Hope and Anxiety: South Korean Views of Biden's America

Tuesday, May 11, 2021
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
(Pacific)

Via Zoom: Register at https://bit.ly/3xe3J1K

To watch the recording of the event, click here.

This event is made possible by generous support from the Korea Foundation and other friends of the Korea Program.

This event is part of Shorenstein APARC's spring webinar series "The United States in the Biden Era: Views from Asia."

Many Koreans were relieved by Biden's victory but were left wondering where his policy toward China and North Korea would be heading. Under Biden, Koreans expect better alliance management but are concerned that North Korean nuclear issues may not get much attention. They also watch his China policy closely, as the US-China conflict puts South Korea in a difficult position of having to choose one or the other. In light of the upcoming Biden-Moon summit, two leading experts of national security and trade in South Korea, Congressman Taeyong Cho and Professor Dukgeun Ahn of Seoul National University, will discuss these issues in a moderated conversation with APARC and Korea Program director Gi-Wook Shin.

Speakers:

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Taeyong Cho, Congressman and former National Security Adviser of South Korea.

Taeyong Cho is a Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. He serves in the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Unification as well as the Committee on Intelligence. He is a member of the conservative People Power Party, the largest opposition party. Before being elected to the National Assembly in 2020, he served in government for 37 years, mostly in the Foreign Ministry. He served as Deputy Director of the Presidential Office of National Security and as Vice Foreign Minister. He also served as Korean Ambassador to Australia and to Ireland. After retirement in 2017, Ambassador Cho taught at Yonsei University as visiting professor and spent a year in Tokyo as visiting fellow at Keio University. He wrote regular columns in major newspapers and spoke at forums in Korea and abroad. He received B.A. in political science from Seoul National University and studied at Oxford University, Foreign Service Program. 

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Dukgeun Ahn, Professor of International Trade Law and Policy at Seoul National University. Speaker of May 11, 2021.

Dukgeun Ahn is Dean of International Affairs and Professor of International Trade Law and Policy at Seoul National University. Professor Ahn has taught at various universities including Columbia University, Singapore National University, University of Barcelona in Spain, World Trade Institute in Switzerland as well as regularly at the World Trade Organization (WTO) for government officials. He served, among others, as Commissioner of the Korea Trade Commission, Member of National Economic Advisory Council and Chair for CPTPP Strategy Forum. Professor Ahn was President of the Korean Association of Trade and Industry Studies in 2020 and the Korean Society of Trade Remedies in 2019-2020. He holds a Ph.D. in economics and J.D. (Member of New York Bar) from the University of Michigan.