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On February 25, Lee Myung-bak was sworn in as the President of the Republic of Korea. In front of a crowd of some 60,000 gathered, including U.S. Secretary of State…
Korea is a tough economic competitor. Its meteoric rise over just 30 years from one of the poorest in the world to the ranks of the OECD helped earn Korea…
On December 19, the voters of South Korea elected Lee Myung-bak, the previous mayor of Seoul and a former business executive, to be the next president. The candidate of the…
Anyone who has spent time in the bustling streets of Seoul is familiar with the scene: commuters crowding into Daewoo buses, while salary men hurry home in their Hyundai sedans…
With worldwide familiarity of Korean pop culture increasing through the viral exposure of Korean musician Psy’s hit record “Gangnam Style”, this episode Korean Kontext speaks to Mark James Russell, author…
In this episode we spoke to B.R. Myers, author of “The Cleanest Race” and regular contributor to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic. Having been raised…
In this interview Korea Kontext speaks with Dr. Jennifer Lind, assistant professor at the Department of Government, Dartmouth College. Well known for her work on North Korea and N.E. Asia…
In this episode we spoke to comedian and actor Steven Byrne, of the brand new TBS series “Sullivan and Sons”. Known as one of the hardest working and energetic comics in…
By Troy Stangarone While 2011 will ultimately be remembered for the passing of Kim Jong-il, it was also a year of significant change and new milestones for both South Korea and the U.S.-Korea alliance. In many ways, 2011 really began in the waning days of 2010 for South Korea. On November 23 last year, North…
By Chad 0'Carroll Hundreds of thousands of mourning North Koreans lined the bitterly cold streets of Pyongyang today to say goodbye to their leader, Kim Jong-il. How real the tears were is impossible to say, but the images were nonetheless extremely reminiscent of what was seen at Kim Il Sung’s funeral – aside from the…
By Michael J. Mazarr The most significant thing about the dramatic change in North Korea is how little has changed. Kim Jong-il has died, inaugurating a period of complex maneuvering and potential instability within the North’s ruling clique. The succession to his son Kim Jong-un will be perilous: The regime’s legitimacy is grounded in personalities,…
By Ken Gause The death of Kim Chong-il does not only mean a transition in leadership as can be seen with the apparent coronation of Kim Chong-un as the successor. It also likely means a change in the leadership structure, which will potentially have a dramatic impact on how Pyongyang makes decisions and how those…