KEIA provides key information on Koreas in interactive format

In need of up-to-date data on North Korea's leadership or South Korea's global trade, there is now a quicker way than searching for information on Google, where many long, time-consuming articles often turn up.

The Korea Economic Institute of America (KEIA) is providing a one-stop solution -- Korea Analytics (http://keia.org/landing/welcome-korea-analytics).

Recently, it updated the site so as to offer what it calls "interactive visualization of data" on Korea, from what's going on in North Korea to South Korea's trade relations with the rest of the world.

All data on the site is available in two universal formats -- interactive data visualizations and raw data sets.

"As analysts increasingly turn their attention to Asia, Korea Analytics is a rich source of information regarding the peninsula," said James Ahn, the leader of the project at the KEIA. "With new improvements and additions, the visualizations available on Korea Analytics can be used as powerful, up-to-date tools of analysis.

The data is fresh and comprehensive, and has been checked multiple times for accuracy."

For instance, the newly updated International Bilateral Trade database includes details of South Korea's trade relationships with more than 180 nations, along with about 70 indicators related to the nation's economy, society, government and demographics.

The North Korea data section visually chronicles the movements of senior North Korean elites since 1994, when the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il took over power. His son, Kim Jong-un, is in power today.

It also includes individual elite biographical information as well as the reclusive nation's financial and economic statistics.

The North Korea "Leadership Tracker" was produced by NK News, an independent U.S. organization specializing in news on North Korea.

The 31-year-old KEIA, funded by the South Korean government, is a quasi-think tank with a mission to promote understanding about Korea among the American public.

South Korean officials expect the institution to play a bigger role in Seoul's programs for reaching out to Washington. Donald Manzullo, formerly a 10-term U.S. congressman, became the president of the Washington-headquartered KEIA in January. (Yonhap News)