Asia

Abe Shinzo is the longest-serving prime minister in post-World War II Japan. Having occupied the office since December 2012, Abe has attempted to leverage his stable tenure to increase Japan’s…

While President Moon Jae-in has a calmer demeanor than his mentor and friend, former President Roh Moo-hyun, there can be no doubt that his vision for transforming Northeast Asia is…

“Hindu nationalism risks pushing India into war with China,” blared the headline from China’s nationalist tabloid, Global Times. Meanwhile, in Washington, a wide-ranging network of analysts optimistic on U.S.-India ties…

U.S. views of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have been hardening for at least two decades, from George W. Bush characterizing China in the 2000 presidential campaign and the…

Korean Kontext recently spoke to Gordon Flake of the Mike and Maureen Mansfield Foundation for a conversation about Korea’s rising prominence as a “middle power”.  Focussing on South Korea’s rapidly…

62 years ago on this day of June 25, hostilities broke out on the Korean peninsula. It was a conflict that ended only due to what everybody thought would be…

Korean Kontext caught up with Man Asian literary prize winner Shin Kyung-sook for a chat about her latest novel, “Please Look After Mom”.  Shin became the first woman and South…

In this special episode, Korean Kontext had the opportunity to speak to South Korean Minister for Trade, Bark Taeho, during his latest visit to Washington DC. KEI’s Vice President, Dr.…

During the week from May 28 to June 2, North Korea released over 1,000 large balloons across the demilitarized zone (DMZ) into South Korea. The balloons carried payloads of manure, cigarette butts, used batteries, cloth and plastic fragments, and lots of scrap paper (including used toilet paper). One report said that even dirty diapers were…

Questions of whether the K-pop market has peaked are hardly new. Concerns about market oversaturation have been raised since the inception of the third generation in 2012 when the number of groups that debuted annually more than tripled. New bands from industry powerhouses are not making the expected impact in sales, and there has been…

The Ninth Korea-Japan-China Trilateral Leader Summit, hosted in Seoul on May 27, marked the first meeting since the annual event went on hiatus after 2019. Amidst a shifting global economic order, its proclamations affirmed continued trade relations with China by Korea and Japan and brought a new sense of dynamism to economic cooperation among the…

The semi-annual OECD Economic Outlook released in May projects that global GDP growth will remain around 3 percent in 2024 and 2025, shown below in Figure 1. The report’s outlook reflects the continued impact of tight monetary conditions. Nevertheless, the report cites several positive trends, such as falling inflation and improving private-sector confidence. With unemployment…