Asia

Digitalization could open a new era of growth for Korea. Previous expansion waves, based on traditional industries, have fostered export-led growth and placed Korea among the world’s top ten economies.…

After an initial surge in cases, Korea was less seriously affected by the COVID-19 virus than other countries, but the subsequent recovery was relatively mild. The negative effect was concentrated…

This paper deals with one of the most critical issues in contemporary international relations: how China’s rise challenges foreign policies of U.S. allies, with a focus on the Republic of…

The rivalry between the United States and China is affecting countries in its midst. This particularly applies to South Korea. The country is a strong economic player with a successful…

June 25, 2020 marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. The conflict on the Korean Peninsula has been going on for so long that we sometimes…

2020 is starting off dramatically with the escalation of tensions in the Middle East – The world held its breath while the United States and Iran exchanged both blows and…

While it is frustrating to see North Korean projectiles flying out to sea and Pyongyang’s erratic, unpredictable reactions in negotiations, we cannot forget where things stood in 2017 – the…

30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, people’s aspiration to establish a pluralistic liberal democracy appears to be under scrutiny around the world – anti-immigration policies dominate political…

KEI Communications Director Jenna Gibson, host of Korean Kontext, recently interviewed Bruce Klingner of the Heritage Foundation on North Korea’s recent Workers Party Congress, the first since 1980. The following is a partial transcript of that conversation. The rest of the conversation can be found at http://keia.podbean.com/. Jenna Gibson: This week has all been about North…

By Troy Stangarone Should South Korea develop a nuclear weapon to deter North Korea? Should Japan go nuclear as well? These questions have been asked since North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test earlier this year and Donald Trump suggested that both countries might need to eventually develop their own nuclear deterrents. While much of…

By William Brown September, 1961 was not a happy time in South Korea, at least according to the US Intelligence Community.  See how CIA described the dismal situation soon after junta commander Park Chung-hee’s coup d’état, in a declassified National Intelligence Estimate. “The greatest threat to South Korea, at least in the near term, comes…

By Mark Tokola The upcoming May 6th Congress of the Worker’s Party of (North) Korea is already a noteworthy event simply because it is happening at all.  There has not been a Party Congress since 1980, although in recent decades ‘Party Conferences’ have provided alternative platforms for announcing major decisions, such as the April 2012…