Asia

This paper argues that the impact of Hallyu (the Korean Wave) on the Korean economy has only been effective in boosting related sectors, such as cosmetics, fashion, and tourism. Interestingly,…

This paper proposes a framework for conceptualizing middle powerism in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, using South Korea as an example. The paper argues that the systemic transformation…

In the context of growing US-China tensions, South Korean administrations have opted for degrees of strategic ambiguity, refraining from overt actions that suggest South Korea is taking sides. While strategic…

KEI’s 2021 Report on American Attitudes Toward the Korean Peninsula summarizes results from a survey commissioned by KEI and conducted by YouGov on August 30th to September 7th, 2021. The…

Now that Trump has met Kim, and with the Singapore Summit laying out the beginning of a path to denuclearization, analysts are still trying to figure out if Kim Jong…

South Korea's government has increased its focus on different forms of diplomacy in recent years, from the more traditional government-to-government outreach of the Moon Administration's North Korea policy to a…

With the world's attention on Singapore on June 12, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un walked across a stage flanked by American and North Korean…

With U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un headed to Singapore next week for the first ever U.S.-DPRK summit, people around the world are watching to…

By Seongjin James Ahn While some were disappointed earlier this month that South Korea’s central bank decided against easing up on nation’s key interest rate, the Bank of Korea’s decision is exactly what the economy needs in this moment: prudence and restraint. Indeed, lowering the interest rate would have helped spur on South Korea’s economy…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz As countries in Asia emerge from this year of elections and transitions, the role and rise of China in the region will remain a top priority. For most of these countries, significant emphasis has been placed on the importance of positive U.S.-China relations in the region. This is especially true for South…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz A year of transitions finishes in historic fashion as South Korea elects Park Geun-hye as its first female president. Her election capped off a series of democratic presidential elections that featured nicely at the beginning and end of this year of transitions, leading off with Ma Ying-jeou winning reelection in Taiwan. Yet…

By Clare Hubbard One indicator of the difficulty that North Korean defectors have in assimilating to life in South Korea is crime statistics. The crime rate among North Korean defectors in South Korea is more than twice that of the country’s overall crime rate of 4.3%.  Defectors are also five times more likely to fall…