Category: Korea Policy Forum

The GW Institute for Korean Studies and the East Asia National Resource Center Present:
Korea Policy Forum

Post-Pandemic U.S.-South Korea Economic Cooperation

Monday, June 29, 2020 | 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. EDT
Livestream via WebEx

Registered guests will receive the following confirmation email with details for joining the WebEx event.
This event is on the record and open to the public.

Event Description
The COVID-19 pandemic imposed unprecedented economic challenges to both the U.S. and South Korea. However, Seoul and Washington have put into place a framework for fruitful economic partnerships that are delivering measurable, concrete benefits for Americans and Koreans alike. The two allies have fought common foes in the past; the same determination and cooperation is required to defeat COVID-19. South Korea’s institutional capacity to handle the current pandemic shows exactly why it is important for Washington to enhance its already strong partnership with Seoul. The United States and South Korea have much to offer to each other, and much to gain from their ever-evolving practical partnership on many key economic policy fronts.

Please join GW Institute for Korean Studies for a timely online discussion on strategic methods in which Washington and Seoul can broaden cooperation even further and invigorate the practical partnership between the two proven allies in pursuit of economic rebound in this time of uncertainty.

Speaker

Terry Miller ,Director of Center for International Trade and Economics and Mark A. Kolokotrones Fellow in Economic Freedom, The Heritage Foundation
Terry Miller champions free markets as director of two of The Heritage Foundation’s key research centers, Data Analysis and Trade and Economics, and as the think tank’s Mark A. Kolokotrones fellow in economic freedom. At the Center for Trade and Economics, Miller focuses on research into how free markets and international trade foster economic growth around the world. He is editor of a signature Heritage publication, the annual Index of Economic Freedom. At the Center for Data Analysis, Miller oversees the statistical and econometric modeling that underpins the think tank’s wide-ranging research programs. Both centers are part of Heritage’s Institute for Economic Freedom and Opportunity. Before joining Heritage in 2007 as director of the Center for Trade and Economics, Miller had a distinguished career in the U.S. Foreign Service. In 2006, he was appointed as an ambassador to the United Nations and U.S. representative on the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council. Miller previously served at the State Department as deputy assistant secretary for economic and global issues. He headed offices at State devoted to the promotion of human rights, social issues, development and trade. Overseas, Miller served in Italy, France, Barbados and New Zealand. He headed the U.S. observer mission to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Miller did both his undergraduate studies in government and his graduate studies in economics at the University of Texas in Austin. He and his wife, the former opera singer Deborah Miller, have three children.

Discussant

Wonhyuk Lim, Professor, KDI School of Public Policy and Management
Wonhyuk Lim is a professor at the KDI School of Public Policy and Management. He is a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS in 2020. Since he joined KDI in 1996, his research has focused on state-owned enterprises and family-based business groups (chaebol). He has also written extensively on development issues, in conjunction with policy consultation projects under Korea’s Knowledge Sharing Program (KSP). After the 2002 Presidential Election in Korea, he worked for the Presidential Transition Committee and the Presidential Committee on Northeast Asia and helped to set policy directions for the restructuring of the electricity and gas sector and for Northeast Asian energy cooperation. Dr. Lim was at the Brookings Institution as a CNAPS Fellow in 2005-06. After returning to KDI in 2007, he became Director of the Office of Economic Development Cooperation, precursor to the Center for International Development (CID). He received a Presidential order from the Dominican Republic for his KSP consultation work. In 2010, Dr. Lim helped to formulate the G20 Seoul Development Consensus for Shared Growth. In 2013, he became Vice President and Director of Department of Competition Policy at KDI. In 2014-15, he served as the inaugural Executive Director of the Center for Regulatory Studies. Most recently, he served as Associate Dean, Office of Development Research and International Cooperation, at KDI School. His recent publications include Opinion Polarization in Korea: Its Characteristics and Drivers (KDI, 2019, co-authored), Understanding the Drivers of Trust in Government Institutions in Korea (OECD, 2018, co-edited), Improving Regulatory Governance (OECD, 2017, co-authored), The Korean Economy: From a Miraculous Past to a Sustainable Future (Harvard, 2015, co-authored), and Global Leadership in Transition: Making the G20 More Effective and Responsive (Brookings and KDI, 2011, co-edited). He received a B.A.S. in Physics and History and a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University.

