Economics

In this special episode, Korean Kontext had the opportunity to speak to South Korean Minister for Trade, Bark Taeho, during his latest visit to Washington DC. KEI’s Vice President, Dr.…

By the time you read this, the KORUS FTA will have entered the implementation stage. To celebrate, Korean Kontext caught up with two of the main movers-and-shakers behind the deal…

In this episode, Korea Economic Institute’s Director of Communications Chad 0Carroll speaks with Scott Snyder of the Council on Foreign Relations. Having written a number of publications on U.S. relations…

This episode takes us directly into the office of Ambassador Han Duk-Soo, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States, who shares his thoughts on the much-anticipated G-20…

Korea-Russia economic relations are redolent of Ricardo’s classic observations about trade between Britain and Portugal in the mid-19th century, which generated the very concept of comparative advantage. Korea is an advanced industrial state with a deep manufacturing base and far-flung global production networks. Russia relies heavily on the export of raw materials, and by no…

On May 2, South Korea and Norway kicked off the annual defense industry cooperation talk in Seoul with a focus on Oslo’s prospective acquisition of Korean tanks. Both players hope to also deepen bilateral and regional cooperation through joint defense research. This is representative of Korea’s broader effort to play a bigger role in the…

South Korea’s strong economy is a significant pull factor for foreign workers, but despite a declining workforce and a need for foreign workers, Seoul implements some of the strictest immigration controls among the OECD countries. Prior to immigration reform initiated in 2004, South Korea maintained exclusionary practices towards long-term immigration for foreign workers through “side-door”…

Korean firms dominate 30% of the global electric vehicle battery market. But with the procurement of key raw material inputs for these batteries threatened by geo-strategic rivalries, the government and manufacturers are pushing to diversify both sourcing and processing of minerals like cobalt, nickel, and lithium. In February, the Australian government signed a “Memorandum of…

As disruptions in supply chains continue, what practical steps can the U.S. and Korea take to strengthen supply chains against future crises?