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Category: U.S.-Korea Alliance and Relationship

Korea-US-China Trilateral Relations: Looking Back and Looking Forward

Posted on by Yurim Oh

Join us for a discussion on the newly launched book: Korea-US-China Trilateral Relations in the Xi Jinping Era. The authors, CHUNG Duck Koo, Korea’s former Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Energy, and YUN Byung-se, Korea’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, examine Korea-US-China trilateral relations through a strategic triangular lens. The book moves beyond conventional discussions of bilateral ties to provide an in-depth analysis of the complexity, conflict, and economic interdependence characterizing the relationships among these three nations. In the discussion, Minister Chung and Minister Yun also address the new US administration and shifts in Korean politics, offering timely insights to shed light on unfolding events. The moderator for the program is Korea Society president and CEO Thomas Byrne. The book is available for purchase here.

 

Korea-US-China Trilateral Relations: Looking Back and Looking Forward

Tuesday, February 4, 2025 | 2 PM (EST)


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speaker:

 

Chung Duck Koo is a former Minister of Commerce, Industry, and Energy of the Republic of Korea during President Kim Dae-Jung’s administration (1999-2000). He is also the founder of the North East Asia Research Foundation (NEAR Foundation), South Korea’s premier privately-funded independent think-tank, and currently serves as its chairman. Chung embarked on his career as a government official in 1971, dedicating nearly three decades of service. During the onset of the Korean financial crisis, Chung, a Vice Minister of Finance at the time, played a pivotal role in the early resolution of Korea’s liquidity crisis as a chief negotiator with the IMF. After retirement from the cabinet, Chung became a professor at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) at Seoul National University and served as the director of the Seoul National University Center for International Finance. In 2003, Peking University in China invited him as a Distinguished Chair Professor, where he taught Korean Economic Development and Open-Door Policy. In 2005, he served as a visiting professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing, where he taught the International Monetary Regime and the future prospects of the yuan. In 2013, he was appointed as a policy advisor at CASS (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences). During the early years of Xi Jinping’s first term, the Chinese government recommended that Mr. Chung lead special lectures and academic seminars involving distinguished policymakers, bureaucrats, and high-ranking officials from 18 government departments. Presently, he is based at the Center for Strategies and International Studies (CSIS) as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow.

 

 

Yun Byung-se served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea from March 2013 until June 2017 (longest serving Foreign Minister after 1981). Prior to that, he served as Deputy National Security Adviser (Senior Secretary) to the President responsible for Korea’s foreign, defense and unification policy and as Senior Coordinator at the National Security Council of the Presidential Office. As a career diplomat with 37 year-long experience, his foreign postings include the United States, the United Nations in New York and Geneva, Singapore and Australia. At the headquarters, he was Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when Ban Ki-moon, former UN Secretary-General, was the Foreign Minister. He graduated from Seoul National University’s College of Law and received a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University’s Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He was a Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) of Sogang University in Seoul from 2009 until early 2013. He is currently Chairman of Seoul International Law Academy (SILA), Co-Chair of REAIM Global Commission(AI), and Chairman of NEAR Global Survey Project. He is also on the board of Korea Peace Foundation and the NEAR Foundation and is affiliated with several global ex-leaders’ forums and projects on international peace and security, non-proliferation and geopolitical risks. His global survey report 2023 on the world order was published in English and in Korean by the NEAR Foundation under the title of “Quo Vadit Mundus: Competing for Order in a Fragmenting World.” He regularly contributes his writings to the Korea JoongAng Daily and the Korea Times and moderates the annual CSIS-JoongAng Conference and other forums frequently.

What to Expect: The Trump Administration’s Economic Security Policy on Asia

Posted on by Yurim Oh

Join us for a discussion on the Trump Administration’s economic security policy towards Asia with Navin Girishankar, president of the Economic Security and Technology Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and former Counselor to the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Yeo Han-koo, former trade minister of the Republic of Korea and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. The moderator for the program is Korea Society president and CEO Tom Byrne. The discussion will cover US-China economic competition and its impact on Northeast Asian countries like Korea and Japan, plus: tariffs, international trade, and the impact on critical next generation technologies including semiconductors, EVs, and batteries.

