U.S.-KOREA INSTITUTE IN THE NEWS
June 5, 2009 - USKI Director, Jae Ku, was recently quoted in the CNSNews article:State Department Mum on American Journalists Jailed in North Korea.
June 4, 2009 - USKI Director, Jae Ku, was quoted in the FOX News report: North Korea Nuclear Program Undercuts U.N. Relief Efforts.
May 26, 2009 - USKI Report, Flood Across the Border, was quoted by The Australian in an article entitled, "US needs Beijing's Support Over North Korea's Bomb Test." Read it here
May 26, 2009 - Joel Wit, visiting scholar at the U.S.-Korea Institute, was interviewed for an All Things Considered segment entitled, "Options On North Korea May Be Limited." Listen here
May 25, 2009 - Joel Wit, visiting scholar at the U.S.-Korea Institute, was interviewed for a NewsHour segment entitled, "North Korea's Move Tests International Will on Nuclear Issues." Listen here
May 19, 2009 - Kathryn Weathersby, visiting scholar in the U.S.-Korea Institute, was quoted in a Medill Reports (Northwestern University) article entitled, "In North Korea, a Gradual Transition From Isolation." Read it here
May 3, 2009 - Tong Kim, a visiting scholar at the U.S.-Korea Institute at SAIS, wrote an op-ed for Korea Times entitled, "Domestic Politcs Toward 2012." Read it here
SAIS STUDENTS AT THE UNITED NATIONS
SAIS students taking Professor John Merrill’s course on “Contemporary Korea in a Historical Perspective” recently traveled to New York City to conduct research focused on improving U.S.-Korea relations. The class attended meetings at the Korea Society, Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and the United Nations. The highlight of the trip was a rare opportunity to meet Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations.
On May 21, 2009, Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, will speak at SAIS’s 2009 commencement.
SPECIAL REPORT: DPRK ECONOMIC STATISTICS PROJECT
Analysts and policymakers are understandably concerned about the availability and reliability of North Korean economic and social statistics data, and face serious challenges to the validity of their analysis, arguments and policymaking. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Economic Statistics Project (April – December 2008) was organized to directly address issues surrounding DPRK statistics. Dr. Mika Marumoto conducted an overall assessment of available databases and identified the most salient DPRK economic and social statistics available in the public domain. She also carried out case studies on different categories of North Korean data such as population data, gross domestic product estimates and trade data, in order to help data users make more sound judgments in their use and interpretation of available DPRK statistics.
Find more information and download the report here.
NEW WORKING PAPERS RELEASED
The U.S.-Korea Institute announces the release of new reports in our Working Paper Series.
While much of the debate about the future of the Korean peninsula has taken shape around the uncertainties surrounding Kim Jong Il succession and portended changes in political structures, the future of Korean national identity remains an underexamined subject. In her Working Paper, Dr. Jee Sun Lee addresses the looming question of what will be the core identity of a unified North and South Korea, and what form Korean national consciousness will take.
Since the early 1990s, Central Asia, including Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, has been called the “Second Middle East,” and major oil companies have actively pushed forward oil exploitation projects there. As its oil transport routes have been extended, Central Asia has come to play a more substantial role as a global supplier of energy resources. In this paper, Dr. Yoon Sung-hak examines the status of trade relations and energy diplomacy between South Korea and Central Asia. His analysis provides an overview of the actual and potential energy resources and reserves in major Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan – and identifies key opportunities for Korea to increase its soft power in Central Asia through cultural exchange and greater diplomatic and economic expansion.
Search our Working Paper Series.
SPECIAL REPORT: Flood Across the Border
This report considers the planning, capacities and mechanisms for addressing natural disasters and domestic crises in the People’s Republic of China and the implications for Chinese management of a potential crisis involving a rapid and unexpected increase in the volume of North Korean refugees fleeing to Chinese territory. Its focus is on structures and organizations in Jilin Province and its subordinate Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture.
This report was prepared by Drew Thompson, Director of China Studies and Starr Senior Fellow, The Nixon Center, and Carla Freeman, Associate Director, Chinese Studies at Johns Hopkins-SAIS; and was co-funded through The Nixon Center.
Download the Executive Summary Download the Report: Flood Across the Border: China's Disaster Relief Operations and Potential Response to a North Korean Refugee Crisis
KOREAN ECONOMY SERIES
After examining the trends and implications of Foreign Direct Invesment in South Korea, Arthur Alexander rounds out his three-part series with an analysis of how to address Korea's relatively low levels of FDI.
KES 08-03: Policy Implications of Korea's Low Level of Foreign Direct Investment.
Download the full Korean Economy Series, The Changing Nature of Foreign Direct Investment in Korea: Challenges to Economic Policy.
NOTABLE SAIS ALUMNI
The U.S.-Korea Institute is proud to highlight a number of notable Koreans among SAIS alumni. From ambassadors to reporters, professors to business executives, SAIS' Korean alumni are at the forefront of U.S.-Korea relations. Download a copy of the list here.