In April 2025, U.S. authorities issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) on salt from Taepyung Salt Farm, South Korea’s largest producer, citing concerns over forced labor and blocking its entry into the U.S. market. Months later, officials at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul reviewed allegations of exploitation involving intellectually disabled workers at a major salt…
March 2, 2026
The U.S.-South Korea relationship underwent profound changes in 2025 due to a myriad of factors, including new leadership, protectionist trade policies, and continued volatility on the Korean Peninsula and across the Indo-Pacific. As both countries grapple with new realities in the bilateral relationship, Seoul faces the challenge of strengthening alliance credibility while expanding strategic autonomy…
February 2, 2026
The following is part of a new miniseries from KEI surveying the most important developments and trends in the U.S.-South Korea relationship in 2025. You can read all year-in-review pieces by clicking here. In 2025, security developments on the Korean Peninsula underscored both the durability and the evolution of the U.S.-South Korea alliance. Against the…
January 7, 2026
On many foreign policy questions, American voters are sharply divided. But on nuclear weapons, a bipartisan consensus still holds. New polling by the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI) and YouGov shows broad public opposition to letting allies such as South Korea develop nuclear weapons, even as risks from North Korea, Russia, and other countries…