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…

In this episode we speak with Doug Goudie, Director of International Trade Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Mr. Goudie draws from his experiences to share his perspective…

In this episode we hear from Tami Overby, Vice President for Asia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and former President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea. Ms.…

Now in its tenth year, KEI’s Opinion Leaders Seminar (OLS) is an annual gathering of some of the world’s foremost policymakers and scholars on the U.S.-South Korean alliance. In this…

An exclusive interview with Dr. Alon Levkowitz, author of the most recent edition of the Korea Economic Institute’s Academic Paper Series. His paper, titled “The Republic of Korea and the…

Observing the recent success of the TV show Squid Game on Netflix, many commenters suggest that the entry of multinational streaming platforms has been a net positive for Korea’s creative industry. The streaming platform has invested over USD 700 million into projects such as Kingdom and Sweet Home. For smaller Korean content creators, Netflix offers…

Korea’s real GDP increased 1.2% (saar) in 2021Q3, a significant slowdown from the first two quarters of the year, reflecting a decline in private consumption (table below). A tightening of social distancing measures since July, aimed at slowing a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections, reduced spending on “consumer-facing services”. For example, demand in the food…

What Happened One of South Korea’s major telecommunications providers KT suffered a nationwide outage on October 25, causing widespread disruptions to daily tasks that require internet connectivity such as virtual classes, food delivery orders, and stock trading. A National Assembly hearing five days before the incident questioned telecommunications providers about the quality of the network services. The government still intends to…

What Happened South Korea will ease entry restrictions for migrant workers as long as they have been vaccinated and have negative COVID test results. Small and medium-sized businesses in rural Korea have complained about labor shortages due to the sharp drop in the number of migrant workers during the pandemic. In 2020, the death of a Cambodian migrant worker on a…