Moderator

Yonho Kim
Associate Director, GW Institute for Korean Studies
Yonho Kim is Associate Research Professor of Practice and Associate Director of GW Institute for Korean Studies. He specializes in North Korea’s mobile telecommunications and U.S. policy towards North Korea. Kim is the author of North Korea’s Mobile Telecommunications and Private Transportation Services in the Kim Jong-un Era (2019) and Cell Phones in North Korea: Has North Korea Entered the Telecommunications Revolution? (2014). His research findings were covered by various media outlets, including Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Yonhap News, and Libération. Prior to joining GWIKS, he extensively interacted with the Washington policy circle on the Korean peninsula as Senior Researcher of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Senior Reporter for Voice of America’s Korean Service, and Assistant Director of the Atlantic Council’s Program on Korea in Transition. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in International Relations from Seoul National University, and an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

The Korea Policy Forum is made possible by a generous grant provided by the KDI School of Public Policy and Management.

The GW Institute for Korean Studies Presents:

Korea Policy Forum: U.S.-ROK-Japan Trilateral Relations

in the Biden Era

Speakers: Gregg A. Brazinsky, Shihoko Goto, Seong-ho Sheen

Moderator: Celeste Arrington

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM EDT

Virtual Event

This event is on the record and open to the public.

Event Description

The Biden administration has made it clear that it is committed to re-energizing American alliances in Northeast Asia. At the same time, relations between South Korea and Japan are still strained over legal and economic disputes. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are to make their first international trip to Japan and South Korea later this month. Responding to the Biden administration’s clear signals toward multilateral engagement, South Korean President Moon Jae-in recently invited Japan to renew efforts to mend ROK-Japan bilateral relations. Please join the GW Institute for Korean Studies for an online discussion with experts who will be discussing views from the United States, South Korea, and Japan on reinvigorating trilateral cooperation.

Speakers

Gregg A. Brazinsky is Professor of History and International Affairs and Deputy Director of GW Institute for Korean Studies. His research seeks to understand the diverse and multi-faceted interactions among East Asian states and between Asia and the United States. He is the author of Nation Building in South Korea: Koreans, Americans, and the Making of a Democracy (University of North Carolina Press, 2007) and Winning the Third World: Sino-American Rivalry during the Cold War (University of North Carolina Press, 2017). He served as Interim Director of the GW Institute for Korean Studies during the Spring 2017 semester.

Shihoko Goto is the Deputy Director for Geoeonomics and Senior Northeast Asia Associate at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Asia Program. She specializes in trade relations and economic issues across Asia, and is also focused on developments in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. She is also a contributing editor to The Globalist, and a fellow of the Mansfield Foundation/Japan Foundation U.S.-Japan Network for the Future for 2014 to 2016. Prior to joining the Wilson Center, she spent over ten years as a journalist writing about the international political economy with an emphasis on Asian markets. As a correspondent for Dow Jones News Service and United Press International based in Tokyo and Washington, she has reported extensively on policies impacting the global financial system as well as international trade. She currently provides analysis for a number of media organizations. She was also formerly a donor country relations officer at the World Bank. She received the Freeman Foundation’s Jefferson journalism fellowship at the East-West Center and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s journalism fellowship for the Salzburg Global Seminar. She is fluent in Japanese and French. She received an M.A. in international political theory from the Graduate School of Political Science, Waseda University, Japan, and a B.A. in Modern History, from Trinity College, University of Oxford, UK.

Seong-ho Sheen is Professor of International Security, and Director of International Security Center at Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS), Seoul National University (SNU). Previously, he was a visiting fellow at the East-West Center DC, a CNAPS fellow at the Brookings Institution, an assistant research professor at Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS) and a research fellow at Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA). He has taught at University of Massachusetts Boston. In addition, he advised various government organizations including ROK National Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Unification, and the ROK National Assembly. His area of interest includes International Security, US Foreign Policy, Northeast Asian Politics and the Korean Peninsula. Professor Sheen received Ph.D. and M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and B.A. from Seoul National University.

Moderator

Celeste Arrington is Korea Foundation Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at GW. She specializes in comparative politics, with a regional focus on the Koreas and Japan. Her research and teaching focus on law and social movements, the media, lawyers, policy processes, historical justice, North Korean human rights, and qualitative methods. She is also interested in the international relations and security of Northeast Asia and transnational activism. She is the author of Accidental Activists: Victim Movements and Governmental Accountability in Japan and South Korea (2016) and has published in Comparative Political Studies, Law & Society Review, Journal of East Asian Studies, Pacific Affairs, Asian Survey, and the Washington Post, among others. She received a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and an A.B. from Princeton University. She is currently writing a book that analyzes the role of lawyers and legal activism in Japanese and Korean policies related to persons with disabilities and tobacco control.

