Economics

    In the mid-1990s, North Korea experienced a famine that by some estimates wiped out 10 percent of the population. Though many at the time thought the regime would…

    On April 8, North Korea withdrew all of its workers from the Kaesong Industrial Complex, temporarily placing on hold the last form of cooperation between North and South…

With worldwide familiarity of Korean pop culture increasing through the viral exposure of Korean musician Psy’s hit record “Gangnam Style”, this episode Korean Kontext speaks to Mark James Russell, author…

In this episode we spoke to B.R. Myers, author of “The Cleanest Race” and regular contributor to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic.  Having been raised…

By Jenna Gibson Amid plunging exports, Korean cosmetics brands are defying the odds. According to new numbers released by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, exports of beauty products are up 53 percent in the first nine months of 2015 even though exports as a whole are down an average of 6.6 percent. “Experts…

By Kyle Ferrier Five years have passed since South Korea served as the G-20 host in 2010, yet contributions from its presidency of the multilateral economic forum are crucial to this year’s talks. This week’s G-20 summit in Antalya, Turkey is underpinned by months of dialogue between a range of government officials from all parties…

By Phil Eskeland This was a very interesting week in Washington – three seminal events happened (no, the visit of Prince Harry doesn’t count) that were linked in some fashion to the surprise resignation of House Speaker John Boehner announced last month. First, on October 26th, the House of Representatives reauthorized a little known agency…

By Kyle Ferrier In a 2014 speech in Dresden attempting to apply lessons from German unification to the Korean Peninsula South Korean President Park Geun Hye introduced the possibility for a Northeast Asian Development Bank. Still in the nascent stage of planning, it would serve as a multilateral development bank (MDB) to attract investment in…

As disruptions in supply chains continue, what practical steps can the U.S. and Korea take to strengthen supply chains against future crises?