United States of America

Given the growing importance of East Asia to global stability and prosperity, sustaining the five U.S. treaty alliances in the region—Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Thailand, and the Philippines—will…

On 30 June 2007, U.S. and South Korean trade officials signed the U.S.- Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). The two countries reached the agreement after 10 months of very…

On 1 April 2007 Korea and the United States finally completed their year-long negotiations to conclude the Korea- U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), which was then signed by the…

President Lee Myung-bak won a landslide victory in 2007. His popularity before the election was obvious, and it came as a surprise to almost no one that he won by…

By Troy Stangarone and Christopher Hurst Last season, a record setting five South Koreans made their professional debuts in Major League Baseball (MLB). They joined established stars such as Choi Shin-soo of the Texas Rangers and Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Not all of last year’s rookie class transitioned to the majors as…

By Mark Tokola When dealing with a country with a leadership that is as singularly top-down as North Korea, it is worthwhile to try to understand what makes their leader tick.  If we understood Kim Jong-un’s goals, preferences, and biases, we would be in a better position to understand whether negotiations on denuclearization are possible,…

By Jennifer Cho and Patrick Niceforo South Korea finished second overall with 50 medals at the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Sapporo and Obihiro, Japan. In 2018, South Korea will host the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and, according to Gracenote’s sports data, is predicted to place 8th overall with 10 medals. Below, find our list…

By Phil Eskeland Last week, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released the President’s National Trade Policy Agenda for 2017.  It should not be unexpected that the Trump Administration seeks a new approach on U.S. trade policy because it was a top tier issue on the presidential campaign trail, particularly for businessman Donald…

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.