The GW Institute for Korean Studies
and the GW East Asia National Resource Center Present:

Korea Policy Forum

U.S.-ROK-Japan Trilateral Relations in the Biden Era

Thursday, April 15, 2021
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. (EDT)
Livestream via Zoom

This event is open to the public.

Speaker

June Park
East Asia Voices Initiative (EAVI) Fellow, East Asia National Resource Center
George Washington University

Discussant

Celeste Arrington
Korea Foundation Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs
George Washington University 

Moderator

Yonho Kim
Associate Director, GW Institute for Korean Studies
George Washington University

Event Description

A forthcoming book, Coronavirus Politics (Greer et al. 2021, Michigan University Press) identifies key threads in the global comparative discussion that continue to shed light on COVID-19 and shape debates about what it means for scholarship in health and comparative politics. Contributing a chapter to the book on the South Korean pandemic governance on COVID-19 encompassing South Korea’s public health (3Ts: Testing, Tracing, Treatment) and social policies, Dr. June Park argues that functioning institutions matter in pandemic governance and determines the level of their effectiveness by scrutinizing the case of South Korea under COVID-19. She focuses on public health bureaucracy and policy coordination supported by public participation, which are vital to effective policy response. Dr. Park highlights the technocracy at the core in public health and the significant role it has come to play as the “control tower.” The book brings together over 30 authors versed in politics and the health issues in order to understand the health policy decisions, the public health interventions, the social policy decisions, their interactions, and their reasons – analyses which will serve as a record of country responses to COVID-19 and as a case reference for future pandemics.system, after fostering a strong sense of elitism in them, withdrew its ideological endorsement and material support. As a result, they turned to Decadent rebellion to reclaim their spiritual superiority yet in vain because of its internal and external paradoxes.

Speaker

Dr. June Park is an East Asia Voices Initiative (EAVI) Fellow of the East Asia National Resource Center at the Elliot School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. She specializes in U.S. foreign economic policymaking on export-oriented countries of Northeast Asia – China, Japan and South Korea. She studies trade, energy, and tech conflicts with a broader range of regional focuses on the U.S., East Asia, Europe and the Middle East and intensive policy-oriented research on the two Koreas. She studies why countries fight and how, using what including why countries have different policy outcomes by analyzing governance structures – domestic institutions, leaderships, and bureaucracies that shape the policy formation process.

Recently, Dr. June Park was awarded the Fung Global Fellowship (Early-Career Scholar Track) at the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies at Princeton University for the 2021-2022 academic year for my research proposal, ‘Governing a Pandemic with Data on the Contactless Path to AI’.

Discussant

Celeste Arrington is Korea Foundation Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at GW. She specializes in comparative politics, with a regional focus on the Koreas and Japan. Her research and teaching focus on law and social movements, the media, lawyers, policy processes, historical justice, North Korean human rights, and qualitative methods. She is also interested in the international relations and security of Northeast Asia and transnational activism. She is the author of Accidental Activists: Victim Movements and Governmental Accountability in Japan and South Korea (2016) and has published in Comparative Political Studies, Law & Society Review, Journal of East Asian Studies, Pacific Affairs, Asian Survey, and the Washington Post, among others. She received a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and an A.B. from Princeton University. She is currently writing a book that analyzes the role of lawyers and legal activism in Japanese and Korean policies related to persons with disabilities and tobacco control.

Moderator

Yonho Kim is Associate Research Professor of Practice and Associate Director of GW Institute for Korean Studies. He specializes in North Korea’s mobile telecommunications and U.S. policy towards North Korea. Kim is the author of North Korean Phone Money: Airtime Transfers as a Precursor to Mobile Payment System (2020), North Korea’s Mobile Telecommunications and Private Transportation Services in the Kim Jong-un Era (2019) and Cell Phones in North Korea: Has North Korea Entered the Telecommunications Revolution? (2014). His research findings were covered by various media outlets, including Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Yonhap News, and Libération. Prior to joining GWIKS, he extensively interacted with the Washington policy circle on the Korean peninsula as Senior Researcher of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Senior Reporter for Voice of America’s Korean Service, and Assistant Director of the Atlantic Council’s Program on Korea in Transition. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in International Relations from Seoul National University, and an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

The Korea Policy Forum is made possible by a generous grant provided by the KDI School of Public Policy and Management.

The GW Institute for Korean Studies & the East Asia National Resource Center Present:

Korea Policy Forum Webinar

“South Korea’s National Assembly Elections:
Prospects of New Political Geography and Foreign Policy”

Speakers

Stephen Costello, Non-Resident Scholar, GW Institute for Korean Studies

Celeste Arrington, Korea Foundation Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University

Heung-Kyu Kim, Director of China Policy Institute, Ajou University

Moderator

   Yonho Kim, Associate Director, GW Institute for Korean Studies

Date & Time

Monday, April 20, 2020 9:15 a.m. – 10:30 am.

