On July 25, WikiLeaks released a compendium of 91,000 U.S. field reports from Afghanistan covering the years 2004-2010. Thomas Fingar joined a panel of experts and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on France 24 for a televised debate, "War and Whistle-blowing," to discuss the significance of the documents. Fingar put the documents in context, stating that it is not the contents of the documents themselves but the sensationalism caused over them that will have an effect.

The fourth Korea-U.S. West Coast Strategic Forum was held on June 18th at Stanford to discuss current developments in North Korea and North Korea policy, the future of the U.S.-South Korean alliance, and a strategic vision for Northeast Asia. Former senior government officials and other leading experts from the United States and South Korea participated. The forum agenda and the executive summary available.

Participants from the United States included:

• Michael H. Armacost, Shorenstein Distinguished Fellow, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), Stanford University
• Michael Chinoy, Senior Fellow, University of Southern California, U.S.-China Institute; former CNN foreign correspondent
  
• Siegfried S. Hecker, Co-Director of Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University; and Professor (Research), Department of Management Science and Engineering; FSI Senior Fellow
  
• David C. Kang, Professor of International Relations and Business, University of Southern California; Director, USC Korean Studies Institute
  
• Stephen D. Krasner, Professor of International Relations and Business, Deputy Director of Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University
• John W. Lewis, William Haas Professor of Chinese Politics, Emeritus, Stanford University; CISAC Faculty Member; FSI Senior Fellow, by courtesy
• Kyung-Ae Park, Associate Professor, Korea Foundation Chair, Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia
• William J. Perry, Michael and Barbara Berberian Professor (at FSI and Engineering) and Co-director of the Preventive Defense Project at CISAC; FSI Senior Fellow
  
• Gi-Wook Shin, Director, Shorenstein APARC; Director, Korean Studies Program and Tong Yang, Korea Foundation, and Korea Stanford Alumni Chair of Korean Studies; Professor of Sociology; FSI Senior Fellow
  
• David Straub, Associate Director, Korean Studies Program, Shorenstein APARC; former Director, Office of Korean Affairs, U.S. State Department
  
• Philip W. Yun, Vice President for Resource Development, The Asia Foundation
  Participants from South Korea
  
• Yun Young Cho, Associate Professor, Chung-Ang University
• Ro Myung Gong, Chairman, The Sejong Foundation; former Foreign Minister
  
• Young Sun Ha, Professor, Seoul National University
  
• Yong Ho Kim, Professor, Inha University; former President of Korea Political Science Association
  
• Sangho Lee, Research Fellow, The Sejong Institute (Program Coordinator)
  
• Yong Ok Park, Governor, South Pyongan Province; former Vice Minister of Defense
  
• Sang Woo Rhee, Head, Presidential Commission for National Security Review; former President, Hallym University
  
• Gi Woong Son, Senior Research Fellow, Korea Institute for National Unification
  
• Dae Sung Song, President, The Sejong Institute

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Phillip Lipscy of Stanford University was among the scholars to join a week-long meeting of the U.S.-Japan Network for the Future in Washington, D.C. in June. Dr. Lipscy was one of 15 emerging Japan specialists selected for the U.S.-Japan Network for the Future, a new program launched last year by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation in collaboration with the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership. The purpose of this program is to build and enhance a network of new generation Japan specialists that can bring diverse expertise and perspectives to the U.S.- Japan policymaking process.

Dr. Lipscy is an assistant professor of political science and FSI Center Fellow at the Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center at Stanford University. His fields of research include Japanese politics, U.S.-Japan relations, international and comparative political economy, international security, and regional cooperation in East and Southeast Asia. His most recent research examines the politics of financial crises with a particular focus on Japan and the United States. He has also written on a wide range of topics such as negotiations over representation in international organizations, the politics of energy efficiency, the use of secrecy in international policymaking, and Japanese responses to the Asian financial crisis. Dr. Lipscy obtained his PhD in political science at Harvard University. He received his MA in international policy studies and BA in economics and political science at Stanford University. In 2009, he was named as the inaugural Sakurako and William Fisher Family Faculty Scholar.

