North America

Long before BTS and Psy made their debut, a handful of entrepreneurs were laying the foundations for what would become the Korean Wave in the United States. With Korean pop culture…

Korea today leads the world in autos and electronics, but newly emerging manufacturers and protectionism threaten the country's position as a leading exporter. In search of innovative industries that will…

K-pop had an explosive year in 2018, but it didn't arise from a vacuum. Since 1998, one web community – Soompi – has been sharing the latest information about Korea's…

For the latest episode, Korean Kontext spoke to Korean-American actor James Kyson. Having made waves for his performance as Japanese character Ando Masahashi on hit NBC television series “Heroes”, Korean Kontext…

KEI’s 2021 Report on American Attitudes on the U.S.-ROK Alliance and North Korea Policy summarizes results from a survey commissioned by KEI and conducted by YouGov on May 6th to…

This paper addresses the U.S.-South Korea alliance in the context of Asia’s evolving security architecture. At the crux of the issue is the Biden administration’s desire to uphold the rules-based…

The Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI), with the generous support of the Korea Foundation, organized six “Vision Group” roundtable conversations with leading American scholars and commentators to discuss the…

“You should get rid of the CHIP Act and whatever’s left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt. Or any other reason you want to.” This pronouncement from President Donald Trump’s first address to Congress in his second term fully unmasked his administration’s trade 2.0 agenda. If realized, the repeal of the…

There is much speculation about the future of certain funding awards and tax breaks under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA is a federally enacted legislation, meaning its repeal would require an act of Congress. However, so far under Trump 2.0, the executive branch has been testing the full extent of its power.…

In addition to chips and pharmaceuticals, U.S. President Donald Trump has officially stated that he plans on introducing a tariff of roughly 25 percent on cars entering the United States, beginning April 2. Its imposition is likely to severely affect U.S.-South Korea economic relations, as well as the U.S. economy itself. Passenger vehicles have constituted…

On Monday evening, President Donald Trump unveiled 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the United States, eliminating the exemptions that had allowed South Korea to export steel under a quota. Representing an opening salvo of second-term trade actions impacting Korea and other countries, the tariffs will deeply affect the United States’ ability…