Asia

This paper argues that the impact of Hallyu (the Korean Wave) on the Korean economy has only been effective in boosting related sectors, such as cosmetics, fashion, and tourism. Interestingly,…

This paper proposes a framework for conceptualizing middle powerism in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, using South Korea as an example. The paper argues that the systemic transformation…

In the context of growing US-China tensions, South Korean administrations have opted for degrees of strategic ambiguity, refraining from overt actions that suggest South Korea is taking sides. While strategic…

KEI’s 2021 Report on American Attitudes Toward the Korean Peninsula summarizes results from a survey commissioned by KEI and conducted by YouGov on August 30th to September 7th, 2021. The…

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.…

What Happened During his visit to Iran, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said that South Korea should “quickly return” the USD 7 billion in Iranian assets frozen as a result of U.S.-led sanctions. PM Chung also expressed South Korea’s willingness to provide Iran with humanitarian aid, and stated that Seoul would be willing to support future negotiations on…

The government of North Korea continues to report that it has no cases of COVID-19.  In its most recent submission to the World Health Organization on April 1, Pyongyang reported that it had tested a total of 23,121 people for the coronavirus as of April 1.  It said that all results were negative. For a…

What Happened During a speech commemorating the 1948 Jeju Uprising, Moon Jae-in highlighted a recently-revised National Assembly bill that will strengthen compensation for victims of this historical event. This is the fourth year in a row that Moon has spoken in a ceremony recognizing the Jeju Uprising and its victims, and he is the second president to…

By Stephan Haggard A review of Guns, Guerillas and the Great Leader by Benjamin Young (Stanford University Press, 2021) A recent trend in the diplomatic history of the postwar period is to de-center the focus on the major powers and pay more attention to how developing countries forged relations with one another. Reflective of this…