Asia

Economic relations between Korea and the United States reached new heights in the year 2006 with the launch of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement. While the negotiations were…

Rapid economic development lifted Korea’s per capita income from 15 percent of the U.S. level in 1970 to approximately half by 2005. Growth has been based primarily on inputs of…

The insatiable appetites of banks, insurance companies, pensions, endowments, and high-net-worth individuals make enormous capital possible for private equity funds. The private equity market has become an important source of…

The importance of having an efficient labor market is growing because of recent trends such as globalization, the development of information-communication technology (ICT), and the increasing need for foreign direct…

    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 Jongsung Kim According to a recent Bank of Korea (BOK) release, Korea’s household debt reached its historically highest level at the end of the third quarter in 2014. The report shows that at the end of September 2014, the household debt registered at 1,060.3 trillion won, a 6.7 percent year-on-year increase (993.6 trillion won)…

By Troy Stangarone One of the keys to attracting international investors to the Kaesong Industrial Complex is reducing the political risk of making an investment in the complex and providing a stable business environment. Since the reopening of Kaesong last year, only the German manufacturer, Groz-Beckert, has decided to take that risk. However, a new…

By Troy Stangarone At first glance, the prospect of a summit meeting between Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin makes sense. Both Russia and North Korea find themselves increasingly isolated internationally and a summit meeting presents a potential opportunity to demonstrate that they are not as isolated as some may believe. However, below the surface, a…

By Phil Eskeland On August 1, 1975, 35 nations representing the rival Eastern and Western bloc alliances[1] signed an accord that created the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) designed to reduce tensions and promote dialogue during the height of the Cold War as part of the “détente” policy of the 1970’s.  The…