Event Description

On April 15, South Korea will hold the general elections amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Not only the unprecedented fight against COVID-19 but also the new proportional representation system emerged as critical variables for the election results. What are the main political parties’ strategies and challenges leading up to the elections and how did they lead to the election outcome? How would the political landscape, including the power relations within the main political parties, be shifting in the coming months? What would be the potential impact of the election results on Seoul’s repositioning its foreign and security policy? Please join the GW Institute for Korean Studies for an online discussion with experts from both the U.S. and South Korea on the prospects of a new domestic political geography in South Korea and its potential impact on U.S.-ROK relations and Seoul’s North Korea policy.

Speakers

Stephen Costello has been immersed in South Korean politics and foreign policy since 1990. He is the Director of the policy NGO AsiaEast.Org and columnist with The Korea Times in Seoul. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Public Policy Analysis from Syracuse University. Mr. Costello was formerly director of the Korea Program at the Atlantic Council of the US and director of the Kim Dae Jung Peace Foundation/USA. He was a political consultant and policy advisor to overseas political parties and mayors, and Washington manager for overseas NGOs. He has consulted for small technology businesses in Korea and the US. He has advised ministers and staff at the Foreign and Unification ministries in Seoul and the State Department in Washington. Beyond South Korea, Costello’s focus includes the Korean Peninsula, Northeast Asia, and the US interests in the region.

Celeste Arrington is Korea Foundation Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at GW. She specializes in comparative politics, with a regional focus on the Koreas and Japan. Her research and teaching focus on law and social movements, the media, lawyers, policy processes, historical justice, North Korean human rights, and qualitative methods. She is also interested in the international relations and security of Northeast Asia and transnational activism. She is the author of Accidental Activists: Victims and Government Accountability in South Korea and Japan (2016) and has published in Comparative Political Studies, Law & Society Review, Journal of East Asian Studies, Pacific Affairs, Asian Survey, and the Washington Post, among others. She received a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and an A.B. from Princeton University. She is currently writing a book that analyzes the role of lawyers and legal activism in Japanese and Korean policies related to persons with disabilities and tobacco control.

Heung-Kyu Kim is the founder and Director of China Policy Institute and professor in the department of political science at Ajou University, South Korea. He also served as a professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His current assignments include Policy Advisory Board Member for the Ministry of National Defense and the ROK Army and a member of the Foreign Ministry’s Reform Commission. He also served as Director of Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Presidential Commission on Policy Planning, Team Leader of Security and Defense in the Presidential Task Force of Future Vision 2045, a board member of the National Security Council and a board member of National Defense Reform Commission. Dr. Kim’s publications include China and the U.S.-ROK Alliance: Promoting a Trilateral Dialogue (CFR, 2017), Enemy, Homager or Equal Partner?: Evolving Korea-China Relations (2012), From a Buffer Zone to a Strategic Burden: Evolving Sino-North Korea Relations during Hu Jintao Era (2010). His book China’s Central-Local Relations and Decision-Making received an award for Excellency of the Year by the Ministry of Culture in 2008. He also received the NEAR Foundation Academic prize of the year in the area of foreign policy and security in 2014. Kim received his BA and MA in international relations from Seoul National University, South Korea, and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan.

Moderator

Yonho Kim is Associate Research Professor of Practice and Associate Director of GW Institute for Korean Studies. He specializes in North Korea’s mobile telecommunications and U.S. policy towards North Korea. Kim is the author of North Korea’s Mobile Telecommunications and Private Transportation Services in the Kim Jong-un Era (2019) and Cell Phones in North Korea: Has North Korea Entered the Telecommunications Revolution? (2014). His research findings were covered by various media outlets, including Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Yonhap News, and Libération. Prior to joining GWIKS, he extensively interacted with the Washington policy circle on the Korean peninsula as Senior Researcher of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Senior Reporter for Voice of America’s Korean Service, and Assistant Director of the Atlantic Council’s Program on Korea in Transition. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in International Relations from Seoul National University, and an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Registered guests will receive a separate WebEx invitation email with details
for joining the event a day before the event.

This event is on the record and open to the public.

The Korea Policy Forum is made possible by a generous grant provided by the KDI School of Public Policy and Management.

