Asia

Since the signing of the Mutual Defense Treaty in 1953, the U.S.-ROK alliance has been tremendously successful in deterring a large-scale attack by the DPRK. Even during national famines and…

This paper builds on the assumption that Korean engagement with Latin American countries is related to resources endowment on both sides. This makes for an interdependent relationship in which Korea…

Along with the revolution in the information technology (IT) industry, the world economy has also witnessed a spectacular rise of the financial industry in recent decades. The GDP share of…

Following several lost decades of stagnant growth and bad governance after independence in the 1960s, African countries are now resurgent. Whether one looks at gross domestic product (GDP) growth, investment…

In this episode, Korean Kontext speaks with Ms. Jie-ae Sohn, President of Arirang TV & Radio, Korea’s first English language international broadcast system. Ms. Sohn worked as the former CNN…

Preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons has emerged to be one of the key foreign policy priorities of the Obama administration. Despite efforts among Western powers to form a united…

By the time you read this, the KORUS FTA will have entered the implementation stage. To celebrate, Korean Kontext caught up with two of the main movers-and-shakers behind the deal…

This episode of Korean Kontext has a distinctly British flavor, featuring interviews with two leading Ambassador’s that work closely on UK and Korea related affairs. While recently in London, Korean…

South Korea stands out for its investments in innovation, notably high enrollment rates in tertiary education and large investments in research and development (R&D) and patents. Nevertheless, labor productivity (output per worker) in South Korea was 23 percent below the average among OECD countries in 2021. Strengthening the innovation ecosystem and boosting the return on…

The blatant abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea around 40 years ago continues to be a sensitive and controversial issue for the Japanese government and the Japanese people, as well as a serious obstacle to improved relations between Pyongyang and Tokyo. From about 1977 to 1983, North Korean military and intelligence operatives kidnapped at…

Doctors’ strikes have made headlines and become a domestic political flash point in Korea, but they are only part of a global problem regarding medical training.  In 2024, junior doctors and interns went on strike in the United Kingdom and Kenya, while China’s Xinhua News Agency highlighted the need for medical education reform due to…

Two years into his tenure, President Yoon Suk Yeol seems proud of his efforts to realize his foreign policy vision. “The global pivotal state diplomacy that we have put into practice since the launch of this government has become the government's signature policy,” he told chiefs of missions during a banquet, according to the Yonhap…