The Korea Society thanks our corporate sponsors and individual members and the Korea Foundation for their generous support, which has made this program possible.

 

 

This program is co-hosted by The APEC Study Center at Columbia University.

 

 

What to Expect: The Trump Administration’s Economic Security Policy on Asia

Friday, January 24, 2025 | 12 PM (EST)


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speaker:

 

Navin Girishankar is president of the Economic Security and Technology Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He leads a bipartisan team of over 40 resident staff and an extensive network of non-resident affiliates dedicated to providing independent research and strategic insights on economic and technology policies and their critical role in competitiveness as well as national security. Prior to joining CSIS, Navin served as Counselor to the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce on a wide range of domestic and international issues. In that role, he crafted the Department of Commerce’s place-based framework for industrial investments in chips, broadband, and other strategic technologies; its approach to U.S.-China economic relations; and U.S. economic diplomacy efforts with allies in the Indo-Pacific, Europe, and the Global South, including the U.S. commercial engagement strategy for the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and the first-ever Department-wide Africa strategy. Navin also helped architect the Department’s national security approach to critical and emerging technologies and threats covering investment screening, export controls, and strategic capital deployment. Prior to his service in U.S. government, Navin held senior commercial roles at Bridgewater Associates, where he worked with founder Ray Dalio advising the largest institutional investors in the Middle East and Asia. Prior to his work in asset management, Navin spent over 20 years at the World Bank, where he held senior policy, country, finance, and evaluation roles. Over his career at the World Bank, Navin led a number of major initiatives including the Bank’s 2015 trade and competitiveness strategy, Expanding Market Opportunity and Enabling Private Initiative for Dynamic Economies; its 2011 flagship evaluation, World Bank Country-Level Engagement on Governance and Anticorruption; and the first-of-its-kind 2009 study, Innovating Development Finance: From Financing Sources to Financing Solutions. He also authored numerous articles and papers on economic, fiscal, and innovation policy; sustainable finance; governance and state-building; and evaluation. He holds a master in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a bachelor of arts in economics with a minor in African and Middle East studies from Williams College. He is a percussionist in the Indian classical tradition and a student of various meditation traditions.
 

Yeo Han-koo, former trade minister of the Republic of Korea, has been senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics since June 2023. His research focuses on international trade policy, industrial policy, supply chain resilience, and economic security and international trade negotiations including the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Yeo completed almost three decades of public service as trade minister of the Republic of Korea in 2022, in the final year of the Moon Jae-in presidency. A veteran international trade negotiator, Yeo has been involved in a number of bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations, including as the chief negotiator for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Korea-UK Free Trade Agreement, Korea–Central America Free Trade Agreement, Korea-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, and Korea-Philippines Free Trade Agreement. He was also an original participant in developing the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity. While serving as commercial attaché at the Korean Embassy in Washington, he was involved in amendment negotiations of the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement and Section 232 steel negotiations. As Korean minister of trade, he oversaw conventional trade negotiations, export controls, and investment screening. Yeo also led negotiations for Korea’s export control measures against Russia in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A graduate of Seoul National University, Yeo has served as visiting professor at the Seoul National University Business School, teaching international trade, negotiation, and economic security issues. Yeo holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School.

Martial Law Implications for South Korea and the U.S.-Korea Relationship

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Join us for a program that explores recent political events in South Korea, including a brief history of martial law in Korea, the events leading up to the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s decision to invoke Martial Law, the National Assembly’s counter-action, and the long term consequences of the episode. How will this affect Korea’s domestic politics, the U.S.-ROK Alliance relationship, and inter-Korean relations? The expert panel includes Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Tokyo bureau chief for The Washington Post, covering Japan and the Koreas, and Aram Hur, the Kim Koo Chair in Korean Studies and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Fletcher School, Tufts University, in conversation with policy director Jonathan Corrado and policy program officer Chelsie Alexandre.

The Korea Society thanks our corporate sponsors and individual members for their generous support, which has made this program possible.

