Asia

International oil prices have risen dramatically, raising the possibility of a “third oil shock.” During the first oil crisis in 1973, the annual average price soared to $85/barrel (bbl) in…

After more than two years of negotiation, false starts, and delay, Korea announced in April its intention to fully open its market to imports of U.S. beef, subject to finalization…

For Korea watchers—and particularly for those of us who worked closely on events associated with President Lee’s visit to Washington—April was a very rewarding month. After multiple protocol meetings, site…

As reported in the previous issue of Korea Insight (“The Bulldozer Moves In: Lee Myung-bak is Inaugurated as the Republic of Korea’s President”), President Lee moved to streamline the government…

Recently released data from the Department of Commerce confirmed that the United States achieved record-level export of services to South Korea in 2018 – $24.5 billion. Combined with the trade…

We imagine North Korea as a country that is carrying on not only a conflict left over from the Cold War, but also a decrepit legacy economy from the past.…

The second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on February 27 and 28 ended without an agreement. The key difference in the two leaders’ negotiating…

As the complex negotiations between North Korea, the United States, and South Korea continue, it is worthwhile to review what the current U.S. presence on the Korean Peninsula looks like.…

By Phil Eskeland Recently, there has been some discussion among certain opinion makers in the United States claiming that the U.S. bears all the burden in defending allies against potential North Korean aggression.  Currently, the U.S. has approximately 28,500 troops stationed on the Korean peninsula.  Many other U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region participate in…

With the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II over the weekend, KEI takes a look back at what has changed on the Korean Peninsula from the 1945 to today. The three boxes compare a unified peninsula before the Korean War to North and South Korea in the 2010s. By looking at GDP,…

By Troy Stangarone In the pantheon of executions, one would not expect to see a niche devoted to disagreements over forestry policy, which makes the news that Vice Premier Choe Yong-gon was executed by Kim Jong-un for a disagreement over reforesting North Korea and poor job performance such a perplexing development. Executions of high level…

By Nicholas Hamisevicz When it’s a hot summer day in July, one often has to make the strategic calculation of what particular circumstances would require one to leave the friendly confines of a place with working air conditioning. Similarly, it seemed the two Koreas were only going to deal with each other during July under…