Asia

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (henceforth North Korea) certainly seems to like being different from other countries. Whereas governments of virtually all the world’s countries regularly publish data on…

Recent developments on the Korean peninsula are raising expectations that the DPRK may finally be ready for a new era of political rapprochement and economic opening. This possibility is reflected…

The United States and Korea finished the eighth round of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) in mid-March 2007, and the agreement is likely to be concluded eventually.1…

The U.S.-ROK bilateral economic relationship entered a new era 1 April 2007 when President George W. Bush notified the U.S. Congress of his intent to enter into a free trade…

For many people who visit Korea for the first time, one of the things that stands out the most is the country's clean, reliable, and efficient public transportation. This was…

More than 100 million Americans cast their ballots on November 8, and we have a new president-elect. The Trump victory came as a surprise to most, with polls and pundits…

In this episode, which originally aired in 2011, we hear from author Mike Kim, who speaks with Korean Kontext about his experiences living and working with North Korean refugees on…

Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 woes have hit a crescendo in recent weeks, with the company officially halting production and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officially banning the devices from all…

During the week from May 28 to June 2, North Korea released over 1,000 large balloons across the demilitarized zone (DMZ) into South Korea. The balloons carried payloads of manure, cigarette butts, used batteries, cloth and plastic fragments, and lots of scrap paper (including used toilet paper). One report said that even dirty diapers were…

Questions of whether the K-pop market has peaked are hardly new. Concerns about market oversaturation have been raised since the inception of the third generation in 2012 when the number of groups that debuted annually more than tripled. New bands from industry powerhouses are not making the expected impact in sales, and there has been…

The Ninth Korea-Japan-China Trilateral Leader Summit, hosted in Seoul on May 27, marked the first meeting since the annual event went on hiatus after 2019. Amidst a shifting global economic order, its proclamations affirmed continued trade relations with China by Korea and Japan and brought a new sense of dynamism to economic cooperation among the…

The semi-annual OECD Economic Outlook released in May projects that global GDP growth will remain around 3 percent in 2024 and 2025, shown below in Figure 1. The report’s outlook reflects the continued impact of tight monetary conditions. Nevertheless, the report cites several positive trends, such as falling inflation and improving private-sector confidence. With unemployment…