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Center's director, Gi-Wook Shin, discusses Lee Myung-Bak's win in recent Korean presidential election on NPR's On the Point

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On December 19, the conservative former CEO of Hyundai won a larger-than-expected percentage of votes to become Korea's president-elect. Shorenstein APARC's director, Gi-Wook Shin, chats with Warren Olney, host of NPR's To the Point, about the results of the election and what future changes we should expect to see in the North Korea/South Korea relationship and between Korea and the United States. Link to audio file of the entire day's show below. Professor Shin's conversation begins about 40 minutes into the full program.
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Desire for a new government and the Lee Myung-Bak administration

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Gi-Wook Shin
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Gi-Wook Shin analyzes that the result of Korean presidential election shows Koreans' concerns on economic issues and that Lee would seek to implement conservative pragmatism.

Gi-Wook Shin analyzes that the result of Korean presidential election shows Koreans' concerns on economic issues and that Lee would seek to implement conservative pragmatism.

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US-Korea Relations: the Ambassadors' Dialogue Program

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About the ambassadors
Ambassador LEE Tae-sik is a career diplomat whose service for his country covers four decades and four continents. After passing the High Diplomatic Service Examination and joining the Foreign Ministry in 1973, Ambassador Lee served in various locations around the globe including Liberia, the Philippines, Austria, Yugoslavia and the EU, among others.

He has also held several senior level positions within the Korean government, including director-general of the International Trade Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), and deputy executive director of Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO).

In July of 2000 his first ambassadorial posting was as ambassador to Israel, where he served until February of 2002 when he was called back to serve as the deputy minister for Foreign Affairs. In his capacity as the deputy foreign minister, he led Korean delegations in numerous security negotiations and consultations, particularly those addressing North Korea's nuclear issue.

In June of 2003, he became the Korean Ambassador to the Court of St. James (United Kingdom). In January of 2005, he was posted back to Seoul as the vice minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Ambassador Lee became Korea's Ambassador to the United States in October of 2005, presenting his credentials to President Bush in November of 2005. Ambassador Lee had served in the Korean Embassy in the United States before, as a First Secretary from 1981-1984.

Ambassador Lee was born on October 26, 1945 and is a native of the Republic of Korea. He pursued his academic studies in Korea and the United States, graduating from the Department of International Relations at Seoul National University in 1970 and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins in May of 1988. Ambassador Lee is married with three sons.

Alexander Vershbow was sworn in as ambassador to the Republic of Korea on October 14, 2005 and took up his duties on October 17, 2005. He is a career member of the Foreign Service, with rank of career minister, and has extensive experience in East-West relations, non-proliferation and European security affairs.

From July 2001 to July 2005, Ambassador Vershbow served as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation. During his tenure, the Ambassador worked to promote U.S.-Russian cooperation in the areas of counter-terrorism and counter-proliferation, and to expand the agenda to encompass new challenges such as HIV/AIDS. He was a consistent advocate for the causes of democracy, human rights and rule of law in Russia, and received the American Bar Association's 2004 Ambassadors Award for these efforts. He also promoted U.S. business interests in Russia, advancing American trade, exports and investment during a period of unprecedented Russian economic growth, while campaigning for the protection of intellectual property rights.

From January 1998 until July 2001, Alexander Vershbow served as the U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). As U.S. Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council, Vershbow was centrally involved in transforming NATO to meet post-Cold War challenges, including the admission of new members and the development of relations with Russia. In June 2001, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell awarded Ambassador Vershbow the State Department's Distinguished Service Award for his work at NATO.

From 1994 to 1997, Alexander Vershbow served as special assistant to the President and senior director for European Affairs at the National Security Council. During this period, he helped shape U.S. policy toward NATO enlargement, the conflicts in former Yugoslavia, and NATO-Russia relations. In October 1997, former Secretary of Defense William Cohen presented him with the first annual Joseph J. Kruzel Award for his contributions to the cause of peace.

Vershbow is a long-time student of Russian Affairs and international relations. He received a B.A. in Russian and East European Studies from Yale College (1974) and a Master's Degree in International Relations and Certificate of the Russian Institute from Columbia University (1976). He has held a series of assignments since joining the Foreign Service in 1977, including postings to the U.S. Embassies in Moscow and London, advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the Strategic Arms Reductions Talks in Geneva, and deputy U.S. permanent representative to NATO. Ambassador Vershbow was director of the State Department's Office of Soviet Union Affairs during the last years of the USSR (1988-91). In 1990, he was awarded the Anatoly Sharansky Freedom Award by the Union of Councils of Soviet Jews for his work in advancing the cause of Jewish emigration from the USSR.

