Asia

In 2005, the Korean ambassador to China was excited about the completion within five years of the target trade volume of over $100 billion with China, which was set by…

Economic Interdependence Between Korea and the United States

The Matter of the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement Negotiations

The 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks shocked the world twice: first, their unimaginable method of attack and, second, the U.S. response in their wake. Doctrines, policies, and actions that emerged…

Although it is happening more rapidly in South Korea, an aging society is a common feature in post-industrial societies around the world. With the number of retirees growing and the…

In March, Seoul suffered from the worst air pollution on record. Enough that the South Korean government has officially designated the problem as a "social disaster." But what is causing…

Over the past few years, Korea and Koreans have experienced incredible political, social, and diplomatic shifts. It is hard keeping up with all these new developments as a Korea Watcher,…

Even before the meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, foreign policy practitioners and observers were talking about the difficulties of sequencing international sanctions relief for North Korea…

This is the first in a 2 part series looking at the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2014 (H.R. 1771). Second piece in the series is available here. By Bruce Klingner Former Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell recently observed that North Korea was not the most heavily sanctioned country in the world as…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz Recently, there was a big setback in Korea-India relations. The deal that was made back in 2011 for India to purchase eight minesweepers from South Korea is currently on hold and may soon be scuttled. It was announced that India’s Ministry of Defense launched an inquiry into the claim that the Kangnam…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz For a month often associated with summer doldrums, a lot of things were happening on the Korean peninsula in August 2014. Events such as Pope Francis’s visit to South Korea, the joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises, a clash between the two Koreas in the West Sea, negotiations over the North Korean cheerleaders…

By Joseph Dahl Two pieces of Congressional legislation, while still in their nascent stages, have the potential to reshape U.S. policy on North Korea. A bill known as H.R. 1771, or the North Korean Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2014, recently passed the House, and a bill specifically addressing North Korea’s human rights was introduced by…