Economics

Though hesitant to officially join the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy, South Korea is seeking to promote many of the same values through the Moon administration’s “New Southern Policy.” Central to this…

This month, the world was reminded once again that the relationship between the Republic of Korea and Japan is deeply fractious. Japan has imposed restrictions on the export of chemical…

The North Korean economy is changing – we know this because of widely reported growth of private markets since the famine of 1990s. But black markets and illicit activities are…

Recently released data from the Department of Commerce confirmed that the United States achieved record-level export of services to South Korea in 2018 – $24.5 billion. Combined with the trade…

Investment Announcements December 20, 2023 ­­– LG Chem begins construction on its cathode plant in Clarksville, Tennessee, set to begin production in 2026. The $1.4 billion injection as part of the construction is the first phase of its $3.2 billion investment plan delineated in an MOU LG Chem signed with the State of Tennessee in…

North Korea was the first country to severely restrict travel and trade across its borders when the pandemic began in 2020. While the rest of the world has since largely returned to normal, many of North Korea’s COVID restrictions remained in place at the beginning of 2023. However, Pyongyang began to ease these constraints in…

In April 2023, provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) went into effect regarding standards for battery components and critical mineral materials. This had been the source of significant uncertainty for Korean electric vehicle (EV) makers and their suppliers as Korean companies were subsequently left off the list of eligible vehicles for the Section 30D…

Korea’s real GDP growth will rebound to more than 2 percent in 2024 and 2025, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s bi-annual economic projections published at the end of November (Figure 1). The OECD’s outlook of 2.3 percent next year is in line with the 2.1 percent and 2.2 percent forecasts…

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