Asia

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (henceforth North Korea) certainly seems to like being different from other countries. Whereas governments of virtually all the world’s countries regularly publish data on…

Recent developments on the Korean peninsula are raising expectations that the DPRK may finally be ready for a new era of political rapprochement and economic opening. This possibility is reflected…

The United States and Korea finished the eighth round of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) in mid-March 2007, and the agreement is likely to be concluded eventually.1…

The U.S.-ROK bilateral economic relationship entered a new era 1 April 2007 when President George W. Bush notified the U.S. Congress of his intent to enter into a free trade…

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 Until December 2020, Korea maintained a singular publicly mandated digital authentication system for accessing online services. Surveys showed that this protocol was unpopular among users. In December 2020, the government began allowing online vendors to use authentication systems of their choosing. However, the change has caused confusion as many people are now unable to access online services using verification…

A few months ago, the New York Times reported that North Korea’s ruler, Kim Jong-un, had called K-pop a ‘vicious cancer.’ Rather than see this pronouncement as an exceptional step taken by a totalitarian regime, one can think of this as yet another expression of an ongoing struggle to control information entering North Korea. In…

In a previous issue of Korea View, KEI called attention to the growing popularity of cultural products in South Korea that explore difficult societal issues. In addition to the movie Parasite, recent examples of this trend include the TV show Taxi Driver (모범택시; not to be confused with the 2017 movie) which focuses on a group of…

What Happened New e-commerce start-ups are growing fast in areas such as fashion, online payments, ride-hailing, delivery, and biotechnology. In 2020, South Korea’s e-commerce market ranked 5th worldwide. Sales are expected to grow 9% to $120.56 billion in 2021. South Korea has 10 startup companies valued at over $1 billion making it the third-largest hub for such firms in the…