 

 

Martial Law Implications for South Korea and the U.S.-Korea Relationship

Wednesday, December 11, 2024 | 8 AM (EST)


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speakers:

 

Aram Hur is the Kim Koo Chair in Korean Studies and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Fletcher School, Tufts University. Her research focuses on nationalism and democracy, with special attention to issues of identity, integration, and democratic support in East Asia. Professor Hur is the author of Narratives of Civic Duty: How National Stories Shape Democracy in Asia (Cornell University Press, 2022), which won the 2023 Robert A. Dahl Award for best book on democracy by an untenured scholar from the American Political Science Association. Her research appears in leading disciplinary journals such as the British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics, and Comparative Political Studies and is widely cited in domestic and international media. She was selected as the 2021 Sherman Emerging Scholar by The Korea Society, a 2018-19 CSIS US-Korea NextGen Scholar, and is the recipient of the 2023 Gold Chalk Award for Teaching from the University of Missouri. She holds a Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University, an M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a B.A. with honors from Stanford University.
 
 

Michelle Ye Hee Lee is The Washington Post‘s Tokyo bureau chief, reporting on Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Previously, she covered money and influence in politics and voting access on the national political enterprise and accountability team and was a reporter for The Post’s Fact Checker. Prior to joining The Post in 2014, she was a government accountability reporter at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix.

The Hungnam Rescue

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Join us for an inspiring and heartwarming story timed for the holiday season about the largest wartime humanitarian evacuation in history. During The Korean War, naval and merchant ships from America and its allies rescued almost 100,000 North Korean refugees. Among these ships was a humble freighter, the SS Meredith Victory. Although it was built to accommodate only a few passengers and crew, a staggering 14,000 refugees were crammed on board, filling five cargo holds and the entire main deck. The ship carried them all to safety despite lacking food, mine detection equipment, doctors, interpreters, sanitation facilities, and heat or lights in the cargo holds. The 75th Anniversary of this incredible event in 2025 will be marked by a major long-term exhibition at the American Merchant Marine Museum (AMMM), U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, alongside exhibitions in Korea. Speakers include Burley Smith, who was just 21 when he took part in the rescue as Junior Third Mate fresh out of Kings Point. Today, aged 95, he is the last surviving crew member. Joining Burley is Dr. Joshua Smith, Director of the American Merchant Marine Museum, in conversation with Korea Society policy director Jonathan Corrado.

 

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The Korea Society thanks the Korea Foundation, our corporate sponsors, and individual members for their generous support, which has made this program possible. 

 

The Hungnam Rescue

Thursday, December 5, 2024 | 6 PM (EST)


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speakers:

 

Dr. Joshua M. Smith grew up in the United States on Cape Cod and coastal Maine. He holds degrees from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, Maine Maritime Academy, East Carolina University, and the University of Maine. He is author of Borderland Smuggling: Patriots, Loyalists, and Illicit Trade in the Northeast, 1783-1820, which explores smuggling on the Maine-New Brunswick border and won the John Lyman Award in American Maritime History in 2007. In 2009 he published Blockhouse and Battery: A History of Fort Edgecomb as part of that historic site’s bicentennial, and Battle for the Bay: The Naval War of 1812, which explores dimension of maritime warfare off New England’s coast. He has also edited a two volume collection of documents in American maritime history in conjunction with the National Maritime Historical Society entitled Voyages. He currently is an associate professor of humanities and Interim Coordinator of the American Merchant Marine Museum at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, in Kings Point, New York as well as serving as Department Head of the Humanities Department until September, 2015. Professor Smith lives in Port Washington, NY with his wife and daughter.
 
 

Burley Smith was born in Islip, New York, on January 9, 1929. As a child during the Great Depression, his family moved around but he spent most of his elementary and high school years in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He does not remember learning about Korea in school, but his strong interest in learning about what was happening in the world fueled his love for reading newspapers and learning about Korea. Shortly after graduating from the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, he was assigned as a Junior Third Mate to the SS Meredith Victory in Norfolk, Virginia. During his six month assignment in Korea, his vessel was part of the convoy for General MacArthur’s infamous Inchon Landing and the revered Heungnam Evacuation.

