Daniel Russel, Vice President for International Security and Diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, and Susan Thornton, Project Director of the Forum on Asia-Pacific Security at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale University, join Senior Director Stephen Noerper for a discussion on the upcoming US Presidential election, with an eye to US policy implications for Korea and Northeast Asia. This all-star session draws on the vast foreign service experience of both Russel and Thornton, who helped lead US policy respectively as Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
Looking Toward the US Presidential Election and Its Impact on Korea and Northeast Asia Policy
with
Daniel Russel and Susan Thornton
Thursday, October 1, 2020 | 12 PM
The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Daniel Russel is Vice President for International Security and Diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI). Previously he served as a Diplomat in Residence and Senior Fellow with ASPI for a one year term. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service at the U.S. Department of State, he most recently served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Prior to his appointment as Assistant Secretary on July 12, 2013, Mr. Russel served at the White House as Special Assistant to the President and National Security Council (NSC) Senior Director for Asian Affairs. During his tenure there, he helped formulate President Obama’s strategic rebalance to the Asia Pacific region, including efforts to strengthen alliances, deepen U.S. engagement with multilateral organizations, and expand cooperation with emerging powers in the region.
Susan A. Thornton is Project Director of the Forum on Asia-Pacific Security at the NCAFP, Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School and Senior Fellow at the Paul Tsai China Center. In 2018, she retired from the State Department after a 28-year diplomatic career focused primarily on East and Central Asia. In leadership roles in Washington, Thornton worked on China and Korea policy, including stabilizing relations with Taiwan, the U.S.-China Cyber Agreement, the Paris Climate Accord and led a successful negotiation in Pyongyang for monitoring of the Agreed Framework on denuclearization.
