Asia

Along with commercial banks, capital markets are an integral part of the financial systems in most capitalist economies, and their relative importance is constantly increasing. Countries around the world are…

Central banks have two responsibilities: (1) stabilize the value of the currency and (2) maintain public confidence in deposit money by limiting systemic risk. The first responsibility is primary, ongoing,…

In the unfolding process of the Korean financial crisis in 1997, an inefficient corporate bankruptcy system played a damaging role in the Korean economy. Before the crisis, in 1996 and…

Although Korea has seen its economic growth rates come down from the stratospheric heights of previous decades, it remains, by any advanced-country yardstick, a successful economic performer. Korea’s real GDP…

When Kim Jong-il died in 2011, the world held its breath as North Korea entered uncharted waters. No other communist dictatorship in the last century – for that matter no…

On June 25, 1950, North Korea launched a surprise invasion of South Korea and started a war that is still technically ongoing. But it was – as North Korea’s Kim…

The North Korean economy is changing – we know this because of widely reported growth of private markets since the famine of 1990s. But black markets and illicit activities are…

In May, The Korean-born Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin was named The National League Pitcher of the Month. When you think of Asians and baseball, you might think first…

By Lilka Marino On the evening of 23 September, 1.6 billion Muslims all across the globe will begin their yearly observance of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice. During this time, Muslims from North Africa to East Asia honor both the sacrifices made by Abraham and the end of the traditional season of…

By Troy Stangarone South Korea saw the largest drop in exports since the global recession in 2009 in August with exports falling 14.7 percent year-on-year. One sited cause of the decline is slowing economic growth in China, which now accounts for about 25 percent of South Korea’s exports. With China now South Korea’s most significant…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz This week KEI is hosting an event examining India and Korea as increasingly important countries in a rising Asia. Even though much attention has been placed on China this month as some world leaders recently visited Beijing for its military parade celebrating the end of World War II and with Xi Jinping’s upcoming…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a fixture that constantly symbolizes the unresolved tension between the two Koreas. That tension came crashing into plain view in the recent standoff between North and South Korea.  In early August, landmines along the DMZ suspected to be recently planted by North Korea injured two South Korean…