KEI Live

In this special episode of Korean Kontext, KEI's Juni Kim sat down with three North Korean defectors who have settled in South Korea. Each of them has a different story of life in the DPRK, escape, and eventual resettlement in the South.

 

In this episode, they discuss their stories, including their experiences obtaining outside information while living in North Korea and what it's like to be sent back and imprisoned for trying to escape the country. They also discuss a bit about what it's like adjusting to life in South Korea.

 

These three defectors were in Washington, DC as part of a program sponsored by Woorihana and No Chain. They spoke at KEI on May 2, and the video of the event can be found on YouTube by clicking here.

In the past decade, South Korea-Japan relations have seen several periods of hightened tension. At the same time, the two countries, along with their ally the United States, have faced an increasingly threatening posture from North Korea, leading to renewed calls for deeper trilateral cooperation.

 

This week's guest, CSIS Pacific Forum Executive Director Brad Glosserman, is an expert on trilateral relations between these three countries, which he explored in his book "The Japan-South Korea Identity Clash: East Asian Security and the United States."

 

With new administrations in Seoul and Washington, along with continued provocations from Pyongyang, will we see a breakthrough in triateral cooperation between these three partners? And what role does national identity play in maintaining (and possibly moving past) the current stalemate?

On May 10, former human rights lawyer Moon Jae-In officially became the next president of South Korea, filling an office that had been empty since former President Park Geun-Hye's impeachment earlier this year. Moon, who is from the progressive Minjoo Party, has indicated he may make some major changes in South Korea's foreign policy, particularly when it comes to engagement with Pyongyang.

 

Here to discuss the new administration and their approach to foreign policy is Dr. Choi Kang. Dr. Choi is Vice President for Research at The Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. He sat down with host Jenna Gibson to talk about his expectations for President Moon's policy toward North Korea, how he will navigate the relationship with President Donald Trump, and how domestic constraints may affect his administration.

The upcoming presidential election in Korea on May 9th will place many key issues under the microscope. One meriting serious consideration that has featured less prominently in the political discourse is continuity in foreign policy. Korean policy-making processes empower each president to make their own mark on Korea’s foreign outreach, and simultaneously make it difficult to maintain initiatives from the previous administration. Constitutional reform is one of several changes that could help lessen the impact of leadership transitions on international priorities.

 

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Jeffrey Robertson, an assistant professor at Yonsei University and a Visiting Fellow at Australia National University, to discuss the importance of maintaining continuity through multiple presidential administrations. 

After the closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex last year, economic ties between North and South Korea have all but ceased. And as sanctions measures continue to tighten, the international community has chosen to keep exerting greater and greater pressure on the regime in Pyongyang.

 

Amid tensions on the peninsula, this week's guest sees an opportunity for more "smart" sanctions, those targeted directly at the inner circles of the regime that are less likely to harm the average North Korean. In this episode, Kim Joong-ho, a Researcher at the Export-Import Bank of Korea, shares his thoughts on sanctions from the South Korean perspective, and looks ahead to the possible policies of the new administration that will soon be in place in Seoul.

 

In this episode of Korean Kontext, guest host Kyle Ferrier, KEI's director of academic affairs and research, sits down with Korea Society President Tom Byrne. Before joining the Korea Society earlier this year, Tom worked for Moody's Investor Services, where he was senior vice president.

 

Kyle and Tom discuss the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis as well as the 2008 Global Financial Crisis from the Korean economy's perspective. They also talk about sources of risk in the Korean economy today, the potential impact of the Fed raising interest rates, and much more.

Ever since Myanmar's political and economic opening several years ago, countries have been looking to get in on the ground floor to build ties with this emerging economy in Southeast Asia. And South Korea has put itself in the game in a big way - devoting millions to development projects in Myanmar and encouraging private sector investment in the country. 

 

This week's guest, Dr. Matteo Fumagalli, recently wrote a paper for KEI about South Korea's role in Myanmar, including room for improvement when it comes to strategic planning. In this episode, he sits down with Korean Kontext host Jenna Gibson to discuss the economic and security implications of Seoul's burgeoning ties with Naypyidaw.

 

To read Dr. Fumagalli's full paper, please click here.

 

Image from LG전자's photostream on flickr Creative Commons.

Dr. Kook-wha Koh first arrived in the United States in 1965, studying chemical engineering at the University of Iowa. She has since become a successful entrepreneur, founding Chrysan industries to provide important lubricants for Michigan manufacturers. Because of her contributions to science and to her community, KEI chose Dr. Koh as one of our 2017 Korean American Day Honorees.

 

This is the second of our interviews with our three 2017 Korean American Day honorees. To listen to the episode with NASA engineer Dr. David Oh, please click here!

As the highest-ranking non-Korean executive at Hyundai Motors headquarters, Frank Ahrens spent three years gaining an insider's perspective on Korean corporate culture. In his new memoir, "Seoul Man," Ahrens recounts the ups and downs of his journey as an American trying to acclimate to daily life in Korea and to working life inside one of the country's top chaebols.

 

We talk with Frank this week about his experiences joining Hyundai and his new book. Frank became a director at Hyundai Motor in 2010 and was promoted to Vice President of Global Corporate Communications two years later. He created the company’s first English-language corporate media site, including a blog and Twitter feed, and helped establish the company’s first public relations operation in the Middle East in Dubai.

Ever since last summer, when South Korea and the United States announced they would be deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system to the peninsula, China has vociferously protested the decision. Since then, Seoul has accused Beijing of economic retaliation and other forms of pressure, aimed at reversing the deployment. The issue picked up steam earlier this month, as THAAD officially arrived in Korea.

 

This week, we sat down with China expert Yun Sun to discuss China's side of the THAAD controversy. Sun, who is a Senior Associate with the East Asia Program at the Stimson Center, focuses on Chinese foreign policy and Chinese relations with the U.S. and its neighboring countries. In this episode, she provides insights into why China is so concerned about THAAD, what they are doing to pressure Seoul, and what the parties involved can do to move forward.