South Korea’s shipbuilding industry, which used to be its main pillar, is on the edge of a precipice now. What is worrisome under the circumstances is the blueprint and orientation of the interested parties in the industry.South Korean banks’ exposure to the sector is more than whopping 70 trillion
South Korean exporters to USA face a looming threat from recent amendments to US trade laws, i.e. Trade Preferences Extension Act of June 2015 and Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of February 2016, which arm the Department of Commerce (“Commerce”), International Trade Commission (“ITC”)
Industrial and corporate restructuring is emerging as a hot-button issue in South Korea in the wake of the general election in April. Although both the ruling and opposition parties are concentrating on the economic matter at the same time, their opinions are split when it comes to the specifics.The
South Koreans are extremely disappointed with the recent political behaviors of the country’s ruling and opposition parties ahead of the April 13 general election. It is concerned that their disappointment may lead to political indifference as well as political distrust to cause the nation to fail t
It seems that the official negotiations between Washington and Seoul regarding the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on the Korean Peninsula, which picked up a high speed after North Korea’s recent nuclear provocation, has caused Beijing to turn to be in favor of s
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited China on January 27 and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Their talks bore little fruit though.This means China is still hesitating about a drastic change of its stance on North Korea and consequently, the North’s recent nu
The foreign ministers of Korea and Japan met with each other on Dec. 28 and reached an agreement with regard to the comfort women issue. The agreement is regarded as the Japanese government’s first official recognition of its responsibility for the matter.At the press conference that followed the me
The Federal Reserve raised the key interest rate on Dec. 16 for the first time in nine and half years after 2006. The 0.25 percentage point hike, in particular, signals a significant impact on emerging economies. The Korean economy, which relies heavily on export, is likely to face a threat with its
Former President Kim Young-sam has passed away. He was a pillar of recent Korean history, which achieved both the democratization and industrialization of a country within the shortest period of time in the history of the world.Like other politicians, he left footprints of both merits and drawbacks.
A summit meeting of Korea, China and Japan is scheduled to be held on Nov. 1 for the first time since May 2012. The hottest issue of the meeting is likely to be history, as in the summit talks between Korea and Japan scheduled for Nov. 2.On Oct. 27, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Japa
“A unification of the Korean Peninsula is the ultimate solution of the North Korean nuclear issue,” President Park Geun-hye said after a summit meeting between South Korea and China on Sept. 3, adding, “I had in-depth discussions on peaceful unification of the Korean peninsula with China.” However,
Inter-Korean relations saw a dramatic turnaround on the brink of a crisis on Aug. 25. Both the political community and the media in South Korea are praising the government, which led the negotiations, and the public is in favor of the result as well. It is said that both Koreas escaped a war crisis,
For many entrepreneurs seeking to develop and grow the next disruptive technology, accessing venture capital (VC) is a very alluring and seemingly inevitable step on the yellow brick road to fame and fortune. But the VC fund-raising process is complex, frequently painful, and not for everyone. For
Korean multinational corporations have reached a level of global prominence that positions them well as pacesetters for the future of business. Yet we find that often Korean companies have tremendous trouble attracting and retaining the best global talent. Although the best and the brightest can be
The number of MERS patients in Korea has increased to 162 on June 17, half of them infected directly or indirectly via Samsung Medical Center (SMC). One of its patient transporters spread the virus to outpatients and visitors to the hospital. The hospital staff made the decision on June 15 to shut d
President Park Geun-hye will make a state visit to the United States from June 14 to 19. It is expected that the agenda items for the summit talks this time will include strategic cooperation between Washington and Seoul in the current situation in which the differing national security strategies of
2015 has more in common with the late 1990s than just a Star Wars franchise re-launch and a Clinton on the campaign trail. In the world of global high-tech these days, they are partying like it’s 1999, a year in which “dot com” mania reached a fever pitch in Silicon Valley. According to a recent ar
According to the Future Research Center, 61 percent of Americans consider Japan’s apology for its wartime atrocities enough, and 68 percent of Americans and 75 percent of Japanese have trust in each other.The survey result shows that U.S.-Japanese relations are more amicable than ever amid the emerg
On Wednesday, Wikileaks, the infamous site that publishes formerly-secret documents anonymously for the public to read, released the Investment Chapter from the until-now secret Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement being negotiated between 12 nations in the Americas and Asia. If passed, it woul
On March 16, the Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister and the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs both landed in Seoul four hours apart. After meeting with his Korean counterpart Lee Kyung-soo, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao, who arrived first, told re