Asia

Northeast Asian countries including Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan, have recently considered adopting the U.S.-style legal education as a revolutionary remedy to dissolve chronic problems of the Pre-Reform system. Especially…

Korea’s economic development since the 1980s has occurred in the context of capital controls and a strong governmental role in achieving sustained growth. The experiences of two financial crises—the Asian…

Conflict and cooperation are constants in the discipline of international relations. In the case of the Republic of Korea’s (ROK) and Japan’s bilateral military relations, the overwhelming interest in what…

Since the advent of the Nuclear Age, the terrifying prospect of an accidental nuclear explosion raises grave security concerns. This issue remains under-examined in Asia, even though there is an…

This spring, Han Kang became the first Korean author to win the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for her novel, "The Vegetarian." And, for the first time in the prize's…

North Korea recently experienced one of the worst natural disasters in its history, as flood waters swept through towns in the northeast part of the country. Up to 600,000 people…

Middlebury College, famous for its immersive language programs, added Korean as its 11th language in 2015. Now, after two summers, the School of Korean is helping students from a variety…

With the goal of supporting the next generation of scholars interested in Korea and Northeast Asia, the U.S.-Korea Next Gen Scholars Program brings together young professionals from various backgrounds to…

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived declaration of martial law on December 3, 2024, and his subsequent impeachment on December 14 have plunged the country into its worst political crisis in nearly 40 years, with some signs of a negative economic impact. The economy was already showing signs of weakness before the December political…

Western media and foreign policy specialists point to a self-confident Kim Jong Un, willing to take large risks as he again contemplates dealing face-to-face with US President Donald Trump and as he works closely with Russian President Vladimir Putin to send weapons and soldiers into the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Kim continues to fire UN-prohibited…

10 Issues to Watch for on the Korean Peninsula in 2025 Authors: Mai Anna Pressley, Dan Sneider, Nils Wollesen Osterberg, Scott Snyder, Tom Ramage, James Kim, Jennifer Ahn, Clint Work, Joo Young Kim   The year 2024 ended with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law, his impeachment by the National Assembly,…

This essay was part of a contest jointly organized by the George Washington University Institute for Korean Studies and the Institute for Korean Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. The contest invited students to analyze a South Korean policy challenge and propose evidence-based solutions, with winning entries published in the Korea Economic Institute of America’s flagship…