Ambassador Vershbow was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His wife, Lisa, is a prominent designer of contemporary jewelry. They have two sons.

This program is co-sponsored by the Korea Economic Institute in Washington, D.C.

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Lee Tae-Sik Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States Speaker
Alexander Vershbow Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Korea Speaker
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The Korean Presidential Election: A Special Edition of the Contemporary Asia Seminar Series

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2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Panel 1: Review of the Presidential Election

Nae-Young Lee, director of the Asiatic Research Center and professor of political science, Korea University

Gi-Wook Shin, director of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and professor of sociology, Stanford University

3:10 - 4:10 p.m.

Panel II: Korean Democracy

Hyuk-Baeg Im, professor of political science, Korea University

David Straub, Pantech Fellow, Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University

4:20 - 5:20 p.m.

Panel III: Foreign Policy of the New Korean Government

Shin Wha Lee, professor of political science, Korea University

Robert Carlin, Pantech Fellow, Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University

Alexander Versbow, United States Ambassador to the Republic of Korea

5:20 - 5:30 p.m.

Closing Comments

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Hyuk-Baeg Im Professor of Political Science Speaker Korea University
Robert Carlin Pantech Fellow, Shorenstein APARC Speaker Stanford University

Nae Young Lee

Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall, Room E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 773-7239 (650) 723-6530
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Lee,_Nae_Young.jpg PhD

Nae-Young Lee is a Professor of the Department of Political Science and Director of Asiatic Research Center at Korea University. He also serves as Director of Center for Public Opinion Research at the East Asia Institute, and an Executive Board Member of the Korean Political Science Association. Professor Lee received his Ph. D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a professor at Kyung Hee University, a research fellow at the Sejong Institute, and a member of the Presidential Policy Planning Committee.

As an expert on Korean and Comparative Politics, Electoral Studies, East Asian Political Economy, he has coauthored and edited various books and published numerous articles in international and Korean scholarly journals. His recent works include 5.31 Local Elections and Changing Korean Voters (2007), Is Rising China Threat or Opportunity?: Analysis of Cross-National Opinion Survey (2007), Changing ROK-US Alliance and Public Opinion (2005), Democratization and Historical Rectification in East Asia: Comparison of South Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand (2004), 2002 Presidential Election and Tasks of Roh Moo-hyun Government (2003), Dilemma and Choice of Roh Moo-hyun Government (2003), "Issues and Partisan Realignment in South Korea" (2007), "Changes in Korean Public Perception of the U.S. and Korea-U.S. Relations" (2005) and "Fluctuating Anti-Americanism and the Korea-U.S. Alliance" (2004).

Nae Young Lee Director of the Asiatic Research Center and Professor of Political Science Speaker Korea University
Shin Wha Lee Professor of Political Science Speaker Korea University

Gi-Wook Shin

Shorenstein APARC
Encina Hall E301
616 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
(650) 724-8480 (650) 723-6530
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Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Professor of Sociology
William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea
Professor, by Courtesy, of East Asian Languages & Cultures
Gi-Wook Shin_0.jpg PhD

Gi-Wook Shin is the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea in the Department of Sociology, senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and the founding director of the Korea Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) since 2001, all at Stanford University. In May 2024, Shin also launched the Taiwan Program at APARC. He served as director of APARC for two decades (2005-2025). As a historical-comparative and political sociologist, his research has concentrated on social movements, nationalism, development, democracy, migration, and international relations.

In Summer 2023, Shin launched the Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL), which is a new research initiative committed to addressing emergent social, cultural, economic, and political challenges in Asia. Across four research themes– “Talent Flows and Development,” “Nationalism and Racism,” “U.S.-Asia Relations,” and “Democratic Crisis and Reform”–the lab brings scholars and students to produce interdisciplinary, problem-oriented, policy-relevant, and comparative studies and publications. Shin’s latest book, The Four Talent Giants, a comparative study of talent strategies of Japan, Australia, China, and India to be published by Stanford University Press in the summer of 2025, is an outcome of SNAPL.

Shin is also the author/editor of twenty-six books and numerous articles. His books include Korean Democracy in Crisis: The Threat of Illiberalism, Populism, and Polarization (2022); The North Korean Conundrum: Balancing Human Rights and Nuclear Security (2021); Superficial Korea (2017); Divergent Memories: Opinion Leaders and the Asia-Pacific War (2016); Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea (2015); Criminality, Collaboration, and Reconciliation: Europe and Asia Confronts the Memory of World War II (2014); New Challenges for Maturing Democracies in Korea and Taiwan (2014); History Textbooks and the Wars in Asia: Divided Memories (2011); South Korean Social Movements: From Democracy to Civil Society (2011); One Alliance, Two Lenses: U.S.-Korea Relations in a New Era (2010); Cross Currents: Regionalism and Nationalism in Northeast Asia (2007);  and Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy (2006). Due to the wide popularity of his publications, many have been translated and distributed to Korean audiences. His articles have appeared in academic and policy journals, including American Journal of Sociology, World Development, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Political Science Quarterly, Journal of Asian Studies, Comparative Education, International Sociology, Nations and Nationalism, Pacific Affairs, Asian Survey, Journal of Democracy, and Foreign Affairs.

