United States of America

Adhering to the action-for-action framework of the February 13, 2007 agreement, North Korea and the United States traded symbolic actions last week that grabbed the headlines—explosive video footage of North…

For Korea watchers—and particularly for those of us who worked closely on events associated with President Lee’s visit to Washington—April was a very rewarding month. After multiple protocol meetings, site…

KEI recently completed its seventeenth annual Ambassadors’ Dialogue program. The tour was the third featuring Lee Tae-sik, the Republic of Korea’s Ambassador to the United States, and Alexander Vershbow, United…

On September 20, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) released its report on the KORUS FTA. The ITC study is a required analysis under Trade Promotion Authority that explores the…

By Phil Eskeland Recently, the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released 2017 trade statistics showing that the value of U.S. agricultural related exports to South Korea reached $7.55 billion, very close to the same level as in 2011 ($7.58 billion), the year before the implementation of the Korea-U.S. Free…

By Mark Tokola There were startling headlines on March 6 that North Korea is prepared to enter into talks, to freeze its nuclear and missile testing, and is willing to abandon its nuclear weapons.  This would be welcome news, but of course there are caveats and questions.  The first caveat is that this is North…

By Robert King The Olympic torch flickered out a week ago bringing the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics to a close after a spectacular techno light show featuring traditional Korean folk performers combined with the best of K-pop. The pentagonal stadium, however, will be dark for only a few days before the opening ceremony of the…

By Casey Robinson In January, the South Korean government extended its hand to the Kim regime by offering high-level talks to discuss North Korea’s possible participation at the Winter Olympics, to which the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un responded positively and ordered a reopening of the Panmunjom hotline. The international community was generally optimistic towards…

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.