Inter-Korean

In this episode, Korea Economic Institute’s Director of Public Affairs and Regional Issues Sarah Yun speaks with Dr. Andrei Lankov of Kookimin University. Having written a number of books on…

What Happened On February 9, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification discussed potentially reopening the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex. Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un agreed to reopen the complex in 2018. However, North Korea has not shown any willingness to cooperate on inter-Korean issues at the moment, including the Kaesong Industrial Complex. Implications: Despite South Korea’s offer of economic…

What Happened On January 20, Moon Jae-in announced he would replace Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha with special advisor Chung Eui-yong. There has been some speculation from the opposition People Power Party that Kang’s dismissal is in response to negative comments towards the incumbent foreign minister from Pyongyang. The Blue House stated that Chung was nominated to facilitate a closer relationship with…

A three-hour military parade and a fireworks display in Pyongyang on January 14 punctuated the end of the 8th Congress of the Workers Party of Korea.  The 8th Congress, which lasted eight days, was the first such high party gathering since 2016 and only the second since the 6th Congress was held in 1980.  Such…

We were reminded last year that it can be difficult to anticipate the events that will dominate any given year. As 2020 began, few people expected focus of the world or the Korean Peninsula to be on a global pandemic, but that is how the year unfolded. South Korea has handled the pandemic relatively well…