Asia

The Fall 2024 issue of Korea Policy, Broadening the Alliance: New Frontiers in US-South Korea Cooperation, is a special issue focused on the US-ROK alliance. The issue is motivated by…

The Joe Biden and Yoon Suk-yeol administrations have embraced the expansion of economic cooperation within the US-ROK alliance, leading to the emergence of South Korea as a valued technology partner…

The security alliance between the United States and South Korea, once focused primarily on military defense, is evolving to include economic security and technological cooperation. The evolving partnership between the…

This paper elucidates how Washington and Seoul cooperate on AI and quantum technologies, both recognized as critical emerging technologies essential to their national interests. Technology cooperation is denoted as government-to-government…

Korean Kontext recently spoke to Gordon Flake of the Mike and Maureen Mansfield Foundation for a conversation about Korea’s rising prominence as a “middle power”.  Focussing on South Korea’s rapidly…

62 years ago on this day of June 25, hostilities broke out on the Korean peninsula. It was a conflict that ended only due to what everybody thought would be…

Korean Kontext caught up with Man Asian literary prize winner Shin Kyung-sook for a chat about her latest novel, “Please Look After Mom”.  Shin became the first woman and South…

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.…

President Moon Jae-in pledged in October 2020 that Korea will reach carbon neutrality by 2050, joining a number of European countries and Japan. With China aiming to be carbon neutral by 2060, Korea becomes the third big Asian economy to announce a target for achieving carbon neutrality. Korea’s objective is in line the Intergovernmental Panel…

What Happened Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for the second time for bribing former President Park Geun-hye’s close advisor. While the court gave Lee a shorter sentence than average for the crime, 46% of the Koreans in a survey believed that the punishment was too harsh. Recently, the Seoul Central District…

 What Happened: President Moon Jae-in vowed to focus more on increasing housing supply to discipline runaway real estate prices. The government attributed the failure of its previous effort to deliver affordable housing to the growth of households despite the shrinking population. The administration plans to develop more housing sites near train stations in Seoul and surrounding areas…

For North Korea to return to some semblance of its pre-COVID existence it will need to vaccinate its population, but acquiring the necessary vaccines will not be the only challenge North Korea faces. Once North Korea has acquired a vaccine to begin dosing its population, it will still need to have a proper cold chain…