Force Multiplier: The U.S.-Korea Alliance Amid Strategic Competition

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How can the U.S.-Korea Alliance rise to the challenge of an increasingly complex and fraught geopolitical environment? As competing strategic triangles solidify in Northeast Asia, what new challenges and opportunities will arise for the U.S.-Korea relationship and peace and security in the region? This conversation seeks to see through the cycle to identify underlying trends, plot trajectories, and propose policy recommendations. Join us for a conversation with three thought leaders on the security and diplomacy of Northeast Asia: Seth Bailey, Director for the Office of Korean and Mongolian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, Markus Garlauskas, Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, and Rachel Minyoung Lee, Senior Fellow for the Stimson Center’s Korea Program and 38 North. The discussion is moderated by Korea Society policy director Jonathan Corrado. This program is produced in cooperation with the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

 

Force Multiplier:
The U.S.-Korea Alliance Amid Strategic Competition

Tuesday, October 1, 2024 | 12 PM (EDT)


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speakers:

 

Seth Bailey became Director for the Office of Korean and Mongolian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State in July 2023. His last assignment was in Honolulu as a visiting professor and Senior Diplomatic Fellow at the DoD-affiliated Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. From 2019-2022, Seth served as the Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at U.S. Embassy Beijing, where he led negotiations with the PRC. Seth has also served overseas assignments in South Korea, Sri Lanka, China, and Afghanistan. In Washington, Seth has served on the China Desk, in the Economic Bureau, the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, and in the Bureau of Counterterrorism. Seth was an attorney before joining the State Department.

 

 

Markus Garlauskas is the director of the new Indo-Pacific Security Initiative of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, which replaces the former Asia Security Initiative. He leads this new initiative’s efforts focused on security, prosperity, and freedom in the Indo-Pacific region. He led projects focused on deterrence and defense issues in East Asia as a nonresident senior fellow from August 2020 until assuming his duties as director in January 2023. Garlauskas served in the US government for nearly twenty years. He was appointed to the Senior National Intelligence Service as the National Intelligence Officer (NIO) for North Korea on the National Intelligence Council from July 2014 to June 2020. As NIO, he led the US intelligence community’s strategic analysis on North Korea issues and expanded analytic outreach to non-government experts. He also provided direct analytic support to top-level policy deliberations, including the presidential transition, as well as the Singapore and Hanoi summits with North Korea.

 

 

Rachel Minyoung Lee is a Senior Fellow for the Stimson Center’s Korea Program and 38 North. Lee was a North Korea collection expert and analyst with Open Source Enterprise (OSE; formerly known as Open Source Center) in the US government from 2000 to 2019. During that time, she wrote on the gamut of North Korean issues, from leadership, domestic politics and economy, and foreign policy, to social and cultural developments. As Analysis Team Lead, Lee led a team of collection officers and analysts to track and analyze North and South Korean issues with implications for Pyongyang’s regime stability and regional security. Most recently, from 2022 to early 2024, Lee headed engagement and network-building efforts at the Vienna-based Open Nuclear Network (ONN). Lee earned her B.A. in English literature and her M.A. in international law, both at Korea University in Seoul.

Forget Me Not: Impact of North Korean Human Rights Abuses on Families Worldwide

Posted on by Yurim Oh

Join us for a unique and special event highlighting the profound impact of North Korea’s human rights abuses, with a focus on divided families. The program opens with introductory remarks from Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and keynote remarks from United States Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. A panel discussion moderated by the U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Julie Turner will highlight the effects of North Korea’s human rights violations on families throughout the world. Perspectives include: a Korean-American separated from their family during the Korean War; the family member of a Japanese person abducted by North Korea; the family member of an unrepatriated South Korean prisoner of war; and a North Korean escapee whose sister was forcibly repatriated to North Korea by China in 2023. The panel session will close with remarks from Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel. 
 
Following the panel, a reception celebrates the opening of an interactive exhibit providing a glimpse into everyday life in North Korea. The exhibit contains a series of mini-sets that depict domestic life in North Korea, contrasted with a set of a modern, South Korean home. The exhibit will highlight the disconnect between North and South Korea and expand on themes explored during the panel.

