United States of America

U.S. President Obama and South Korean President Lee held their third summit meeting on November 19 in Seoul. Thousands of Koreans lined the streets of downtown Seoul to welcome Obama…

U.S. citizens from many walks of life had the unusual opportunity in early September to hear from and interact with the two ambassadors responsible for maintaining the critical U.S.-Korea relationship.…

For the first time in a decade the leaders of the United States and Korea held an amiable summit meeting. The meetings between presidents Clinton and Kim Dae-jung were cordial,…

They Did What?! On the morning of May 25, after giving the U.S. government one hour’s notice, North Korea detonated a nuclear device underground at the same northeast site of…

By Mark Tokola North Korea celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of its state on September 9 in a notably non-belligerent fashion.  Troops paraded, but no long-range missiles were displayed.  Apart from the parade, there was a traditional mass gymnastics performance at the May Day Stadium, and a “National Meeting,” at which the official…

By William B. Brown Let’s examine the North Korean economic scene in the hot Korean summer of 2018 to see if we can get hints at Kim Jong-un’s thinking on what arguably are the most important decisions the regime is making in decades.  Pundits will argue who is more pressed for time, Kim, South Korean…

by Phil Eskeland Earlier today, the Foreign Trade Division of the U.S. Census Bureau revealed the latest set of monthly trade statistics.  The September release of July trade figures gives an opportunity for a mid-year review on trends not only in goods, but also in services trade with all nations of the world, including South…

By Mark Tokola In the wake of the April 2018 inter-Korean summit in Panmunjom and the June U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore, there is renewed talk about whether it is time to announce an end to the Korean War by means of a peace declaration, peace regime, peace treaty, or by some other means.  There…

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.