Wednesday, December 9th, 2020
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time
11:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m. Korean Standard Time
Virtual Event via Zoom
This event is on the record and open to the public.
Event Description
The intensifying strategic rivalry between the U.S. and China under the Trump administration has exposed the U.S.-ROK relationship to a greater deal of uncertainty. South Korea saw both challenges and opportunities in President Trump’s top-down approach toward addressing the North Korean nuclear issue. The prolonged stalemate over U.S.-ROK defense cost-sharing negotiations raised questions about the characteristics of the decades-old alliance. President-Elect Joseph Biden has signaled supporting shifts in how the U.S. conducts its relations with China and South Korea. What are the foreign policy challenges and opportunities that face the incoming Biden administration, and what is in store in the near future for U.S.-China and U.S.-ROK relations? What are the necessary steps that Seoul and Washington should take to reduce the strategic risks in the coming months and years? Please join the GW Institute for Korean Studies for an online roundtable discussion with experts from both the U.S. and South Korea on prospects for the geopolitical dynamics in Northeast Asia under the new U.S. administration.
Roundtable Participants
South Korea
- Beomchul Shin (Director, Diplomacy and Security Center, Korea Research Institute for National Strategy)
- Byung-Yeon Kim (Professor, Department of Economics, Seoul National University)
- Jina Kim (Research Fellow, Korea Institute of Defense Analyses)
- Heung-Kyu Kim (Director, U.S.-China Policy Institute, Ajou University)
- Sang Hyun Lee (Senior Research Fellow, Sejong Institute)
- Wang-hwi Lee (Professor, Division of International Studies, Ajou University)
- Young-kwan Yoon (Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Seoul National University, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs)
The United States
- Frank Jannuzi (President and Chief Executive Officer, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation)
- Joseph DeTrani (Former U.S. Special Envoy for the Six-Party Talks with North Korea)
- Joseph Yun (Senior Advisor, U.S. Institute of Peace, Former U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy)
- Mark Tokola (Vice President, Korea Economic Institute of America)
- Sharon Squassoni (Research Professor, Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University)
- Sheena Chestnut Greitens (Associate Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin)
- Yonho Kim (Associate Director, GW Institute for Korean Studies)
The Korea Policy Forum is made possible by a generous grant provided by the KDI School of Public Policy and Management.
