Free trade agreements such as the KORUS FTA certainly aim to expand bilateral trade flows, but the greater contribution of such agreements is in improving the global competitiveness of each partner.
Just a few weeks ago, two sub-agencies within the U.S. Department of Commerce released two important statistics that have gone relatively unnoticed even by keen observers of Korea.
While the process of internationalizing Kaesong may be slow, production seems to be bouncing back to normal levels.
The issues that will be shaping events on the Korean Peninsula in 2015.
On December 30, 2014, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce, which regulates the exports of certain sensitive items from the United States, gave a gift to U.S. and Korean energy producers and consumers.
Changes in the global energy market provide a great opportunity to U.S. and Korea to generate mutual benefits through enhanced energy collaboration between the two countries.
Since reopening Kaesong last year, the German manufacturer, Groz-Beckert, is the only international firm to invest in the complex. However, a new action by North Korea may further set back the prospects of attracting additional firms.
South Korea’s ambition to become a regional free trade hub in East Asia took another step towards reality as South Korea and China announced the outline of a conclusion of their bilateral FTA negotiations
With Republicans winning a majority in the Senate for the first time in eight years, President Obama will face a Republican Congress for his final two years in office.
As the rest of the world gets accustomed to seeing Kim Jong-un walk with a cane, we might do well to figure out what, if anything, is changing about the way that the broader North Korean state engages with the economic powerhouses that engulf its southern and northern peripheries.