This event is co-hosted by the Governments of the United States, Republic of Korea, and Luxembourg. This event is co-organized by a global coalition of 25 civil society partners. Coalition members include the Centro para la Apertura y el Desarrollo de America Latina, Center for Justice and Accountability, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Global Rights Compliance, HanVoice, Human Rights Watch, International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea, International Federation for Human Rights, Korean War POW Family Association, Liberty in North Korea, Mulmangcho, Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights, Now Action and Unity for Human Rights, People for Successful Corean Reunification, Stepping Stones, Sunny Pictures, THINK, Tongilmom, Transitional Justice Working Group, Unification Academy, Unification Media Group, and UNISEED.

In-Person attendance is invitation only.

All are invited to view via live stream. 

 

 

Forget Me Not:
Impact of North Korean Human Rights Abuses on Families Worldwide

Wednesday, September 25, 2024 | 4:30 PM (EDT)


The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

 

 
 

 

 

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About the Speakers:

 

Deputy Prime Minister Xavier Bettel is a Luxembourgish lawyer and politician who currently serves as the 14th deputy prime minister of Luxembourg and as the minister for Foreign Affairs since 2023. He served as the 24th prime minister of Luxembourg from 2013 to 2023. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies (1999–2013) and Mayor of Luxembourg City (2011–2013). He pursued higher education studies at the University of Nancy, where he was awarded a master’s degree in public and European law from the Faculty of Law.

 

 
Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul currently serves as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea since January 2024. He most recently served as the ROK Ambassador to the United Nations (2016-2019). His other major appointments include Ambassador to Spain (2008-2011), and Ambassador to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva (2005-2006). Cho has held several trade-related positions, including chairman of the World Trade Organization dispute panel and Government Procurement Committee in Geneva, Ambassador for Development Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2011-2012), Deputy Minister of Trade (2006-2008), Director General for Bilateral Trade (2003-2005), and Deputy Director General for Trade Policy Planning and North American and European Trade (2002-2003). Cho received a bachelor’s degree in law from Seoul National University (1979) and continued his studies in public international law at the Graduate School of Seoul National University (1979-1981) and international relations at Oxford University (1982-1983).

 

 
Dr. Dafna H. Rand is the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL). Previously, she served in numerous roles across the State Department, including: Director, Office of Foreign Assistance (F); Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, DRL; Policy Planning Staff (S/P) member. From 2017-2021, she served as the Vice President of Policy and Research at Mercy Corps, a non-governmental organization working in 40 countries to support communities in need. She also served at the National Security Council during the Obama administration. Dr. Rand is the former Deputy Director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and a former professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI). She started her career in government as the foreign policy and defense legislative assistant to Senator Frank R. Lautenberg. Dr. Rand’s research has focused on international security and democratic reform in the Middle East and North Africa, including two books on the subject. She earned a PhD in political science at Columbia University and an AB at Harvard University. Originally from Massachusetts, Dr. Rand now lives with her husband and three children in Maryland.

 

 
Ambassador Julie Turner was sworn in as the U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues on October 13, 2023. Ambassador Turner is globally recognized as an expert in the area of human rights and democracy and has worked over the past 20 years to strengthen democratic institutions and promote human rights throughout the East Asia and Pacific Region. Most recently, she served as the Office Director in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) Office of East Asia and the Pacific at the U.S. Department of State and previously was the Director for Southeast Asia at the National Security Council. During her time at the State Department, she served as the special assistant to the first U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights and worked as a program analyst in the Bureau of Information Resource Management Office of eDiplomacy. As a career civil service employee and former Presidential Management Fellow, Ambassador Turner has dedicated her career to advancing human rights around the world. Ambassador Turner is a graduate of Pepperdine University and the University of Maryland.

 

 

Mr. Teruaki Masumoto is the brother of Rumiko Masumoto, a Japanese citizen who was abducted by North Korea. He served as the Secretary General of the Japanese Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea, an organization that works toward a comprehensive resolution of the issue of the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea, from 2003 to 2014. 

