This is a joint event with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.

Event Time: October 28, 12:00 PM (PDT)/3:00 PM (EDT)
Please register for this event at the CSIS event website, https://bit.ly/3DC4zI3.

While North Korea’s nuclear weapons and the security threat it poses have occupied the center stage and eclipsed other issues in recent years, human rights remain important to U.S. policy. The edited volume, The North Korean Conundrum, explores how dealing with the issue of human rights is shaped and affected by the political issues with which it is so entwined. In this book launch event, contributors of the book will discuss the relationship between human rights and denuclearization, and how North Koreans’ limited access to information is part of the problem, and how this is changing.

Speakers:
Victor Cha is Senior Vice President and Korea Chair at CSIS; Vice Dean for Faculty and Graduate Affairs & D.S. Song-KF Professor of Government at Georgetown University. He left the White House in 2007 after serving since 2004 as director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council (NSC). At the White House, he was responsible primarily for Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Australia/New Zealand, and Pacific Island nation affairs. He was also the deputy head of delegation for the United States at the Six-Party Talks in Beijing and received two outstanding service commendations during his tenure at the NSC. He was the 2019-20 Koret Fellow for the winter quarter at Stanford.

Robert King served as the special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, an ambassadorial-ranked position, at the Department of State, from 2009 to 2017. He is a senior advisor to the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a senior fellow at the Korea Economic Institute, and a board member of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea in Washington, D.C. Ambassador King was the 2019-20 Koret Fellow for the fall quarter at Stanford.

Nat Kretchun is Vice President for Programs at the Open Technology Fund (OTF), a congressionally funded non-profit organization that supports the development and deployment of anti-censorship, privacy, and security technologies for populations living under repressive information censorship regimes.

Moderator:
Gi-Wook Shin, Director of Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and the Korea Program; the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea, Stanford University

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:

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. 

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.

To watch the recording of the event, click here.

The Biden administration has yet to announce its North Korea policy, and it remains unclear whether it will try to forge a new path in U.S. dealings with North Korea or retread the steps of previous administrations. In this webinar, four experts with extensive experience with North Korea will assess the current situation on the Korean Peninsula and provide recommendations to the new administration.

Gi-Wook Shin, director of the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and Korea Program, will moderate the conversation with panelists Robert Carlin, a visiting scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation, Victor Cha, professor of government at Georgetown University and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Siegfried Hecker, senior fellow emeritus at FSI and professor emeritus in the Department of Management Science and Engineering, and Oriana Mastro, an FSI Center Fellow.

"America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it,” declared President-elect Joe Biden as he unveiled his foreign policy team on November 24. Now, however, with the pillars of America’s international mission — multilateralism, alliances, and democracy – significantly frayed after four years of Trumpism, and amidst pressing global challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic to shifting geopolitics and climate change, the Biden administration faces numerous hard choices. The Asia-Pacific region in particular will remain a source of major challenges as the power competition with China looms large over the U.S. foreign policy agenda. In this online panel discussion, APARC experts will examine the challenges and opportunities for U.S. engagement and leadership in Asia, assess Asian nations’ expectations from the incoming administration, and provide recommendations to achieve American economic and security interests. APARC Director Gi-Wook Shin will moderate the conversation.

Panelists 

Donald K. Emmerson, Director of APARC’s Southeast Asia Program 

At Stanford, in addition to his work for the Southeast Asia Program and his affiliations with CDDRL and the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Donald Emmerson has taught courses on Southeast Asia in East Asian Studies, International Policy Studies, and Political Science. He is active as an analyst of current policy issues involving Asia. In 2010 the National Bureau of Asian Research and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars awarded him a two-year Research Associateship given to “top scholars from across the United States” who “have successfully bridged the gap between the academy and policy.”

Thomas Fingar, Center Fellow, APARC 

Thomas Fingar is a Shorenstein APARC Fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He was the inaugural Oksenberg-Rohlen Distinguished Fellow from 2010 through 2015 and the Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford in 2009.

 

Oriana Skylar Mastro, FSI Center Fellow at APARC 

Oriana Skylar Mastro is a Center Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). Within FSI, she works primarily in the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) and the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) as well. She is also a fellow in Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and an inaugural Wilson Center China Fellow.

 

Kiyoteru Tsutsui, Director of APARC’s Japan Program 
Kiyoteru Tsutsui is the Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor and Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies at Shorenstein APARC, the Director of the Japan Program at APARC, a senior fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and Professor of Sociology, all at Stanford University.

 

 

Moderator

Gi-Wook Shin, Director of APARC and the Korea Program

Gi-Wook Shin is the director of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center; the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea; the founding director of the Korea Program; a senior fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; and a professor of sociology, all at Stanford University. As a historical-comparative and political sociologist, his research has concentrated on social movements, nationalism, development, and international relations.

This event is part of Shorenstein APARC's fall webinar series "Shifting Geopolitics and U.S.-Asia Relations."

This panel will review and assess various aspects of the relationship between the United States and South Korea under the leadership of President Donald Trump and President Moon Jae-in. The two leaders appeared able to work together quickly and make some bold moves on issues like North Korea, but the differences between the two have been stark on issues such as military burden sharing and policies toward China. The discussion will also compare the current dynamics of U.S.-ROK relations with that of during the George W. Bush and Roh Moo-hyun period (2003-2008), which is often referred to as the most turbulent yet the most transformative era in the history of the security relationship between the two countries.

Panelists:

Laura Bicker, BBC Seoul Correspondent
Ms. Bicker has been a BBC Correspondent for 20 years. She is currently based in Seoul where she reports on both North and South Korea. She is known for her interviews with President Moon Jae-in and her coverage of the inter-Korean and US-North Korean summits. This year she has produced a number of reports on South Korea’s battle with Covid19 including the documentary "How to Fight Coronavirus." In her previous role as North America Correspondent she followed Donald Trump’s election to the White House and his first years in office, as well as a host of deployments covering a number of issues and breaking news across the United States.

Mark Lippert, former US Ambassador to South Korea
A graduate of Stanford (BA, MA), Ambassador Lippert served as the United States ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Republic of Korea from 2014-2017. He previously held positions in the Department of Defense, including as chief of staff to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (2013-2014) and as assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs (2012-2013). Lippert also worked in the White House as chief of staff to the National Security Council in 2009. Lippert served in the uniformed military as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy, he mobilized to active duty from 2009 to 2011 for service with Naval Special Warfare (SEALs) Development Group that included deployments to Afghanistan and other regions. From 2007 to 2008, he deployed as an intelligence officer with Seal Team One to Anbar Province, Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Myung Hwan Yu, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, South Korea
Minister Yu has 37 years of distinguished service with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2008 to 2010.  Minister Yu started his foreign service in Japan in 1976 as a young diplomat and returned as Ambassador to Japan in 2007. He advised on various political and economic issues concerning both the private and public sector with a view to revamp bilateral relation until his departure from Japan to join President Lee Myung Bak’s administration as a cabinet minister in 2008. He also served as Ambassador to the State of Israel; Ambassador for Anti-Terrorism and Afghanistan Issues; and also Minister of the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. His experience extends across a broad range of issues in the international relations including trade and security issues, and negotiations with North Korea in particular.

Moderator:

Gi-Wook Shin, Director of Shorenstein APARC, Stanford University
Gi-Wook Shin is the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea; the founding director of the Korea Program; a senior fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; and a professor of sociology, all at Stanford University. As a historical-comparative and political sociologist, his research has concentrated on social movements, nationalism, development, and international relations.