02/21/2023 | Korea Policy Forum, Realistic and Pragmatic Approach for Denuclearization and Peace on the Korean Peninsula

Korea Policy Forum

Realistic and Pragmatic Approach for Denuclearization and Peace on the Korean Peninsula

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EDT

Hybrid Event

George Washington University, Elliott School for International Affairs 1957 E ST NW, Washington DC
Lindner Family Commons, Room 602

Virtual via Zoom

**Former Prime Minster Lee will be giving his main remarks in English. Consecutive interpretation from Korean to English will be provided during the Q&A session**

See the Event Program

Although nearly 30 years have now passed since the first North Korean nuclear crisis in 1993, the international community has yet to find a permanent solution leading towards the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Despite years of negotiations, agreements, and sanctions, North Korea has continued to develop its nuclear weapons program, leading to significant tensions on the Korean peninsula. In his lecture, Nakyon Lee, former prime minister of the Republic of Korea, will offer his insights into why these past measures have ultimately been unsuccessful. Former Prime Minister Lee will then provide his own recommendations for what steps South Korea, the United States, and other major players can take to finally achieve denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean peninsula.

Speaker

portrait of Jisoo Kim in professional attire

NAKYON LEE is a former prime minister of the Republic of Korea, who served under the Moon Jae-in administration. He graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in law and became a journalist at Dong-a Ilbo. After 21 years as a journalist, he entered politics and served five terms as a member of the National Assembly. During hisfourth term in 2014, he became the governor of Jeollanam-do Province until President Moon nominated Lee as his first prime minister in 2017. He was also elected as the chairperson of the Democratic Party of Korea in 2020. During his years in public affairs, he has focused on both domestic and international affairs of South Korea. As prime minister, he was responsible for overall domestic issues, including the safety of the citizens and society. He was a member of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee at the National Assembly, in which he worked towards a peaceful inter-Korean relationship. He currently serves as a Visiting Scholar at the GW Institute for Korean Studies, where his research focuses on the peacebuilding process on the Korean peninsula.

Introductory Remarks

ALYSSA AYRES 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.

Moderator

JISOO M. KIM is the Korea Foundation Associate Professor of History, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures. She currently serves as the Director of the Institute for Korean Studies and the Co-Director of the East Asia National Resource Center at GW. She also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Korean Studies. She is a specialist in gender, law, and emotions in Korean history. Her broader research interests include gender and sexuality, crime and justice, forensic medicine, literary representations of the law, history of emotions, vernacular, and gender writing. She is the author of The Emotions of Justice: Gender, Status, and Legal Performance in Chosŏn Korea (University of Washington Press, 2015), which was awarded the 2017 James Palais Prize of the Association for Asian Studies. She is also the co-editor of The Great East Asian War and the Birth of the Korean Nation by JaHyun Kim Haboush (Columbia University Press, 2016). She is currently working on a book project tentatively entitled Sexual Desire, Crime, and Gendered Subjects: A History of Adultery Law in Korea. She received her M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University.