The GW Institute for Korean Studies & the East Asia National Resource Center Present:

Korea Policy Forum Webinar

“South Korea’s Response to the Corona Virus:
Public Health, ICT, and Economic Measures”

Speakers

Chang Huh, Ministry of Economy and Finance
Hee-Kwon Jung, Ministry of Science and ICT
Moran Ki, National Cancer Center Graduate School of Cancer Science and Policy

Moderator

   Yonho Kim, Associate Director, GW Institute for Korean Studies

Date & Time

Thursday, April 23, 2020 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 am.

Event Description

As the world is reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, South Korea has emerged as a model of effective testing, contact tracing, and treatment. It is remarkable that South Korea succeeded in flattening the curve of new infections without lockdowns or travel restrictions. On April 15, South Koreans even held the world’s first general election in the coronavirus era with a record high turnout rate. As the U.S. is aiming to reopen the economy, the South Korean case would provide a rare example of how the coronavirus pandemic management could work.

Please join GW Institute for Korean Studies for an online discussion on South Korea’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the areas of public health measures, use of technology and data, and economic and financial measures.

Speakers

Chang Huh has been serving as the Deputy Minister for International Affairs of the Ministry of Economy and Finance since February 2020. He has worked in various capacities both at home and abroad, including serving as the Director General for the Development Finance Bureau from 2018 to 2020 and as the Senior Director for the International Economic Policy Division from 2012 to 2013. Dr. Huh has also worked at the OECD as the Minister of the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Korea (2015-2018) and at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as an advisor to the Executive Director of the Korean Office (2004-2005). He majored in International Economics at Seoul National University and received a Ph.D. in Economics from I.E.P. de Paris in July 2003.

Hee-Kwon Jung has been serving as the Director-General for the International Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry of Science and ICT since November 2019. He also served as the President of the Seoul Office of Central Radio Management Service of the Ministry of Science and ICT from 2018 to 2019. From 2014 to 2016, he worked as the Director of the Public-Private Joint Task Force for the Creative Economy on the Presidential Advisory Council for Science and Technology and held positions in the S&T Innovation Division, S&T Strategy Division, and S&T Policy Division of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. From 2009 to 2011, he was seconded to the OECD. In 2007, he worked as the Director of the Technology Innovation System Division of the Ministry of Science and Technology. He graduated from Seoul National University, majoring in International Economics, and acquired an M.A in Public Administration from the University of Missouri.

Moran Ki is a professor in the Department of Cancer Control and Population Health at the National Cancer Center Graduate School of Cancer Science and Policy (NCC-GCSP). Her expertise lies in infectious disease epidemiology and global health. She worked as a professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Eulji University from 1998 to 2013 and served as the Dean of Eulji University’s Graduate School of Public Health from 2005 to 2008 and again from 2011 to 2013. She received her Ph.D. from Hanyang University’s College of Medicine. She also received an M.P.H. in Public Health from Seoul National University and an M.D. in medicine from Hanyang University.

Moderator

Yonho Kim is Associate Research Professor of Practice and Associate Director of GW Institute for Korean Studies. He specializes in North Korea’s mobile telecommunications and U.S. policy towards North Korea. Kim is the author of North Korea’s Mobile Telecommunications and Private Transportation Services in the Kim Jong-un Era (2019) and Cell Phones in North Korea: Has North Korea Entered the Telecommunications Revolution? (2014). His research findings were covered by various media outlets, including Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Yonhap News, and Libération. Prior to joining GWIKS, he extensively interacted with the Washington policy circle on the Korean peninsula as Senior Researcher of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Senior Reporter for Voice of America’s Korean Service, and Assistant Director of the Atlantic Council’s Program on Korea in Transition. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in International Relations from Seoul National University, and an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

This event is on the record and open to the public.

The Korea Policy Forum is made possible by a generous grant provided by the KDI School of Public Policy and Management.

The GW Institute for Korean Studies and the East Asia National Resource Center present:

Korea Policy Forum

U.S.-ROK Relations: Challenges and Opportunities
under the Biden Administration

Speaker: Congressman Andy Kim (D-NJ)

Monday, April 26, 2021

10:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. ET

Virtual Event via Zoom

This event is on the record and open to the public.

Event Description

With the Biden Administration approaching its 100-day mark, reshaping the relationship between the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) poses one of its greatest challenges and opportunities. The strategic alliance between the two countries will define a renewed approach towards North Korea, future policy that shapes the relationship with China, and has far-reaching implications to the regional and global economies. Please join us for an online discussion with Congressman Andy Kim (D-NJ), a member of the House Armed Services and House Foreign Affairs Committees in the House and former State Department, Pentagon and White House National Security Council official, on the future of this relationship and its implications for shaping the region, world and future.

