United States of America

Why is South Korea pilot-testing its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), and what made it shift from non-issuance to consideration? This paper investigates the Bank of Korea (BOK)’s CBDC-related developments…

This paper deals with one of the most critical issues in contemporary international relations: how China’s rise challenges foreign policies of U.S. allies, with a focus on the Republic of…

The rivalry between the United States and China is affecting countries in its midst. This particularly applies to South Korea. The country is a strong economic player with a successful…

KEI’s 2021 Report on American Attitudes Toward the Korean Peninsula summarizes results from a survey commissioned by KEI and conducted by YouGov on August 30th to September 7th, 2021. The…

On February 4, President Donald Trump issued another in the blizzard of his now familiar executive orders. Among those signed that day was one entitled “Withdrawing the United States from and Ending Funding to Certain United Nations Organizations and Reviewing United States Support to all United Nations Organizations.” The document specifies that the United States…

Hallyu (or Korean Wave) looks to continue its march onward in the Year of the Blue Snake. Netflix announced that the first five days of Squid Game Season 2 netted 68 million views, breaking the company’s previous first-week debut record set by Wednesday in 2022. Since its release on December 26, the show has already…

Major political developments at the end of 2024 have ushered in new unpredictability in the US-South Korea relationship for 2025. First came the re-election of Donald Trump in the United States, followed by dramatic events in South Korea that are still evolving after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived declaration of martial law. Deep political division…

We profile four members of the 119th Congress with Korean heritage. Andy Kim made history by becoming the first-ever Korean American elected to the US Senate and the first Asian-American senator from New Jersey or any East Coast state. Young Kim and Marilyn Strickland were reelected to represent the 40th District of California and the…

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.