After more than a year of tensions over the Terminal High Altitude Aerial Defense (THAAD) system that is now deployed in South Korea, Seoul and Beijing seem to have made steps toward thawing relations. But is the row over THAAD really over? Will South Korean business see a return to normal in China? And what will the Chinese learn from this experience of using economic leverage to influence South Korean political decisions?

Bonnie Glaser, senior advisor for Asia and director of the China Power Project at CSIS, joins Korean Kontext host Jenna Gibson to discuss the latest in South Korea-China relations, as well as what it means for security and diplomacy in the region moving forward.

For many years, South Korea has been a homogeneous country. But with more foreigners coming to live in Korea, that is starting to change. In fact, the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs estimates that the number of multicultural families in Korea could reach nearly 750,000 by 2020.

This week's guest is Dr. Daisy Kim, who studies these multicultural families, with a particular focus on marriage migrants - women who move to Korea to marry a Korean man. We discuss some of the particular issues these women and their families face, what the Korean government has done to support them, and much more.

Note: This is a rebroadcast of an episode from August 11, 2016.

Image from Steve Baty's photostream on flickr Creative Commons.

With President Donald Trump finishing up his first official trip to Asia, including a stop in South Korea last week, this week's episode of Korean Kontext asks: what do South Koreans think of President Trump? 

KEI program manager Juni Kim has been following the polls, and has found that while very few members of the Korean public have confidence in President Trump, their views of the United States as a whole remain high. In this week's podcast, host Jenna Gibson sits down with Juni to discuss some of the polling in South Korea about the United States and its leader, as well as how he thinks President Trump's trip to Korea could affect his approval rating among Koreans.

Image from Republic of Korea's photostream on flickr Creative Commons.

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 issues, including responses to North Korea's nuclear and missle programs as well as economic ties between the United States and the Asia Pacific. 

In this episode, we talk with Mark Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of IISS–Americas, about his expectations for the trip, how he thinks President Trump will handle the North Korea question, and particularly how his first visit to South Korea will go.

*Please note this episode was pre-recorded, some details of the trip may have subsequently changed*

Image from North Charleston's photostream on flickr Creative Commons. 

As a communist state, North Korea has promised to provide its people with basic services, including healthcare and medical treatment. However, particularly in recent years, the cash-strapped Kim regime has been unable to provide even some basic medical services. Famine and poverty have exacerbated the problem, leaving diseases like tuberculosis to run rampant in the DPRK.

Researcher Dr. John Grundy, an expert on public health, recently completed a paper for KEI on the functionality and limits of the North Korean healthcare system as it evolved from 1953 to the present. In this episode of Korean Kontext, he sits down with host Jenna Gibson to discuss his paper and some of the unique challenges North Korean healthcare faces today.

To read Dr. Grundy's paper, please click here.

Image from United Nations Photo on flickr Creative Commons.

While North Korea under the Kim regime has tried to maintain tight control of information sources within its borders, the North Korean populace in recent years has found creative ways to access outside media, which includes everything from foreign news broadcasts to the latest South Korean dramas.

Nat Kretchen, Deputy Director at the Open Technology Fund, participated in a panel here at KEI this week and discussed his research on North Korea’s developing information environment. Nat sat down with us afterwards to talk more about how everyday North Koreans access information and how the regime is fighting back against the increase of foreign media in the country.

With North Korea becoming an increasingly dangerous threat to the U.S. and its allies, it can be all too easy to overlook North Korea’s origins and how its foreign policy first took shape. One of the lesser known aspects of North Korea’s foreign policy was its heavy involvement in supporting non-state actor and rebel movements in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

Benjamin Young, a PhD Candidate in East Asian History at George Washington University, recently presented his paper on North Korea’s support of non-state actors as part of KEI’s Academic Paper Series. He sat down with Korean Kontext guest host Juni Kim to discuss how North Korea’s first leader Kim Il Sung’s experiences in guerrilla warfare shaped his foreign policy and what his legacy means for North Korea today.

Please note the following corrections:

16:59 - Kim Il-Sung died in 1994

17:49 - The aid agency is called Doctors Without Borders

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong met this week to discuss the future of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). With concerns of a possible withdrawal hovering over the talks, the two countries agreed to move forward on working to improve the agreement, which is surely welcome news for US exporters that have benefitted from the KORUS FTA.

This week we sat down with Sam Cho, founder and CEO of Seven Seas Export, to discuss his company's work in exporting American eggs to South Korea and the benefits that KORUS provides to American farmers. We also discuss how Sam got started in the trade business and how the bird flu affected the South Korean egg market.

With North Korea launching missile after missile and even conducting a massive nuclear test within the last month or so, attention is understandably focused on how to get the regime in Pyongyang to back down from its provocative actions. But at the same time, there is another important issue that can also affect how the world deals with North Korea - human rights. 

Olivia Enos of the Heritage Foundation researches human rights issues around Asia including the DPRK, and believes that human rights can, and should, underpin our diplomatic and security strategies toward Pyongyang. In this episode, she tells Korean Kontest host Jenna Gibson about how human rights and security are intertwined, how the Trump Administration can weave human rights into their extreme pressure and engagement policy, and what role China plays in the situation.

The Global Financial Crisis highlighted the importance of international coordination to prevent, manage, and resolve financial crises. To this end, global institutions such as the G20 and IMF have garnered significant attention, but complementary institutions at the regional level also play an important role. Though it may not be the largest economy in these initiatives, South Korea has increasingly played a central role in their advancement, such as the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization and ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office.

In this episode, KEI's Kyle Ferrier sits down with Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Co-director of the London Asia Pacific Centre for Social Science King's College London, to discuss the central role Korea plays in East Asian financial institutions.