Foreign Relations

Adhering to the action-for-action framework of the February 13, 2007 agreement, North Korea and the United States traded symbolic actions last week that grabbed the headlines—explosive video footage of North…

For Korea watchers—and particularly for those of us who worked closely on events associated with President Lee’s visit to Washington—April was a very rewarding month. After multiple protocol meetings, site…

On September 20, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) released its report on the KORUS FTA. The ITC study is a required analysis under Trade Promotion Authority that explores the…

KEI recently completed its sixteenth annual Ambassadors’ Dialogue program (previously called the Korea Caravan), featuring Lee Tae-sik, the Republic of Korea’s Ambassador to the United States, and Alexander Vershbow, United…

South Korea, Japan, and the United States have pledged to deepen security cooperation in response to growing threats from North Korea. On June 11, the nations convened at a Trilateral Ministerial Meeting and issued a joint statement condemning North Korea’s provocative posture and reaffirming their commitment to nuclear non-proliferation. But this trilateral alignment repeats the…

Over the last half decade, the Korean Peninsula has seen the prospect of war during Donald Trump’s period of “fire and fury,” but also a period of negotiations that resulted in a series of North-South and U.S.-North Korea summits. While war was avoided, those efforts at negotiation ultimately failed. The aftermath of those failed negotiations,…

After more than two years since the start of the pandemic, COVID-19 has finally been detected in North Korea. Despite strict border controls limiting the movement of people and goods to prevent entry of the novel coronavirus, state media reported on 12 May that the Omicron BA.2 variant had been found in a sample taken…

On May 24, officials in Seoul announced that a one-star navy officer would accompany South Korea’s largest-ever fleet to the biannual U.S.-led maritime military exercise, known as the Rim of Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC). The exercise intends to “ensure the safety of major sea lines of communications and improve combined capabilities” of U.S. partners in the…