Korea Peace Network, Partnerships for International Strategies in Asia,
and GW Institute for Korean Studies Present:
“Audacious Imagination for Peace – Key to the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia”
Speaker
Lee Taeho, Chair of Policy Committee, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy
Date & Time
Wednesday, May 8, 2019, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Venue
Room 505
Elliott School of International Affairs, the George Washington University
1957 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20052
◊ Event Description
With the April 27 Inter-Korean Summit at the Panmunjeom and the June 12 North Korea-U.S. Summit in Singapore, a great shift has begun in the ceasefire and military confrontation state of the Korean Peninsula. This shift is toward a “complete denuclearization” and a “permanent peace regime” on the Korean Peninsula, and a “new relationship” among the countries concerned. The shift in political climate on the Korean Peninsula has resulted from the candlelight revolution took place in South Korea in late 2016. The candlelight revolution has shown that citizens themselves have the capacity to address social challenges in a peaceful and democratic way. The candlelight revolution has helped strengthen the diplomatic capacity of the new administration, which has been launched in accordance with the people’s wishes for peace, serving as a driving force to instigate cooperation from North Korea and the international community including the U.S. for peaceful resolution of issues on the Korean Peninsula. It is necessary to exercise new imagination in order to escape stereotypes and taboos of the confrontational Cold War era. Antagonism and disbelief, military confrontation and oppression, which have been presented under the name of realism, have caused aggravation instead of solving problems.
◊ Speaker
Lee Taeho, Chair of Policy Committee, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD)
Lee Taeho joined PSPD in 1995, one of the most influential watchdog NGOs in South Korea, and served as a secretary general in 2011–2016, leading PSPD’s major activities from economic justice and civil and political rights to peace and disarmament. In particular, he has played a leading role in civil movements, mainly on the political reform, monitoring state power, promoting peace and human rights. He was also one of the main organizers of candlelight vigils for the immediate resignation of President Park Geun-hye which was held between 2016 winter and 2017 spring, as well as a truth-seeking campaign of the Sewol ferry disaster which happened in 2014.
◊ Moderator
Linda Yarr, Director, Partnerships for International Strategies in Asia
Linda J. Yarr is Research Professor of Practice of International Affairs and Director of Partnerships for International Strategies in Asia (PISA) at the Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University. She was the U.S. delegate to the Northeast Asia Women’s Peace Conference in Seoul in October 2010. In 2016, in cooperation with Center for Northeast Asia Studies at Liaoning University in Shenyang, China, she convened a Trilateral Dialogue on the Asia-Pacific Future, which addressed prospects for academic exchange with the DPRK. She is a member of the board of directors of Critical Asian Studies.
This event is on the record and open to the media.
This event will be streamed live at Korea Peace Network Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/koreapeacenetwork/
