Asia

In 2005, the Korean ambassador to China was excited about the completion within five years of the target trade volume of over $100 billion with China, which was set by…

Economic Interdependence Between Korea and the United States

The Matter of the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement Negotiations

The 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks shocked the world twice: first, their unimaginable method of attack and, second, the U.S. response in their wake. Doctrines, policies, and actions that emerged…

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…

March saw President Yoon Suk Yeol make significant efforts to realize his campaign goal of rehabilitating relations with Japan. After a trip to Tōkyō to meet with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, the president told his Cabinet that the two countries must look towards the future. “Korea-Japan relations can and must be a win-win relationship that…

On March 30, the South Korean Ministry of Unification published a 450-page report on human rights abuses in North Korea.  The report was drafted in accordance with the provisions of South Korea’s North Korea Human Rights Act of 2016, which specifies that the Ministry of Unification shall produce an annual report on human rights in…

The OECD’s March Interim Economic Outlook projects that Korea’s real GDP will increase by 1.6% in 2023, matching the Bank of Korea’s February forecast. The new projection is a slight downward revision from the OECD’s November 2022 outlook in the context of below-trend global economic growth. The impact of the war in Ukraine and high…

The Tokyo summit that brought together South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on 23 March 2023 successfully cleared away much of the accumulated debris of the last five years of dysfunctionality. The two-day official visit — the first by a South Korean president in a dozen years — checked off…