Economics

President Donald Trump is off on his longest international trip yet, stopping in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. There, he is expected to tackle a range of…

In this episode, we spoke with Kevin O'Donnell, who, after decades on a private sector career path, became the first-ever Peace Corps country director for South Korea, followed by a…

On May 10, former human rights lawyer Moon Jae-In officially became the next president of South Korea, filling an office that had been empty since former President Park Geun-Hye's impeachment…

After the closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex last year, economic ties between North and South Korea have all but ceased. And as sanctions measures continue to tighten, the international…

On June 20, 2022, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) began recruiting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for a new program designed to bolster SMEs’ preparation against international patent disputes. This reflected Korea’s recognition of SMEs as a leader in the country’s technological advancement. According to the KIPO, the total number of patent applications in…

The OECD Economic Outlook, released on June 8th, projected that real GDP growth in OECD countries would drop by half from 5.5% in 2021 to 2.7% in 2022. The new projection is a sharp reduction from its December 2021 Outlook, which projected growth of 4.5% growth this year. With inflation expected to rise from 3.7%…

Yoon Suk Yeol was inaugurated on May 9th as Korea’s twentieth president. He takes office at a difficult with the global economy disrupted by the war in Ukraine and an increasingly threatening North Korea, which has launched 16 missile tests thus far this year. Meanwhile, inflation has accelerated to 4.8% (year-on-year), its fastest pace since…

On May 3, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration announced its 6 broad visions that will guide its policymaking over the next five years. These include (1) policy and legal reforms, (2) economic growth, (3) welfare, (4) education and innovation, (5) security, and (6) regional developments. Digging into their subcomponents, there are several continuities between Yoon's vision…

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