Speaker

Congressman Andy Kim was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018.  He represents the Third Congressional District of New Jersey, which stretches from the Delaware River to the Jersey Shore encompassing most of Burlington County and parts of Ocean County. As a member of the House, Congressman Kim serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Committee on Small Business. In his first term, Congressman Kim passed bills into law that help military servicemembers and their families find economic opportunities and stopped the use of harmful chemicals that impact New Jersey’s water by the U.S. military. In addition, Congressman Kim has held more than two dozen town halls and has helped constituents by resolving more than 4,300 issues with federal agencies. Congressman Kim grew up in South Jersey, the proud son of Korean immigrants, where he attended public K-12 schools before becoming a Rhodes Scholar. Prior to serving in the House, Congressman Kim worked as a career public servant under both Democrats and Republicans. He served at USAID, the Pentagon, the State Department, the White House National Security Council, and in Afghanistan as an advisor to Generals Petraeus and Allen. He currently lives in Burlington county with his wife and two baby boys.

Moderator

Jisoo M. Kim is 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.

The GW Institute for Korean Studies & the East Asia National Resource Center Present:

Korea Policy Forum

“Nuclear and Conventional Arms Control
on the Korean Peninsula”

Speakers

Yong-Sup Han, Professor, Korea National Defense University
Young-Jun Kim, Professor, Korea National Defense University

Discussant

     Joanna Spear, Associate Professor of International Affairs
the George Washington University

Date & Time

Monday, November 4, 2019
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Location

Room 505
Elliott School of International Affairs, the George Washington University
1957 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052

Event Description

Mindful of the uncertain circumstances of the Korean Peninsula, two experts from Korea National Defense University will talk on the past, present, and future of nuclear and conventional arms control of the Korean Peninsula. As a former negotiator with North Korea on arms control, Professor Yong-sup Han will share his experiences and view on the future of nuclear arms control focusing on verification issues. As an official member of National Security Advisory Board of the Republic of Korea President’s Office, Professor Youngjun Kim will present on the current status and the future of conventional arms control on the Korean Peninsula. Having deeply engaged in the national security policymaking of the ROK government, the two experts will share their insights and experiences and provide a great opportunity to understand the future of security on the Korean Peninsula.

Speakers

Yong-sup Han is a Professor at the Korea National Defense University (KNDU). His vast academic experience includes serving as the President of Korea Nuclear Policy Society (2012-15), Vice President of KNDU (2010-12), Director General of Research Institute for National Security Affairs, KNDU (2005-08), and President of Korea Peace Research Association (2007-10). He was Visiting Fellow to the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI); Visiting Professor of Fudan University in Shanghai China (2015.8-2016.2); Visiting Professor of China Foreign Affairs University (2009.1-2009.6); and Visiting Fellow to the U.S. RAND Corporation (1999-2000). He also served as Special Assistant to the South Korean Minister of National Defense (1993), and Senior Staff Member to the South-North Joint Nuclear Control Commission (1991-92). He earned his BA and MA in political science from Seoul National University (1978 and 1982), Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University (1987), and Ph.D. in Public Policy from the RAND Graduate School (1991).

Young-jun Kim is a Professor of the National Security College at the Korea National Defense University (KNDU). He is now a member of National Security Advisory Board for the Republic of Korea President’s Office (the Blue House). His recent publications include Origins of the North Korean Garrison State: People’s Army and the Korean War at Routledge (2017). At the Prime Minister’s Office, he is an official reviewer of the Government Performance Review on Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Unification. He is a member of the ROK-US Combined Forces Commander’s Strategic Shaping Board (CSSB). He is Senior Research Fellow at the U.S. Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) at Fort Leavenworth. He is a policy advisor on North Korean issues for the National Security Office of the ROK President’s Office, the National Assembly, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Ministry of National Defense (MND), Ministry of Unification, National Intelligence Service, the Joint Chief of Staff and the ROK-US Combined Forces Command. He is a managing editor of the new journal “The Korean Journal of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Energy” sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the General-Director for the Korea Nuclear Policy Society, Korea International Studies Association and Korea Defense Policy Association.

Discussant

Joanna Spear is an Associate Professor of International Affairs and Director of the FAO Regional Sustainment Initiative. She previously was the Director of the Elliott School’s Security Policy Studies Program and the Founding Director of the National Security Studies Program, an executive education program serving the needs of the U.S. Department of Defense and other federal agencies. Dr. Spear is also an Associate Fellow at Chatham House in London. Before joining GW, Dr. Spear was Director of the Graduate Research Programme and a Senior Lecturer at the Department of War Studies, King’s College, London. In addition, she was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and a Visiting Scholar at the Brookings Institution.

