Donald W. Keyser retired from the U.S. Department of State in September 2004 after a 32-year career.  He had been a member of the Senior Foreign Service since 1990, and held Washington-based ambassadorial-level assignments 1998-2004.  Throughout his career he focused on U.S. policy toward East Asia, particularly China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Fluent in Chinese and professionally conversant in Japanese, Russian and French, he served three tours at the American Embassy in Beijing, two tours at the American Embassy in Tokyo, and almost a dozen years in relevant domestic assignments.  In the course of his career, Keyser logged extensive domestic and foreign experience in senior management operations, conflict resolution, intelligence operations and analysis, and law enforcement programs and operations.  A Russian language major in college and a Soviet/Russian area studies specialist through M.A. work, Keyser served 1998-99 as Special Negotiator and Ambassador for Regional Conflicts in the Former USSR.   He sought to develop policy initiatives and strategies to resolve three principal conflicts, leading the U.S. delegation in negotiations with four national leaders and three separatist leaders in the Caucasus region.

Keyser earned his B.A. degree, Summa Cum Laude, with a dual major in Political Science and Russian Area Studies, from the University of Maryland.  He pursued graduate studies at The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., from 1965-67 (Russian area and language focus) and 1970-72 (Chinese area and language focus).   He attended the National War College, Fort McNair, Washington (1988-89), earning a certificate equivalent to an M.S., Military Science; and the National Defense University Capstone Program (summer 1995) for flag-rank military officers and civilians.

Hyun Gon Jung started his NGO activities as a student activist at Seoul National University in Korea under Chun Doo-hwan government. He soon became the headmaster for "Laborer History Room" teaching Korean history at Guro industrial city where low paying jobs were concentrated in 1990's. For the past 7 years he has worked on inter-Korean socio-cultural exchange through the Korea Concil for Reconciliation and Cooperation.

Oh Eul Kwon has been the Policy Deputy-Chairman of the Grand National Party in Korea and served in many committees of the party: the Chairman of Agriculture, Forestry, Marine Affairs and Fisheries Committee; Member of Government Administration and Local Autonomy Committee; Chief of Politics Reform Special committee of Grand National Party; Member of Culture & Tourism Committee.

Gug-Hyeon Cho is the director of Public Relations at Northeast Asian History Foundation, and a member of the Presidential Committee on Northeast Cooperation Initiative in Korea.

Park, Se-Il is a professor of law and economics in the Graduate School of International Studies at Seoul National University. He is the founder and chairman of the board of Hansun Foundation for Freedom and Happiness, which is an independent, non-partisan think tank based in Seoul devoted to high-quality public policy research. The Foundation works to provide innovative and practical policy recommendations to the South Korean government.

Dr. Park is the author of many books including Communitarian Liberalism (2008); National Strategy for Sunjinwha in Korea (National strategy to make Korea to become a world class nation)(2006); Blueprint for Tertiary Education Reform in Korea (2003); Strategy for Presidential Success: Authority, Role, and Responsibility (2002); Growth, Productivity, and Vision for Korean Economy (2001); Reforming Labor Management Relations: lessons from the Korean experience: 1996-1997 (2000); Law and Economics (2000).

Park is currently writing a book on globalization in which he plans to research several important political, social, and economic challenges, stemming from globalization. Based on that research he hopes to make comprehensive strategic recommendations for Korea to become a successful advanced nation in the age of globalization. The tentative title is Creative Globalization: Korean strategy for globalization.

Park has taught for more than 20 years at Seoul National University, College of Law and Graduate School of International Studies. He served as Senior Secretary to the president for policy planning and social welfare in the Office of the President of the Republic of Korea from 1995 to 1998, and was a member of National Assembly of the Republic of Korea from 2004 to 2005. He also worked at the Korea Development Institute as a Senior Fellow from 1980 to 1985. He received the Chung-Nam Award from the Korean Economic Association in 1987 for his outstanding publications in economics. He served as President of the Korean Labor Economic Association (2001-2002), President of the Korean Law and Economic Association (2000-2003), and President of the Korean Institutional Economic Association (2002-2003). Park received his BA from Seoul National University and his MS and PhD from Cornell University.

Ayaka Takashima is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2008-09. She is also an assistant manager of Nissoken which provides corporate clients with educational services for top management, middle management and other employees to align them to the corporate direction and strategies. As an employee of Nissoken, she will research the alignment between the company and the individual through the theory, case studies, empirical studies, etc.
 

Boyoung Shin is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2008-09 and 2009-10. Boyoung graduated from the University of Southern California (BA in Econ) in 1990 and received his MBA from Yonsei University. He also has military experience as a Marine Officer serving 3.5 years. He had been elected as a Kyong-gi provincial council man twice. There, he had roles of the Chairman of the Special Committee of Budgets and Accounts, the Chairman of the Special Committee of Free Trade Agreements, the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee and others.