Why Does the U.S. Hesitate to Enforce Its Laws?

Why has the United States hesitated to impose the same legal measures against North Korea that it has already used with success against other countries...

Joining the Asia Space Race: South Korea’s Space Program

The Republic of Korea (ROK or South Korea) is an emerging space-faring nation seeking to expand its space capabilities in the realms of science, communications,...

Installing THAAD in Korea

In recent years, the United States expressed interested in deploying the Theater High Altitude Area Defense missile system or THAAD, onto the Korean peninsula to...

Potential Ramifications of the House’s North Korea Sanctions Act

Amid Congressional gridlock, the border crisis and a lawsuit against the President, a rather important and potentially consequential bill passed the House without much attention....

Asia’s Slippery Slope

This PDF is the full publication and contains all of the following sections: KEI Board of Directors KEI Advisory Council About the Korea Economic Institute...

South Korea’s Triangular Relations

The discussion at the AAS meetings on March 29, 2014 included not only the four authors, but also Thomas Christensen, moderator, and Evans Revere, presenter...

Divergence on Economic Regionalism

For a time the endgame appeared to be under way in TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) negotiations and attention was shifting from the potential competition between TPP,...

New Thinking on Diplomacy Toward North Korea

The fundamental question about the purpose of diplomacy regarding North Korea has come into stark focus. For a time Park Geun-hye seemed to be redoubling...

The Seoul-Beijing-Tokyo Triangle: Terra-centric Nordpolitik vs. Oceanic Realpolitik

History has shown that a power vacuum on the Korean Peninsula is an invitation to aggression. The 60-year-period from the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 to...

South Korea’s Search for a New Diplomatic Strategy Toward North Korea: Trustpolitik as a Goldilocks Approach?

With the North Korean nuclear threat still lingering, the international community’s decadeslong effort to bring about peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was in vain....

What to Do about North Korea

North Korea is the world’s most troublesome country, brutal at home and a bully abroad. In 2013 it became even more dangerous, both to its...

Purge of Jang Song-Taek and its Impact on China’s Policy Toward North Korea

On December 12 Jang Song-taek, largely considered the second most powerful man in North Korea and a well-known “China hand,” was executed for treason and...

Why is the Flow of Information so Threatening to the North Korean Regime?

Although greater information access into North Korean society may not provide overnight reforms to its governance, efforts such as “Hack North Korea” highlight how it...

Nuclear Politics on the Korean Peninsula

In the Shadow of Jang Song-Taek: Pyongyang’s Evolving SEZ Strategy with the Hwanggumpyeong and Wihwa Islands

This paper centers upon two potentially transformative Special Economic Zones (SEZs) on the DPRK’s northwestern frontier – Hwanggumpyeong and Wihwa Islands. As part of a...