United States of America

KEI recently completed its sixteenth annual Ambassadors’ Dialogue program (previously called the Korea Caravan), featuring Lee Tae-sik, the Republic of Korea’s Ambassador to the United States, and Alexander Vershbow, United…

May brought several significant developments for the KORUS FTA. On May 10, the Bush Administration and Congress announced an agreement on a new trade policy, focusing in particular on labor…

83/751. At press time, 83 days have passed since North Korea tested a nuclear device on October 9, 2006 and 751 days remain in the Bush Presidency. If the stalemate…

With negotiations running down to the wire, Korean and American negotiators announced that they reached a deal just before President George W. Bush’s trade promotion authority expired at 11:59 pm…

By Yonho Kim North Korea’s transportation system traditionally centered around the railway, as Kim Il-sung, the founder of the communist state, stated: “Railways are the arteries of the country.” However, with the economic crisis in the 1990s, the railway system was no longer able to properly function due to a lack of energy and deterioration…

By Troy Stangarone Since the first summit meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un in April, efforts by North and South Korea to repair and reconnect road and rail lines on the Korean Peninsula have received significant attention, including the recent announcement that they will be holding a groundbreaking…

By Juni Kim It’s been quite a year for North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un. After a tense 2017 with multiple ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missile) tests, threatening rhetoric, and North Korea’s largest nuclear demonstration, Kim Jong-un embarked on a very different approach in 2018. Fashioning himself as an open and reasonable statesmen, he has gone on…

By Liberty Smith It is no secret that societal expectations of Korean women are exceedingly burdensome. Approximately 50% of Korean women in their 20’s have had plastic surgery, citing job candidacy and marriage potential as equally strong motivations. Women bear the brunt of unpaid household chores and child-rearing, dedicating more than three times the hours…

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.