Economics

We imagine North Korea as a country that is carrying on not only a conflict left over from the Cold War, but also a decrepit legacy economy from the past.…

When people talk about South Korea’s foreign policy, they are more often than not focused on how Seoul engages with its immediate neighbors on denuclearization. However, as a global trading…

2018 has been an incredibly eventful year for both the Koreas and the U.S.-Korea relationship: from North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics at the start of the year to…

The Trump Administration is once again considering using Section 232 to impose tariffs on imported goods based on a threat to national security. The President originally used this provision to…

A video version of the 10 Issues to Watch for on the Korean Peninsula in 2023 with the blog's authors is available on KEI's YouTube channel. The most significant event to impact the Korean Peninsula in 2022 was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As in much of the world, the war had the effect of furthering…

This is the second in a two-part series looking at youth employment in Korea. Part 1 can be found here. Korea’s low youth employment rate reflects the mismatch between the education system and the labor market. The mismatch is driven in part by young people’s pursuit of higher education in hopes of obtaining a “Golden…

This is the first in a two part series looking at youth employment in Korea. The employment rate for Korean youth (aged 15-29) is well below the OECD average (Figure 1), with negative consequences for the young people concerned and the economy. Youth unemployment and inactivity have a long-term scarring effect that reduces employment rates later…

This is the ninth piece in a series looking at how the issues identified in KEI’s annual “10 Issues to Watch for on the Korean Peninsula” series and other issues of note developed in 2022. The original “10 Issues” piece can be found here. Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, South Korea announced that it would…

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