United States of America

This PDF is the full publication and contains all of the following sections: KEI Board of Directors KEI Advisory Council Preface Download PDF here Political Change in 2010-2012 and Regional…

The U.S. government has had a long and convoluted approach to the issue of bilateral or regional trade agreements involving East Asian countries. This paper focuses on three key aspects…

The U.S. pivot to Asia is emerging as one of the organizing principles for Washington’s future foreign policy as it views its own economic destiny becoming increasingly intertwined with the…

There is no doubt that the United States has been a dominant economic power in the world. U.S. troops are deployed in the various corners of the world, and their…

By Ken Gause The death of Kim Chong-il does not only mean a transition in leadership as can be seen with the apparent coronation of Kim Chong-un as the successor. It also likely means a change in the leadership structure, which will potentially have a dramatic impact on how Pyongyang makes decisions and how those…

By Troy Stangarone Years ago, The Economist developed the Big Mac Index to track how much a MacDonald’s Big Mac cost in countries around the world. The idea was to provide an understandable measure for purchasing power parity across countries since the Big Mac is a basic commodity that has spread across the world. Of…

By Troy Stangarone Despite the financial crisis of 2008, the global downturn that followed in 2009, and a year of tension between North and South Korea, the Kaesong Industrial Complex has been remarkably resilient. New numbers from the Ministry of Unification show that production at the complex was up 38 percent in September from a…

By Sarah K. Yun Soft power is the ability of a country or an actor to obtain what it wants through attraction and charm rather than through hard power and force.  The ultimate goal of fostering soft power is to promote a positive image in order to enhance one’s ability to influence.  Like many nations,…

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.