United States of America

Trade ties between the United States and many East Asian countries have faced a high degree of uncertainty since Donald Trump took office in early 2017. The world is now…

During his visit to Asia in November 2017, President Donald Trump announced his vision of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” as the U.S. approach to the region. The Department of…

Beef trade was a major sticking point between the United States and South Korea in ratifying the KORUS FTA. The outcome of the renegotiations that led to the March 2018…

The sudden announcement of a North Korea-U.S. summit in March 2018 upended all previous diplomacy concerning North Korea’s nuclear program. In return for a bilateral presidential summit, Pyongyang has agreed…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz The surprise news to start the week is that Vice Marshall Ri Yong Ho, chief of the general staff of North Korea’s army as well as a member of the Political Bureau and the Central Military Commission, was relieved of all his positions due to “illness.” During the last year of Kim…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz The past few weeks have not been a good for India’s relations with the Korean peninsula as it recently went through a minor diplomatic rough patch with both North and South Korea. Though relatively undamaging, these situations indicated some of the difficulties in dealing with India. For South Korea, its embassy in…

By Jack Pritchard As I depart KEI after 6 ½ years as president, I want to acknowledge the great support and contributions my colleagues have made in enhancing the credibility and reputation of our small institute.  As president I am often praised for the innovative work that KEI does and, while I appreciate the compliment,…

By Troy Stangarone With sanctions by the United States and the European Union continuing to tighten on Iran, Korea has announced that it will halt imports of Iranian oil as of July 1. Korea’s decision makes it the first of Iran’s major export markets, and a key Asian consumer of Iranian oil, to fully cut…

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.