Asia

The purpose of this research is to identify an exchange rate regime that would be suitable for North Korea to achieve its goal of economic reform. To do so, we…

This paper reviews and evaluates the development of Bank of Korea policy in historical and comparative perspective. The historical perspective focuses on the most recent of the three stages of…

During the past decade there has been growing academic interest in the field of nation branding. It is increasingly common for governments to adopt the techniques of brand management in…

In Northeast Asia and the United States during the later months of 2008 a great deal of attention was paid to the health of Kim Jong-il. Rumors of a stroke,…

For many years, South Korea has been a homogeneous country. But with more foreigners coming to live in Korea, that is starting to change. In fact, the Korea Institute for…

In early July, the United States and South Korea announced that they had come to an agreement to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system near the city…

With Election 2016 well underway, KEI's very own Phil Eskeland has been closely following how both the Republican and Democratic parties have been talking about foreign policy and Asia. He…

In the late 1930s, nearly 200,000 ethnic Koreans were forcibly removed from the Soviet Far East, packed into trains and sent to Central Asia. More than 70 years later, their…

The March death of Byun Hee-soo, a former soldier, underscores the challenges faced by LGBT Koreans. She had been forced out of the military because she underwent gender reassignment surgery. Legal protections for LGBT people are weak in South Korea, and they face significant social and political obstacles. Although the Biden administration has signaled its…

What Happened Last September, Google sought to force all apps downloaded from Google Play Store to use its billing system. Mounting criticism from app developers prompted Google to lower its commission rate for its billing system from 30% to 15% for app developers whose annual sales amount to less than USD 1 million. Recently, Democratic Party (DP) lawmakers pushed ahead with…

What Happened The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy announced earlier this week to put some nuclear reactors back in operation to meet the public’s energy demand amid the ongoing heatwave. The government is also urging businesses and the public to roll back their electricity consumption as current demand threatens to outstrip supply. The increased demand for electricity has…

As K-pop’s popularity expands beyond South Korea, industry leaders are expanding to the American market by joining hands with large American record labels – HYBE, the entertainment company that manages the popular band BTS, announced a partnership with Universal Music Group. Meanwhile, another major South Korean entertainment company SM signed a similar agreement with MGM. These partnerships hope…