Asia

South Korea is currently engaged, once again, in a large-scale, expensive modernization of its military that aims to provide the country with a more robust and self-sufficient defense. The timing…

Globalization is a hallmark of the twenty first-century world. As transportation and telecommunications grow in both efficiency and level of performance and as the ambit of the Internet expands, it…

The penetration of the Internet in Korean society is usually seen as a positive development, perhaps even a model for other countries; more efficient bureaucracy, more political figures making use…

In the field of international security, few connections have been made between the Korean peninsula with the Middle East. Traditional regional studies literature focuses on Korean issues within the Asia…

In this episode, Korea Economic Institute’s Director of Communications Chad 0Carroll speaks with Scott Snyder of the Council on Foreign Relations. Having written a number of publications on U.S. relations…

In this episode, Korea Economic Institute’s Director of Public Affairs and Regional Issues Sarah Yun speaks with Dr. Andrei Lankov of Kookimin University. Having written a number of books on…

In this episode, new Korean Kontext presenter speaks with Curtis Melvin, the man behind the NK Econ Watch blog and developer of “North Korea Uncovered”, a Google Map overlay that…

In this episode, we speak with Kevin O’Donnell, who, after decades on a private sector career path, became the first-ever Peace Corps country director for South Korea, followed by a…

By Jenna Gibson After the surprise October 30 announcement that South Korea and China will begin working together to facilitate better relations between the two countries and that Presidents Moon and Xi would soon meet for a summit, speculation soared that there will finally be a détente between Seoul and Beijing, which have been locked…

By Donald Manzullo Part of President Moon’s plans for re-invigorating his country’s economy is to address the huge problem of unemployment and underemployment, especially among Korea’s youth. Over 11 percent of those between 15 and 29 are not employed, a figure that is almost three times the rate of the jobless. Koreans have long had…

By Troy Stangarone Since South Korea decided to move forward with the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in the aftermath of North Korea’s fourth nuclear test last year, China has made its opposition to the deployment clear and attempted to use targeted economic pressure to convince South Korea to not…

By Troy Stangarone If negotiating a nuclear deal with North Korea was already a fraught proposition, President Donald Trump’s decision to no longer certify the Iran nuclear deal despite Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) just made that prospect all the more difficult. For decades one of the main obstacles to…