Domestic

This week, Congress introduced 2 articles of impeachment against President Trump. One for abuse of power and one for obstruction of Congress. The ongoing confrontation between the White House and…

While it is frustrating to see North Korean projectiles flying out to sea and Pyongyang’s erratic, unpredictable reactions in negotiations, we cannot forget where things stood in 2017 – the…

30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, people’s aspiration to establish a pluralistic liberal democracy appears to be under scrutiny around the world – anti-immigration policies dominate political…

In March, a curious protest took place in Seoul. Private kindergartens were going on strike. Protests by industry groups or workers are not uncommon in South Korea, but something about…

South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol recently announced plans to relocate the presidential residence from its current location to Yongsan, a district in Seoul best known for previously hosting a U.S. garrison. The decision has been controversial. Among speculations on Yoon’s unstated rationale, a prominent line of discourse attributes the move to longstanding rumors about the…

A survey from August to October 2021 found that 48% of call center workers thought about taking their own lives. They cited economic difficulty from below living-wage standards and mental stress from customers' verbal abuse as two primary reasons for their suicidal thoughts. Furthermore, 25% of respondents responded that they experienced heavy workload and unfair…

The Ministry of Environment reported that South Korea’s plastic use went up 19% in 2020. In response, the government has called for the resumption of a ban on disposable items for dine-in customers in coffee shops in April. While citizens generally agree with the government’s broader aims to reduce waste, many also empathize with small…

Given the paucity of data on North Korea, the food prices provided by Rimjingang and DailyNK are often used for a variety of analytic purposes: to monitor seasonal fluctuations that most affect the poor; as a wider proxy for inflation; and as an indicator of larger constraints on the economy, including sanctions and the border…

The conversation will be livestreamed on YouTube.

Please join KEI and KIEP for a discussion about the first 10 years of KORUS and the future of the U.S.-Korea economic relationship.

Please join KEI for a discussion on American attitudes towards the Korean Peninsula after the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Please join KEI for a discussion on how COVID-19 has affected the growing rivalry between the United States and China.