During the meeting in Washington, Dr. Lipscy and the other U.S.-Japan Network for the Future Fellows had an opportunity to meet with senior policymakers and participate in briefings about current issues affecting U.S.-Japan relations. The meeting followed an introductory meeting for U.S.-Japan Network for the Future Fellows held in Washington this January. U.S.-Japan Network for the Future Fellows also will participate in workshops and a study trip to Japan during the two-year program. They will help shape public policy by preparing opinion pieces and by sharing their views and recommendations at a public Policy Brief Session in Washington in early 2011. These and other activities are expected to lead to deeper and more vigorous dialogue and research on topics of immediate concern to U.S.- Japan relations as well as on ways to strengthen the bilateral relationship through cooperation and shared goals in the global arena. A list of the U.S.-Japan Network for the Future Fellows and more information about the program is available on the Mansfield Foundation's website.

The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization that promotes understanding and cooperation in U.S.-Asia relations. The Foundation has offices in Washington, D.C.; Tokyo, Japan; and Missoula, Montana.

The Center for Global Partnership (CGP) is a part of the Japan Foundation, which is a Japanese Independent Administrative Institution (Dokuritsu Gyosei Hojin). CGP operates grant programs as well as self-initiated projects and fellowships. CGP has offices in Tokyo, Japan and New York, New York.

Speaking on June 17, 2010 in a television interview in South Korea, Dr. Gi-Wook Shin, Director of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) at Stanford University, said, "No one can now ignore or overlook the importance of Asia." He spoke of the rise of Asian countries in the past 50 years, particularly in the area of economics, and the world's growing awareness of Asia. Dr. Shin discussed the important role that Shorenstein APARC and its Korean Studies Program (KSP) play in the field of Asian studies, noting that Shorenstein APARC’s unique focus on research, policy, and the social sciences distinguishes it from most academic Asian studies centers in the United States. He explained that not only do scholars from Shorenstein APARC carry out academic research, but they also “produce some policy reports for the American government and…try to promote dialogue between the U.S. and Asian countries.”

In his interview with Heart to Heart (Arirang TV) host Kolleen Park, Dr. Shin discussed the history of the field of Asian studies, noting the growing importance of Korean studies in the past 15 years. Dr. Shin said that in the past 100 years of Korean history are found “the key elements that we talk about in the social sciences.” He then asked, “How can we use the Korean experience to generate a general model or theoretical experience for the rest of the world?”

Dr. Shin’s interview took place during his visit to South Korea for the POSCO Asia Forum where he was a keynote speaker. The theme of the 2010 Forum was the “Globalization of Asian Culture.” “Looking back, Asia had a great contribution to human society and human civilization,” Dr. Shin said. His motivation in addressing the attendees of the Forum, he explained was, “I felt that it was time to take Asia more seriously and think about how Asia can continue to make contributions to human society and civilization.”

Highlights from the POSCO Asia Forum, a summary of Dr. Shin’s new book One Alliance, Two Lenses: U.S.-Korea Relations in a New Era (Stanford University Press 2010), and Dr. Shin’s thoughts on relations between the two Koreas are also covered in the interview. Watch the entire interview online here at the Shorenstein APARC website and learn more about the activities of Shorenstein APARC and KSP.

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) lost the majority of seats in the upper house of parliament in nationwide elections on July 12, 2010. Daniel C. Sneider discusses implications for Japan's foreign policy following the election, particularly with regard to Japan's relationship with the United States.

"The danger of a wide war tends to trump whatever benefit you think might come from punishing your enemy here with a retaliatory strike," Daniel C. Sneider said in a recent All Things Considered story about evidence showing that President Richard Nixon considered using nuclear force against North Korea in 1969.