What are the prospects for United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon’s second term? How will Korea exercise its two-year term on the UN Security Council? And what of the new Green Climate Fund, founded within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be based in Korea’s Songdo/Incheon? Michele Griffin of UN Policy Planning, ROK Deputy Permanent Representative, Ambassador Shin Dong-ik, and UNSG Climate Change Support Team head Marcela Main address each of these areas in this special seasonal kick-off Studio Korea session.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
5:00 PM | Registration
5:30 PM | Discussion
The United Nations and Korean Leadership
with
Michèle Griffin
Policy Planning Unit Director, United Nations
Ambassador Shin Dong-ik
ROK Deputy Permanent Representative, United Nations
Frank Schroeder
Senior Advisor, Climate Change Support Team, Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations
Moderated by Dr. Stephen Noerper
Senior Vice President, The Korea Society
Songdo, South Korea: The city that could change the way we travel – www.washingtonpost.com
Please join us for a special season preview taping session with Robert C. Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Secretary Orr will address Korea and UN Leadership and hopes for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s second term.
This special conversation between Ambassadors Hill and Mark Minton, President of The Korea Society, weighs next steps for U.S. policy toward Korea given developments South and North; key issues for and possible areas of cooperation with President Park Geun-hye; growing the strong state of the Korea-U.S. “special relationship” further; Washington’s approach to any opening of Seoul toward Pyongyang in light of Park’s campaign commitments to build a trustpolitik; possible responses to further North Korean tests or provocations; and China’s rise and relations with the North, as well as Korea’s relations with Japan, and their impact on U.S. strategy.
The Korea Society’s Dr. Stephen Noerper interviews Scott Thomas Bruce of CRDF Global on the Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt’s recent trip to North Korea. Mr. Bruce discusses the significance of Eric Schmidt’s visit, the implications of North Korea’s possible opening to information technology, opportunities for NGOs to engage with the the DPRK, and future potential inter-Korean cooperation in the field of information technology.
Marking the record-high 75.6 percent voter turnout in the Korean Presidential elections and victory of Park Geun-hye, The Korea Society Chairman and McLarty Associates Senior Director for Asia, Ambassador Thomas Hubbard, Columbia University Professor Charles Armstrong and Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Scott Snyder discuss and debate the significance of Park’s win, Korea’s domestic equation, and Park’s likely North Korea and foreign policies, in a rapid reaction session hosted by Dr. Stephen Noerper.
Please join Professor Alexis Dudden for a lunchtime discussion of the history of the Dokdo dispute–from the early 20th century to the present–how it has emerged as an emotive issues for Koreans and impasse in Korea-Japan relations, and ways forward in resolving the conflict. Professor Dudden addresses the roots of the impasse dating to the Taft-Katsura agreement, international imprecision post-1945, 2012’s heightened tensions between Korea and Japan over the issue, and how post-election administrations in Seoul, Tokyo and Washington might resolve the dispute. In closing, she discusses internationalizing the space and environmentally-oriented uses for the area.
Exactly two weeks before Korea’s sixth Presidential election since democratization, Columbia University Professor Charles Armstrong addresses issues facing Korean voters, candidate positions, possible outcomes, and potential ramifications for Korea-U.S. relations. This lively and informative discussion is aimed at corporate, policy and media professionals keen for political analysis and a discussion of scenarios and impacts. Professor Armstrong is Director of the Center for Korean Research at Columbia University.
The 
The Korea Society shares pre-performance insights and tackles patron Q&A on North Korea as part of the world premiere of Korean-American playwright Mia Chung’s You for Me for You; Chung has been hailed as “one of the most imaginative young writers of her generation.” Directed by Yury Urnov, the production portrays two North Korean sisters who face starvation and bargain with a smuggler to flee to the United States. When one of the sisters is denied passage because she is too weak to make the treacherous trans-Pacific crossing, the other promises to race across time and space to save her. This delicate story shatters conceptions of life inside and outside North Korea’s borders.