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 Juni Kim South Korean President Moon Jae-in garnered attention last week with the announcement of the newest presidential resident, a rescue dog named Tory. President Moon adopted the four year old dog from the group Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (CARE), an activist organization which campaigns against the consumption of dog meat in…

By Jenna Gibson As several KEI analyses have shown, South Korea’s tourism industry  has been one of the main casualties of China’s economic retaliation over deployment of the THAAD missile defense system. New estimates from the Korea Tourism Organization show that China’s retaliation could cost Korea up to 5 million tourists this year, five times as…

By William Brown ICBMs are not the only things soaring in North Korean skies.  Comprehensive second quarter data released by China Customs last week shows a huge jump in North Korea’s trade deficit with China—sharply falling North Korean exports and flat imports, a double bad combination.  And, potentially troubling to the Kim regime, the composition…

By Phil Eskeland (“That’s Where the Money Is.”[1]) Last week, the House of Representatives and the Senate overwhelming passed and sent to President Trump’s desk a new sanctions bill for his expected signature. The bill originally focused on Russia and Iran when it was first adopted by the Senate, but was expanded after bipartisan, bicameral…