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…

Spanning nearly a century and multiple generations, Min Jin Lee's 2017 novel Pachinko tells the story of a Korean family struggling to find their place in Japan before, during, and after…

A woman in hanbok joyfully rises above Mt. Baekdu, arms raised, in a art piece entitled Umma Rises: Towards Global Peace. This is just one of many recent art pieces…

A group of women gossiping about the new neighbor. A feisty middle schooler using a homemade drone to prank his classmates. A young military officer seeking information from his past.…

With President Donald Trump finishing up his first official trip to Asia, including a stop in South Korea last week, this week's episode of Korean Kontext asks: what do South…

By Jeffrey Robertson When the Lee Myung-Bak administration took office in February 2008, the public’s mood shifted quickly. By the end of June 2008, people were on the streets in protest, including more than 80,000 in a single night’s candlelight vigil; the entire cabinet had offered its resignation; and Lee Myung-Bak’s approval ratings had fallen…

By Troy Stangarone In recent years, South Korea has been in a space race of sorts with North Korea, in which it risked falling behind after the recent successful North Korean launch on December 12. With the successful launching of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1), South Korea has joined an elite group of thirteen…

By Adam Cathcart, Roger Cavazos, and Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga No one knows if Kim Jong-un’s favorite films extend into the acerbic oeuvre of Peter Sellers, but the young North Korean dictator’s behavior indicates that he might indeed be taking one such film as inspiration. At various key moments at the end of 2012 and into the…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz Earlier this week the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) finally responded to North Korea’s December 12th rocket launch with a new resolution. Predictably, North Korea reacted angrily with statements, including one attributed to its National Defense Commission (NDC). The NDC statement specifically targeted the United States as a problem and as a…