REMARKS in PDF

 

 

Ms. Son Myung-hwa is a North Korean escapee and the daughter of Son Dong-sik, a South Korean POW who was forced to work in North Korean coal mines and a logging factory for decades before he died of cancer. She currently serves as the Chair of the Korean War POW Family Association, an organization that advocates for the 110 families of South Korean POWs who were never returned to South Korea.

REMARKS in PDF

 

 

Ms. Chahee Lee Stanfield was separated from her father and brother following the start of the Korean War. She serves as the Executive Director of the National Coalition on Divided Families, an organization dedicated to reuniting Korean American families who were divided by the Korean War. Her organization’s advocacy has led to the passage of three bills designed to help Korean Americans reconnect with their family in North Korea.

REMARKS in PDF

 

 

Ms. Kim Kyu Li is a North Korean escapee who left the country in the 1990s and currently lives in the United Kingdom. Last year, her sister, Cheol-ok, a fellow North Korean escapee who was living in China, was one of 500 North Korean escapees who were repatriated to North Korea following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

REMARKS in PDF

 

 

Mr. Kim Jeong Sam is the brother of Kim Jong Uk, a South Korean missionary who was arrested after he entered North Korea with religious materials in October 2013. He was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment in a North Korean labour camp.

REMARKS in PDF

 

How National Stories Shape Democracy in Asia

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Join us for this book talk with Dr. Aram Hur, who discusses Narratives of Civic Duty: How National Stories Shape Democracy in Asia. At a time when nationalism appears to be stoking regional conflicts and democratic backsliding in Asia and beyond, Dr. Hur’s book argues for the positive capacity of nationalism. The book received the 2023 Robert A. Dahl Award from the American Political Science Association for “scholarship of the highest quality on the subject of democracy” by an untenured scholar. Dr. Hur is the Kim Koo Chair in Korean Studies and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. She was the recipient of The Korea Society’s Sherman Family Emerging Scholar Lecture Award in 2021. This program is a collaboration between The Korea Society’s Policy Department and the Education Department, and is moderated by Linda Tobash, Senior Advisor for Education. The discussant is Dr. Darcie Draudt, Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.

The book is available to purchase from Cornell University Press here.

 

How National Stories Shape Democracy in Asia

Friday, October 13, 2023 | 12 PM (EDT)


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speakers:

 

Dr. Aram Hur is Kim Koo Chair in Korean Studies and Assistant Professor of Political Science at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. Her research focuses on nationalism and democracy, with specialization in issues of identity change, integration, and democratic support in East Asia. Her work appears in leading disciplinary journals such as the British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics, and Comparative Political Studies and is widely cited in domestic and international media. She is the 2021 Korea Society Sherman Emerging Scholar Awardee and a 2018-19 CSIS US-Korea NextGen Scholar, selected as one of the “next generation of Korea specialists in the United States.” Previously, she taught at the University of Missouri, where she also served as Co-Director of MU’s Institute for Korean Studies. She holds a PhD in Politics from Princeton University, an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a BA with honors from Stanford University.
 
 

Dr. Darcie Draudt, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. A political scientist and policy analyst, she publishes regular commentary on South and North Korean domestic politics and foreign policy, Northeast Asian relations, and US-Korea policy. Draudt currently holds nonresident fellowships at the George Washington University Institute for Korean Studies (GWIKS), the Korea Economic Institute, the National Bureau of Asian Research, and the European Centre for North Korea Studies (ECNK) at the University of Vienna. She has been named a member of the National Committee on North Korea and one of the Next Generation Korea Peninsula Specialists at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. Draudt holds a PhD in Political Science from the Johns Hopkins University, an MA in Korean Studies from the Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies, and a BA with Honors in Anthropology from Davidson College. Draudt lived in Seoul, South Korea, from 2008 through 2013.

