United States of America

The relationship between the United States and the Republic of Korea is unique; the challenges it faces are not. Next-generation views of the ties between Seoul and Washington do not…

As the U.S. economic crisis was just getting off the ground, many analysts claimed Asia would be relatively immune to the impact because its economies had “decoupled” from the United…

Given the growing importance of East Asia to global stability and prosperity, sustaining the five U.S. treaty alliances in the region—Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Thailand, and the Philippines—will…

On 30 June 2007, U.S. and South Korean trade officials signed the U.S.- Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). The two countries reached the agreement after 10 months of very…

By William Brown China’s Customs Bureau on Tuesday released its global trade report for April that includes details of the country’s trade with North Korea[i].  Some initial impact from UNSC sanctions may be observed, although seasonal changes tend to obscure the picture.  Overall trade with North Korea was down about ten percent in April, from…

With the field of presidential candidates narrowed down to three, here is a look at some of the more recent comments by Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump on the Korean peninsula.   Hillary Clinton February 4, 2016, MSNBC Democratic Debate In response to a question about the biggest national security threat to the…

By Thomas Lee The 1987 presidential election marked the first free national election in Korea since Park Chung-hee’s coup d’état in 1961. This election saw three contentious candidates: Noh Tae-woo, Kim Dae-jung, and Kim Young-sam. Due to a dispute between Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, the unified opposition ticket collapsed and they ran against each…

By William Brown September, 1961 was not a happy time in South Korea, at least according to the US Intelligence Community.  See how CIA described the dismal situation soon after junta commander Park Chung-hee’s coup d’état, in a declassified National Intelligence Estimate. “The greatest threat to South Korea, at least in the near term, comes…

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.