Asia

The Middle East offers huge trade opportunities to South Korea, especially after the P5+1 agreement with Iran. President Park Geun-hye’s May 2016 visit to Iran has demonstrated this economic potential…

North Korea has been under several rounds of economic sanctions since the beginning of the Korean War in 1950. Economic coercion, however, has had no major effect on the Kim…

This paper details the nature of transboundary air pollution in Northeast Asia, employing an analytical approach rooted in the political economy of the region. To measure public perceptions of the…

This is the full publication PDF for Vol. 30 of Korea's Economy Dear Readers, We are honored to present to you the 30th edition of Korea’s Economy. Over the past…

North Korea is putting on a tough face as the world confronts the COVID-19 pandemic. Authorities in Pyongyang continue to reassure the rest of the world that nothing is wrong…

Looking back on the Korean War, one might assume that the outbreak of a violent conflict that killed millions of people would preclude the possibility of a peaceful resolution of…

It would not be an exaggeration to claim that the Korean War shaped world history. There had been bloodshed elsewhere that bookmarked the start of the bitter conflict between the…

The international force that answered the United Nation’s call to defend the Republic of Korea between 1950 and 1953 did more than engage in combat with North Korean and Chinese…

In recent days, North Korea’s human rights abuses were again debated at the United Nations and a resolution critical of Pyongyang is being circulated for consideration.  North Korea’s human rights record has been debated and a resolution critical of the government in Pyongyang has been adopted by the UN General Assembly every year since December…

At the end of September, the Republic of Korea attended a meeting of the Partners in the Blue Pacific (PBP). The initiative, led by the U.S., Australia, Japan, and Britain, aims at working with states in Oceania on advancing regional development. Ahead of the meeting, the Korean government was equivocal to the initiative. "Nothing has…

The 2022 OECD Economic Survey of Korea, released in September, highlighted the need to strengthen the social safety net. In particular, the share of the population aged 65 and older in relative poverty exceeds 40%, nearly triple the OECD average (Figure 1). Ensuring adequate retirement income requires reforms to improve the National Pension Service (NPS),…

Recent debates on South Korea securing an independent nuclear weapons capacity have addressed several issues, including strategic relevance and operational utility, its impact on the U.S. alliance, how it will affect the balance of power on the Korean Peninsula, and its contribution to the regional arms competition. Less discussed has been the question of South…