Korea Policy Forum
The Alliance at Seventy:
Towards a Global Comprehensive
Strategic Alliance in an Era of Uncertainty
Monday, November 14, 2022
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST
Hybrid Event
In Person at
Elliott School for International Affairs
1957 E St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20052
State Room (7th Floor)
Virtual via Zoom
The ROK-U.S. alliance marks its 70th anniversary next year and has successfully maintained peace and security in Northeast Asia over the last seven decades. However, the increasingly volatile security and economic environment in the region requires a strengthening of the alliance’s role and function. In an era of such uncertainty when supply resilience, U.S.-China strategic competition, and other global issues fill the daily discourse, how has the alliance worked to adapt itself for these new challenges?
At their first summit in May 2022, President Yoon Suk-yeol and President Joe Biden reaffirmed their commitment to a “global comprehensive strategic alliance” to jointly contribute to peace, security, and prosperity in the region and around the globe, based on the shared values of the two allies. This forum will serve as a venue to discuss a new and enhanced role for the Republic of Korea in global affairs, including climate change, rules-based order, and the global supply chain. It will also review recent developments in North Korea and seek the best way for the alliance to defend against the North’s increasing nuclear and missile capabilities.
Speakers
Speaker: Ambassador Taeyong Cho (Left) has been the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States of America since June 2022. Ambassador Cho, a career diplomat for almost four decades, joined the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1979. During his foreign service, his primary focuses were on North Korea’s nuclear affairs and the ROK-U.S. alliance, serving as both Director-General for North Korean Nuclear Affairs and later as Director-General for North American Affairs. At different times he was the Special Advisor to the Foreign Minister as well as a senior official in the Office of the President.
His previous foreign assignments include the United Nations, the United States, and Thailand. From 2007-2009, he served as Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Republic of Ireland. After a two-year period as Chief of Protocol in Seoul, he became an ambassador again, this time to the Commonwealth of Australia. Following his mission in Canberra, Ambassador Cho served in a number of different senior leadership positions in the country’s national security apparatus from 2013-2017. He served as Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs from 2013-2014, before becoming First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. He later served as First Deputy Director to the President in the Office of National Security from 2015-2017. In May 2020, Ambassador Cho became a member of the 21st National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. There, he was Chair of the International Committee and Vice Chair of the Policy Committee of the People Power Party.
Ambassador Cho graduated from Seoul National University with a BA in political science and completed the Foreign Service Programme from University of Oxford. He was a visiting scholar at Keio University in Japan (2017-2018) and a visiting Professor of the Graduate School of International Studies at Yonsei University in Seoul (2019).
Moderator: Alyssa Ayres (Right) is Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. Ayres is a foreign policy practitioner and award-winning author with senior experience in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors. From 2013 to 2021, she was senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where she remains an adjunct senior fellow. Her work focuses primarily on India’s role in the world and on U.S. relations with South Asia in the larger Indo-Pacific. Her book about India’s rise on the world stage, Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World, was published in 2018. Ayres is also interested in the emergence of subnational engagement in foreign policy, particularly the growth of international city networks, and her current book project (working title, Bright Lights, Biggest Cities: The Urban Challenge to India’s Future, under contract with Oxford University Press) examines India’s urban transformation and its international implications. From 2010 to 2013, Ayres served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia. She received an AB from Harvard College and an MA and PhD from the University of Chicago.
