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 William Brown Can an economy grow by being told to do so? Kim Jong-un is launching his “economy first” messaging, spreading the word inside North Korea that he is sincere in his new emphasis on economic growth and improved living standards. And many Koreans on both sides of the DMZ seem to be buying…

By Troy Stangarone When Choo Shin-soo makes his first All-Star appearance in tonight’s Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star Game he will become only the third Korean born player to take part in the mid-summer classic. While it will be a career highlight for Choo to join Park Chan-ho and Kim Byung-hyun as the only Korean…

KEI Communications Director Jenna Gibson, host of the KEI podcast Korean Kontext, recently interviewed Ambassador Christopher Hill, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. The following is a partial transcript of that conversation, which has been edited for space. The rest of the episode can be found here.   Gibson: Since…

By Robert R. King A few days ago during a visit to Seoul, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea, Tomas Ojea Quintana, called for an investigation into conditions under which 12 North Korean waitresses and their manager who defected from China to South Korea two years ago with the help…

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.