Asia

South Korea is hardly alone in facing the uncertainties of the new Trump administration. Moreover, it is impossible to consider South Korea’s response to Trump’s foreign policy without considering how…

The return of U.S. President Donald Trump to the White House in 2025 has brought a renewed emphasis on “America First” foreign policy, marked by a strategic retrenchment that challenges…

The U.S. presidential election marked the beginning of a new era of retrenchment. The new Donald Trump administration, inaugurated in January 2025, has swiftly shifted U.S. priorities to emphasize domestic…

The Fall 2024 issue of Korea Policy, Broadening the Alliance: New Frontiers in US-South Korea Cooperation, is a special issue focused on the US-ROK alliance. The issue is motivated by…

    In the mid-1990s, North Korea experienced a famine that by some estimates wiped out 10 percent of the population. Though many at the time thought the regime would…

      Over the last decade, China has become an increasingly important country for South Korea has it has emerged as Seoul’s largest trading partner and a leading player…

    On April 8, North Korea withdrew all of its workers from the Kaesong Industrial Complex, temporarily placing on hold the last form of cooperation between North and South…

South Korea’s nuclear energy industry has for decades been facilitated through close cooperation with counterparts in the United States under what is known as a “123 Agreement”.  Today South Korea’s…

By Yeonsu Kim and Minhee Lee Despite the fact that South Korea is not necessarily well known for winter sports, the country won the right to host the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics after several attempts in 2010 and 2014. South Korea has high expectations for PyeongChang, with the team hoping to obtain eight gold medals,…

By Troy Stangarone To the surprise of even Lee Jae-yong, the Seoul High Court has reduced his sentence related to charges in the scandal surrounding former President Park Geun-hye and suspended his sentence resulting in his immediate release from prison. After having been convicted on five charges in August of 2017 related to bribery, embezzlement,…

By William B. Brown “War” might be a little strong, but I think everyone would agree it’s at least a fierce and growing skirmish.  China’s Customs Bureau on Friday reported a sharp, 23 percent drop in exports to North Korea in December from the year-earlier month, to $258 million, and a stunning 83 percent drop…

KEI Communications Director Jenna Gibson, host of the KEI podcast Korean Kontext, recently interviewed Min Jin Lee, author of the critically acclaimed book Pachinko, a novel centered around the struggles of a Korean family living in Japan. The following is a partial transcript of that conversation, which has been edited for space. The rest of…