Shin is not only the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, but also continues to actively raise funds for Korean/Asian studies at Stanford. He gives frequent lectures and seminars on topics ranging from Korean nationalism and politics to Korea's foreign relations, historical reconciliation in Northeast Asia, and talent strategies. He serves on councils and advisory boards in the United States and South Korea and promotes policy dialogue between the two allies. He regularly writes op-eds and gives interviews to the media in both Korean and English.

Before joining Stanford in 2001, Shin taught at the University of Iowa (1991-94) and the University of California, Los Angeles (1994-2001). After receiving his BA from Yonsei University in Korea, he was awarded his MA and PhD from the University of Washington in 1991.

Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL)

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Shin's Reflections on Korea

A monthly column in the Korean magazine Sindonga
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Reengaging North Korea

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Stanford Asia-Pacific Innovation

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Director of the Korea Program and the Taiwan Program, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
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Gi-Wook Shin Director of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and Tong Yang, Korea Foundation, and Korea Stanford Alumni Chair of Korean Studies Speaker Stanford University

David Straub

No longer in residence.

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Associate Director of the Korea Program
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David Straub was named associate director of the Korea Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) on July 1, 2008. Prior to that he was a 2007–08 Pantech Fellow at the Center. Straub is the author of the book, Anti-Americanism in Democratizing South Korea, published in 2015.

An educator and commentator on current Northeast Asian affairs, Straub retired in 2006 from his role as a U.S. Department of State senior foreign service officer after a 30-year career focused on Northeast Asian affairs. He worked over 12 years on Korean affairs, first arriving in Seoul in 1979.

Straub served as head of the political section at the U.S. embassy in Seoul from 1999 to 2002 during popular protests against the United States, and he played a key working-level role in the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear program as the State Department's Korea country desk director from 2002 to 2004. He also served eight years at the U.S. embassy in Japan. His final assignment was as the State Department's Japan country desk director from 2004 to 2006, when he was co-leader of the U.S. delegation to talks with Japan on the realignment of the U.S.-Japan alliance and of U.S. military bases in Japan.

After leaving the Department of State, Straub taught U.S.-Korean relations at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in the fall of 2006 and at the Graduate School of International Studies of Seoul National University in spring 2007. He has published a number of papers on U.S.-Korean relations. His foreign languages are Korean, Japanese, and German.

David Straub Pantech Fellow, Shorenstein APARC Speaker Stanford University
Alexander Vershbow United States Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Speaker
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South Korea's Democracy Movement (1970-1993): Stanford Korea Democracy Project Report

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In this report we present research findings from the Stanford Korea Democracy Project. The chapters of the report provide descriptive analyses of protest and repression events related to South Korea’s democracy movement. By quantitatively summarizing different attributes of protest and repression events, we offer a systematic account of social movements occurring in the period between 1970 and 1992. Access to the data used in the report is currently limited to project researchers. We estimate the data will be released for public use in 2024-2025.

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Gi-Wook Shin
Paul Y. Chang
Jung-eun Lee

New book examines the cross currents of growing regional integration and rising nationalism in Northeast Asia

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Northeast Asia stands at a turning point in its history. The key economies of China, Japan, and South Korea are growing increasingly interdependent, and the movement toward regionalism is gaining momentum. Yet interdependency, often set in a global context, also spurs nationalism in all three countries, and beyond in East Asia. The essays in this volume assess current interactions -- or cross currents -- between national and regional forces in Northeast Asia, and suggest their future direction.

Cross Currents: Regionalism and Nationalism in Northeast Asia features provocative, plain-spoken contributions from a range of eminent international scholars and practitioners. They address key questions facing the region today: What competing visions of regional integration are being considered in Northeast Asia? Will they be realized? How do national pressures, especially the renewed China-Japan rivalry, stunt the movement toward regionalism? What role can Korea play to mitigate tensions between the two arch-rivals? How does the United States figure in Northeast Asian regionalism? Do America's Cold War alliances still have currency?

By addressing these questions from both Asian and U.S. perspectives, Cross Currents sheds new light on the interplay of national and regional forces in this strategic part of the world. Reformulating these interactions constructively is one of Northeast Asia's most pressing contemporary challenges.