Moderator

Yonho Kim is Associate Research Professor of Practice and Associate Director of GW Institute for Korean Studies. He specializes in North Korea’s mobile telecommunications and U.S. policy towards North Korea. Kim is the author of North Korea’s Mobile Telecommunications and Private Transportation Services in the Kim Jong-un Era (2019) and Cell Phones in North Korea: Has North Korea Entered the Telecommunications Revolution? (2014). His research findings were covered by various media outlets, including Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Yonhap News, and Libération. Prior to joining GWIKS, he extensively interacted with the Washington policy circle on the Korean peninsula as Senior Researcher of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Senior Reporter for Voice of America’s Korean Service, and Assistant Director of the Atlantic Council’s Program on Korea in Transition. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in International Relations from Seoul National University, and an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

This event is open to public and on the record.

Photo credit: USAG- Humphreys Jaeyeon Sim and Tanya Im

The GW Institute for Korean Studies & the East Asia National Resource Center Present:

Korea Policy Forum

“Prospects for a Nuclear Deal with North Korea”

Speaker

Ambassador Joseph Yun, Senior Advisor, the U.S. Institute of Peace

Date & Time

Monday, October 14, 2019
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Location

Lindner Family Commons, Room 602
Elliott School of International Affairs, the George Washington University
1957 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052

Event Description

Less than four months ago, U.S. President Donald Trump briefly set foot in North Korea, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so. This was the third meeting between Trump and Kim in twelve months, an unimaginable development for Americans and Koreans alike. Ambassador Joseph Yun, former U.S. Representative for North Korea Policy (2016-18), will discuss whether these Trump-Kim meetings are just photo-ops or if they could lead to an agreement that will denuclearize North Korea and thus change the Korean Peninsula and the region.

Speaker

Ambassador Yun, recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts on relations with North Korea, as well as broader U.S.-East Asia policy, most recently served as Special Representative for North Korea Policy. Currently, he is Senior Advisor with The Asia Group, a DC-based strategic consulting firm, and the U.S. Institute of Peace, an independent and non-partisan federal institute working on peace and reconciliation issues throughout the globe. He is also a Global Affairs Commentator for the CNN. Yun’s 33-year diplomatic career has been marked by his commitment to face-to-face engagement as the best avenue for resolving conflict and advancing cross-border cooperation. As Special Representative on North Korea from 2016 to 2018, Ambassador Yun led the U.S. efforts to align regional powers behind a united policy to denuclearize North Korea. He was instrumental in reopening the “New York channel,” a direct communication line with officials from Pyongyang. As Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (2011-2013), Yun led efforts to normalize diplomatic relations with Myanmar. Yun also served as Ambassador to Malaysia (2013-16). Before joining the Foreign Service, Yun was a senior economist for Data Resources, Inc., in Lexington, Massachusetts. He holds a M. Phil. degree from the London School of Economics and a BS from the University of Wales.

Welcoming Remarks

Jisoo M. Kim is Korea Foundation Associate Professor of History, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures and Director of the Institute for Korean Studies at GW. She received her Ph.D. in Korean History from Columbia University. She is a specialist in gender and legal history of early modern Korea. 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 two book projects titled Suspicious Deaths: Forensic Medicine, Dead Bodies, and Criminal Justice in Chosŏn Korea and Sexual Desire and Gendered Subjects: Decriminalization of Adultery Law in Korean History.

Moderator

Yonho Kim is Associate Research Professor of Practice and Associate Director of GW Institute for Korean Studies. He specializes in North Korea’s mobile telecommunications and U.S. policy towards North Korea. Kim is the author of North Korea’s Mobile Telecommunications and Private Transportation Services in the Kim Jong-un Era (2019) and Cell Phones in North Korea: Has North Korea Entered the Telecommunications Revolution? (2014). His research findings were covered by various media outlets, including Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Yonhap News, and Libération. Prior to joining GWIKS, he extensively interacted with the Washington policy circle on the Korean peninsula as Senior Researcher of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Senior Reporter for Voice of America’s Korean Service, and Assistant Director of the Atlantic Council’s Program on Korea in Transition. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in International Relations from Seoul National University, and an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

This event is open to public and on the record.

