KEI Live

Event Description:

With relations between Korea and Japan improving over the last year the leaders of the United States, Korea, and Japan met in Washington on August 18 to discuss a common approach for addressing regional and global security challenges and enhancing economic prosperity. KEI and the Mansfield Foundation hosted a discussion on the progress made in the summit, the challenges ahead, and the potential opportunities that remain.

In 2023, KEI has set out on its "Rethinking Korea initiative," which explores the evolution of U.S.-Korea relations, Korea's place in the world, and rapid changes in Korean society itself. The initiative involves both retrospective inquiry as well as prospective analysis about future trends. Our guest today is someone with direct experience monitoring international sanctions against North Korea.

Maiko Takeuchi has 20 years of experience in national security, specializing in WMD non-proliferation and security export controls. She served the United Nations Security Council as a member of the Panel of Experts (UNSCR 1874 Panel of Experts) for North Korea for five years (2016-2021). While on the Panel, she investigated North Korea’s nuclear and other WMD programs and related procurements, and violations of embargoes, overseas workers, and activities of UN-designated entities.

During our conversation, we traversed various topics, including how she (and other experts) come to serve on the panel; the tumultuous period during which she served, when the Korean Peninsula moved from threats of nuclear war to historic engagement and back again to stalemate and recrimination; the effectiveness and unintended consequences of sanctions; the challenges in monitoring and implementation; geopolitics’ effect on the panel’s work; and increasing attention on North Korea’s cyber activities and use of cryptocurrency to evade sanctions. 

In 2023, KEI has set out on its "Rethinking Korea initiative," which explores the evolution of U.S.-Korea relations, Korea's place in the world, and rapid changes in Korean society itself. The initiative involves both retrospective inquiry as well as prospective analysis about future trends. Our guest today is someone who studies nationalism and democracy in the Korean Peninsula, with a particular focus on issues of identity change, integration, and democratic support.

Aram Hur is the incoming Kim Koo Chair in Korean Studies and Assistant Professor of Political Science at The Fletcher School, Tufts University.

Today we’re going to talk about democratic citizenship and nationalism in South Korea, and Aram has some insights many listeners might find surprising. In fact, her findings suggest that democratic ideals are actually buttressed by nationalism, a sense of national pride, and civic duty.

In 2023, KEI has set out on its "Rethinking Korea initiative," which explores the evolution of U.S.-Korea relations, Korea's place in the world, and rapid changes in Korean society itself. The initiative involves both retrospective inquiry as well as prospective analysis about future trends. Our guest today is someone who covers the Korean Peninsula as a writer and journalist, with a deep personal connection to it.

E. Tammy Kim is a contributing writer at The New Yorker, the cohost of her own podcast, Time to Say Goodbye, a contributing editor at Lux magazine, and a fellow at Type Media Center. 

In our conversation, we explore various topics, including her own connection to the Korean Peninsula, common misunderstandings and biases between the United States and the Koreas, her past writing on both the hope and failure of engagement with North Korea, her ongoing investigation of the longstanding U.S. military presence on the Korean Peninsula, and contradictions surrounding South Korea’s place within a broader U.S. hegemonic structure.