressure North Korea on its nuclear ambitions, but how far is China willing to go? In the past few…

By Troy Stangarone After December’s satellite launch, February’s nuclear test, and months of talk of war, is North Korea finally beginning to turn the corner in the first full scale crisis under Kim Jong-un? As was previously documented on The Peninsula, despite the increasingly provocative rhetoric coming out of Pyongyang in recent months, there was…

Please join KEI and KIEP for a discussion about the first 10 years of KORUS and the future of the U.S.-Korea economic relationship.