The GW Institute for Korean Studies & the East Asia National Resource Center Present:

Korea Policy Forum

“U.S.-China Strategic Rivalry and the Korean Peninsula”

Speakers

Heung-Kyu Kim, Ajou University
Scott Synder, Council on Foreign Relations
Jiyong Zheng, Fudan University

Date & Time

Tuesday, October 1, 2019
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Location

Room 505
Elliott School of International Affairs, the George Washington University
1957 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052

Event Description

In recent years, the U.S. and China have been engaged in the strategic rivalry on both the security and economic fronts with the rise of China and the Trump administration’s new approach to U.S.-China relations. The Korean peninsula is facing growing uncertainties as the competition between the two great powers intensifies in the region. South Korea seeks autonomy while upgrading its traditional alliance with the U.S., whereas North Korea strives for a new relationship with the U.S. with strengthened ties with China. How will the changing strategic equations surrounding the Korean peninsula impact the security and prosperity in the region? The Korea Policy Forum at GWIKS will bring together three experts from South Korea, the U.S., and China to answer the question and discuss the strategic choices and paths for the Korean peninsula.

Speakers

Heung-Kyu Kim is the founder and Director of China Policy Institute and professor in the department of political science at Ajou University, South Korea. He also served as a professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His current assignments include Director of Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Presidential Commission on Policy-Planning, Team Leader of Security and Defense in the Presidential Task Force of Future Vision 2045, a board member of the National Security Council and a board member of National Defense Reform Commission, Ministry of National Defense. Kim has written more than 300 articles, books, and policy papers regarding Chinese politics and foreign policy, and security issues in Northeast Asia. They include China and the U.S.-ROK Alliance: Promoting a Trilateral Dialogue (CFR, 2017), Enemy, Homager or Equal Partner?: Evolving Korea-China Relations (2012), From a Buffer Zone to a Strategic Burden: Evolving Sino-North Korea Relations during Hu Jintao Era (2010). His book China’s Central-Local Relations and Decision-Making received an award for Excellency of the Year by the Ministry of Culture in 2008. He also received the NEAR Foundation Academic prize of the year in the area of foreign policy and security in 2014. Kim received his BA and MA in international relations from Seoul National University, South Korea, and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan.

Scott A. Snyder is a senior fellow for Korea studies and director of the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). His program examines South Korea’s efforts to contribute on the international stage; its potential influence and contributions as a middle power in East Asia; and the peninsular, regional, and global implications of North Korean instability. Mr. Snyder is the author of South Korea at the Crossroads: Autonomy and Alliance in an Era of Rival Powers (January 2018) and coauthor of The Japan-South Korea Identity Clash: East Asian Security and the United States (May 2015) with Brad Glosserman. He is also the coeditor of North Korea in Transition: Politics, Economy, and Society (October 2012), and the editor of Global Korea: South Korea’s Contributions to International Security (October 2012) and The U.S.-South Korea Alliance: Meeting New Security Challenges (March 2012). Mr. Snyder served as the project director for CFR’s Independent Task Force on policy toward the Korean Peninsula. He currently writes for the blog Asia Unbound.

Jiyong Zheng currently serves as Professor and Director at the Center for Korean Studies, Fudan University, and Secretary-General of Shanghai Institute of Korean Studies. Zheng Jiyong joined the army and studied at the School of Foreign Languages, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. In 1991, he was assigned to research the military and diplomacy of the Korean Peninsula. In 2009, he retired from the army and joined Fudan University. He received his Doctoral Degree at Fudan University and has had post-doctoral experiences at IFES, Kyungnam University, ROK(2009/09-2010/12) and in Kim Il Sung University, DPRK(2014/07-11), and was a visiting scholar in Seoul National University, ROK(2016/09-2017/09), and is currently a Visiting Scholar in The Henry L. Stimson Center. His research focuses on domestic politics in the two Koreas, and on bilateral and multilateral relations related to the Korean peninsula, and policy-making process in DPRK, China, and ROK. He is the author and co-author of more than 100 scholarly articles and author or editor of more than 10 books, including ROK’s Political Party Systems (2008), ROK’s Parliamentary Politics (2017), North Korea: Peace? Nuclear War? (2019), The “Conflict-Reconciliation” Cycle on the Korean Peninsula: A Chinese Perspective (2012), and Road Map to a Korean Peninsula Peace Regime: A Chinese Perspective (2015).

Moderator

Jisoo M. Kim is Korea Foundation Associate Professor of History, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures and Director of the Institute for Korean Studies at GW. She received her Ph.D. in Korean History from Columbia University. She is a specialist in gender and legal history of early modern Korea. 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 two book projects titled Suspicious Deaths: Forensic Medicine, Dead Bodies, and Criminal Justice in Chosŏn Korea and Sexual Desire and Gendered Subjects: Decriminalization of Adultery Law in Korean History.

This event is open to public and on the record.