Political Economist

Sometimes I wonder whether the following organization is really "Korean" Economic Institute. The Korea Economic Institute is a Washington, D.C based branch of Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP).

As we already know, the KIEP is not a private economic research institute but a government-funded organization whose main function has been supporting for Korean government's international economic policies. It has become widely exposed to ordinary citizens due to its recent misleading report concerning the economic effect of the Korea's Free Trade Agreement with the U.S.

However, apart from some of serious questions regarding the process of FTA negotiation and the Korean government's misleading propaganda, the following website can be used as a useful webpage indicating how incumbent administration in Korea is ignorant of the pressing issues originating from the FTA and how their researches are poor.

KIEP: http://www.kiep.go.kr/index.asp

KEI:   http://www.keia.org/4-1-fta.html