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Center Director Gi-Wook Shin honored with an appointment to an endowed chair

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On October 11, the Stanford Board of Trustees approved the appointment of Shorenstein APARC's Director, Gi-Wook Shin, as the Tong Yang, Korea Foundation, and Korea Stanford Alumni Chair of Korean Studies.

An endowment was established in 1999 through the donations of alumnus Jae-Hyun Hyun, the Korea Foundation, and KSA, to enable the university to recruit a social science scholar whose work focuses on Korea from the perspective of contemporary policy issues. In addition to broadening Stanford's teaching and research programs in Asian studies, the holder of this chair is expected to conduct research on the political economy of Korea, trade and finance, security relations, politics, or other topics of importance to understanding Korea in the context of today's world.

When Professor Shin left UCLA to come to Stanford, he left the largest Korean studies program in the nation. With true entrepreneurial spirit, he has built an impressive and dynamic Korean studies program. It hosts luncheon seminars, workshops, and conferences, and has sponsored many Korean scholars, government officials, and business leaders who spend time at Stanford as visiting scholars. It also supports an active research program. Stanford is steadily becoming a world-class center for contemporary Korean studies.
-- Coit D. Blacker, Director FSI

In 2005, Dr. Shin was appointed Director of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at FSI. Since becoming director of the center, Shin has been laying a strong and dynamic foundation for interdisciplinary research, training, and outreach, both through his leadership of the Korean Studies Program and his efforts to bring focus to the center's wide-ranging affiliation of Asia-related projects, programs, and initiatives.

About the Donors:

Jae-Hyun Hyun received his MBA from Stanford in 1981. He is the chairman of Tong Yang Group, a diversified business conglomerate of Korea. The Tong Yang Group, which originally built its foundation as a manufacturer of cement and confectionery goods, is a fully integrated financial services group that offers virtually every financial service available in Korea, such as securities, merchant banking, life insurance, mutual funds, credit cards, venture capital, and asset management. Prior to joining Tong Yang, Mr. Hyun served as a public prosecutor at the city of Pusan's Public Prosecutor's Office. He has four children; three have attended Stanford (Jenny '99, Richard '03 and Tina '05).

The Korea Foundation was established in 1991 to promote an understanding of Korea throughout the world and to enhance international goodwill and friendship through a multitude of international exchange programs. The foundation promotes interest in Korea by supporting Korean studies at universities, research institutions, and libraries. The foundation also provides Korean studies materials to individuals and organizations, and provides scholarships for foreign scholars, students, and experts.

The Korea Stanford Alumni (KSA) Association, a group of dedicated Stanford alumni who have returned to Korea, hosts various events for its more than 500 registered members.

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Democratic Consolidation and Social Protest in Korea

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This talk will examine the patterns and characteristics of the "politics of protest" by civil society actors in South Korea after its democratic transition in 1987. Kim will utilize a recently compiled dataset called Protest Event Database Archive Korea (PEDAK) to analyze main features of protest politics in the post-transitional period and highlight continuities and changes in social protest. The persistence of popular protest has important implications for the future of South Korean democracy.

Sunhyuk Kim is Chair of the Department of Public Administration at Korea University, Seoul, Korea. He was Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California, Visiting Professor at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, and Research Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. He is the author of The Politics of Democratization in Korea (2000), Economic Crisis and Dual Transition in Korea (2004), and numerous articles on South Korean politics and foreign policy. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Stanford University.

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Sunhyuk Kim Professor, Department of Public Administration, Korea University Speaker
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Citizen Journalism: The Experiment of OhmyNews

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The talk will explore the seven years of OhmyNews in its effort to popularize what its founder, Mr. Yeon Ho Oh, calls "citizen journalism." Oh will discuss his vision to increase citizen participation in news reporting with the launch of OhmyNews 2.0, a radically revamped on-line news platform.

Oh's long-dreamed media experiment OhmyNews was launched in February 2000. Since June 2007, the on-line based news outlet boasts nearly 60,000 "citizen reporters" worldwide and 65 full-time staff reporters. Citizen journalism gained mainstream recognition during the 2002 presidential election in Korea.

Oh says, "Every citizen can be a reporter. Journalists aren't some exotic species, they're everyone who seeks to take new developments, put them into writing, and share them with others."

After finishing college, Oh joined a liberal Korean monthly magazine as a staff reporter and continued his work until 1999 as the magazine's chief of staff. Six years before Associated Press correspondents were awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their report on No Gun Ri massacre by American soldiers during the Korean War, Oh conducted comprehensive interviews with the survivors and reported an in-depth story. Oh received a doctoral degree in journalism from Sogang University in Korea in 2005.

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