New Nuclear Dynamics of Northeast Asia

Posted on by Yurim Oh

Join us for a program that addresses the new nuclear dynamics of Northeast Asia produced in cooperation with the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center. This panel discussion investigates how regional shifts in nuclear weapons capabilities and evolving doctrines affect the Korean Peninsula and beyond, with a focus on North Korea’s quickly developing nuclear and missile deterrent, the maturing nuclear capabilities of the People’s Republic of China, the US-ROK Alliance’s evolving nuclear posture, Russian aggression, and the role of trilateral US-Korea-Japan security cooperation. The panel consists of: Matthew Kroenig, Vice President and Senior Director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy, Markus Garlauskas, director of the new Indo-Pacific Security Initiative of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Dr. Sue Mi Terry, and Major Jessica Taylor, USAFR and Princeton University, in conversation with Korea Society policy director Jonathan Corrado.

 

 

New Nuclear Dynamics of Northeast Asia

Thursday, September 21, 2023 | 10 AM (EDT)


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speakers:

 

Markus Garlauskas is the director of the new Indo-Pacific Security Initiative of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, which replaces the former Asia Security Initiative. He leads this new initiative’s efforts focused on security, prosperity, and freedom in the Indo-Pacific region. He led projects focused on deterrence and defense issues in East Asia as a nonresident senior fellow from August 2020 until assuming his duties as director in January 2023. Garlauskas served in the US government for nearly twenty years. He was appointed to the Senior National Intelligence Service as the National Intelligence Officer (NIO) for North Korea on the National Intelligence Council from July 2014 to June 2020. As NIO, he led the US intelligence community’s strategic analysis on North Korea issues and expanded analytic outreach to non-government experts. He also provided direct analytic support to top-level policy deliberations, including the presidential transition, as well as the Singapore and Hanoi summits with North Korea.
 
 

Dr. Matthew Kroenig is Vice President and Senior Director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and the Council’s Director of Studies. In these roles, he manages the Scowcroft Center’s bipartisan team of more than thirty resident staff and oversees the Council’s extensive network of nonresident fellows. His own research focuses on US national security strategy, strategic competition with China and Russia, and strategic deterrence and weapons nonproliferation. Kroenig is currently a commissioner on the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States. He previously served in the Department of Defense and the intelligence community during the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations. He received the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Award for Outstanding Achievement. He was a national security adviser on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney (2012) and Marco Rubio (2016). Kroenig is also a tenured professor of government and foreign service at Georgetown University. He has held fellowships at the Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard University, and Stanford University. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and holds an MA and PhD in political science from the University of California at Berkeley.
 
 

Major Jessica Taylor, US Air Force Reserve, is a nonresident fellow in the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. She is currently pursuing her PhD in international relations with a focus on the Indo-Pacific as a part of the Security Studies program at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. In addition, Taylor is a logistics readiness officer in the US Air Force Reserve. Taylor has served in the US Department of Defense in both military and civil service capacities for nearly twenty years. She most recently served in South Korea from 2019 to 2021 as an international relations strategist where she provided geopolitical analysis and advice to the headquarters command staffs of United Nations Command, ROK/US Combined Forces Command, and US Forces Korea. In addition to experience in East Asia, Taylor has had assignments in South Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Taylor holds a BA in biology from Baylor University and an MS in foreign service from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.
 
 

Dr. Sue Mi Terry was the Director of the Asia Program and the Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy from 2021-2023. Prior to joining the Wilson Center, Dr. Terry served in a range of important policy roles related to both Korea and its surrounding region. Formerly a Senior Fellow with the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), she served as a Senior Analyst on Korean issues at the CIA (2001-2008), where she produced hundreds of intelligence assessments–including a record number of contributions to the President’s Daily Brief, the Intelligence Community’s most prestigious product. She received numerous awards for her leadership and outstanding mission support, including the CIA Foreign Language award in 2008. From 2008 to 2009, Dr. Terry was the Director for Korea, Japan, and Oceanic Affairs at the National Security Council under both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. In that role, she formulated, coordinated, and implemented U.S. government policy on Korea and Japan, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania. From 2009 to 2010, she was Deputy National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council. She holds a Ph.D. (2001) and an M.A. (1998) in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a B.A. in political science from New York University (1993). She was born in Seoul and raised in Hawaii and Northern Virginia.