Asia

South Korean–Middle Eastern relations have been neglected in the literature throughout the years, mainly owing to the focus on Korea’s relations with the United States and Asian states and the…

An old Korean proverb says that when two whales fight it is the shrimps whose backs are crushed. Maybe that proverb best describes Korea’s situation on the trade front these…

The Domestic and International Politics of Spent Nuclear Fuel in South Korea: Are We Approaching Meltdown?

Geography alone would give Russia a prominent role in the Korean peninsula. The Russian Federation currently shares a recently demarcated 17-kilometer common border along the Tumen River with the Democratic…

In this episode we speak with Doug Goudie, Director of International Trade Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Mr. Goudie draws from his experiences to share his perspective…

In this episode we hear from Tami Overby, Vice President for Asia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and former President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea. Ms.…

Now in its tenth year, KEI’s Opinion Leaders Seminar (OLS) is an annual gathering of some of the world’s foremost policymakers and scholars on the U.S.-South Korean alliance. In this…

An exclusive interview with Dr. Alon Levkowitz, author of the most recent edition of the Korea Economic Institute’s Academic Paper Series. His paper, titled “The Republic of Korea and the…

What Happened In 2011, the South Korean government made an anti-online gaming law dubbed the “shutdown law” or the “Cinderella law” that blocks those under the age of 16 from accessing games after midnight in an effort to curb game addiction among adolescents. This year, teens blocked from buying the popular computer game Minecraft petitioned the presidential office to…

After the first U.S-North Korea summit held in Singapore in 2018, President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un vowed to “establish new U.S.–DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.” Although an end of war declaration has been identified as one way for both sides…

In the summer of 2017 Rex Tillerson, during his tenure as Secretary of State for the first 13 months of the Trump administration, authorized a “Geographical Travel Restriction” prohibiting U.S. citizens from traveling “into, through or in North Korea.”  The travel prohibition became effective on September 1, 2017, and it was valid for one year. …

What Happened Last year, President Moon Jae-in announced the Youth Hope Package Assistance, an approximately USD 17 billion-budget project to address the youth’s economic challenges. The package includes a recently-announced college tuition assistance plan to support families with multiple children. The new policy comes as a growing number of people struggle with the high cost of housing and childcare in Korea.…