Asia-Pacific

If Korea wants a won stablecoin that matters, give it work on day one: Settle spot ETF trades; connect to tokenized securities (STO); cut remittance costs; and settle cross-border B2B invoices in KRW with fewer hops. Without real uses, the token drifts into speculation.

Korea now faces a clear choice between abandoning discriminatory policies disguised as domestic regulation or risking losing access to American semiconductors and advanced technologies on which its own tech sector depends.

Counterfeit K-beauty products are eroding brand value, endangering consumers, and threatening South Korea’s cultural and trade influence, making stronger cross-border cooperation and AI-driven enforcement essential.

As the Trump administration has made clear, it is laser-focused on one number: the bilateral trade deficit between the United States and other nations. The Lee Jae Myung government should put in place a plan to reduce that deficit to zero, and then ask Trump to renegotiate for a fairer deal.

South Korea must reduce its reliance on China for both semiconductor exports and raw materials by strengthening alliances with the United States and its partners, aligning with export controls, and building a more secure, diversified supply chain to safeguard its long-term competitiveness in the global chip race.

After facing U.S. backlash over a bill modeled on the EU’s Digital Markets Act, South Korea appeared to pause its digital antitrust push. But rather than stepping back entirely, the government has shifted focus to the Online Platform Fairness Act, which may prove even more intrusive.

Korea’s highly educated workforce is increasingly stuck in low-quality jobs. This is not due to a lack of skill, but rather to government policies that penalize growth and fragment markets. Korea must embrace size neutrality, reforming regulations and incentives to support firms that innovate, scale, and compete globally.

Watch the high-level discussion presented by ITIF’s Center for Korean Innovation and Competitiveness featuring trade experts, regulatory analysts, and U.S.–Korea watchers from both sides of the Pacific.

South Korea’s export restrictions on mapping data act as a protectionist measure that unfairly limits competition from foreign firms. Korean policymakers should reform these rules not only to remove this non-tariff trade barrier but also to ensure that they do not hold back the use of geospatial data by emerging AI tools.

For Trump, it’s a new world and Korean President Lee Jae Myung and his administration needs to treat it as such by negotiating a new deal that preserves Korean market access to America in exchange for real concessions on what at the end of the day are relatively minor things for Korean economic competitiveness.