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.…

Newly installed Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru caused waves in October over comments he made before his election. In an article published by the Hudson Institute, he said that in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the lack of a mutual defense organization in the Indo-Pacific region increases the likelihood of conflict. “Under these circumstances,…

The Sangdong tungsten mine in South Korea holds one of the world’s largest single-mine tungsten reserves. After closing in the early 1990s—largely due to cheaper Chinese tungsten flooding world markets and undermining South Korea’s price competitiveness—the mine is set to resume operations next year. This revival follows the acquisition of the Sangdong mining rights by…

In the early 21st century, global value chains (GVCs) grew longer and became reliant on low-cost countries for assembly, employing just-in-time production methods. These practices were tested during events like the US-China trade war and the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, many companies shifted their GVC strategies toward a focus on resilience and diversification. As this…

This is the first of two pieces exploring the continental-maritime balance on and around the Korean Peninsula Attention has turned to the re-emergence of a Cold War-like division in East Asia, with China, North Korea, and Russia on one side and the United States, South Korea, and Japan on the other. More recent reports of…