December 16, 2015 - Mr. Kim Hyung-Soo, a biophysicist from an elite cadre in North Korea, defected to South Korea in 2009. Though his wife was able to escape, his mother was arrested and died in a North Korean prison camp. As the United Nations General Assembly gets set to vote on a resolution condemning North Korea for gross human rights violations, join us as David Hawk, senior advisor at the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, interviews Mr. Kim about the human rights situation in North Korea and his unique experience as a researcher at the “Long Life Health Institute” (Mansumugang Institute), an organization dedicated to preserving the longevity of the Kim family.  

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/policy/north_korean_human_rights_revisited_perspective_of_a_former_north_korean_elite.html

December 14, 2015 - The Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates mid-December and Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol recently told a gathering of business executives that the rate hikes would add pressure on emerging economies with weak fundamentals and companies with heavy debt burdens. The World Bank Group's Marc Stocker, American Enterprise Institute's Alex Pollock, and the Korea Economic Institute's Don Manzullo discuss the ramifications of a potential hike on Korea in a conversation with Tom Byrne, President of The Korea Society.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/corporate/a_u.s._fed_interest_rate_hike_and_its_impact_on_korea.html

December 1, 2015 - Robert Carlin, author, analyst and scholar at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation, addresses how best to read Korean Peninsula developments, with an eye to changes in North Korea. Carlin served with the US State Department, visited the DPRK more than thirty times, and has tracked developments there since 1974. He is the co-author with the late Don Oberdorfer of the revised and expanded The Two Koreas (2013).

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/policy/reading_the_two_koreas_getting_it_right.html

November 17, 2015 - In the 1970s, the Republic of Korea sprang forward in its appeal for investors and financiers, given strong export-led growth, close cooperation with US financial institutions, and bank representatives' pioneering efforts. First Chicago's John Day, Citi's Philip Sherman, and Marine Midland's James Whitely recount their experiences as bankers in a groundbreaking era and explain how Korea found its global financial footing.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/corporate/korea_and_banking_in_the_1970s.html

November 12, 2015 - South Korea signed a free trade agreement with China, its largest trading partner, this summer. The ROK-PRC free trade agreement promises to eliminate tariffs on 90% of traded goods, open China for new Korean business and investment, and boost trade to over $300 billion. Jeff Schott, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, DC, speaks to the agreement, a qualitative step-up for China, and the positioning of the agreement relative to the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership and other initiatives.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/corporate/examining_the_south_korea-china_trade_pact.html

November 5, 2015 - David Straub of Stanford University's Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center analyzes anti-US sentiments in Korea during his tenure at the US Embassy in Seoul from 1999 to 2002 in his important new publication, Anti-Americanism in Democratizing South Korea. Straub looks at the implications of troubles in the relationship then, speaks to the strength of today's ties, and addresses implications for the United States' future role on the Peninsula. A book signing follows the discussion.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/policy/anti-americanism_in_democratizing_south_korea_a_look_back.html

October 29, 2015 - Kang Cheol Hwan, author of Aquariums of Pyongyang and Sejun Park former DPRK refugee working for the North Korea Strategy Center, a Seoul-based NGO, speak to the topic of information access for North Koreans and current efforts to share information with the DPRK citizenry on human rights and democracy.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/policy/north_korea_and_information_access.html

October 28, 2015 - South Korea's geopolitical position dictates maintaining a strong alliance with the U.S. while exploring a harmonious partnership with China to protect and pursue its national interests. Preventing excessive conflicts between China and Japan also serves the interests of South Korea in terms of preserving peace and stability in Northeast Asia. President Park Geun-hye has visited Beijing recently to attend a historic ceremony to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of Word War II, while proposing to resume the triangular summit diplomacy among Korea, China, and Japan. President Park’s visit to Washington. D.C. aims at issues of mutual concern, including the denuclearization of North Korea. On the Korean Peninsula, she is pursuing a trust-building process with North Korea to achieve the goal of peaceful national unification despite North Korea's unpredictable brinkmanship. How does the U.S. policy of rebalance to Asia work to promote peace and stability in Korea and the region? What was achieved in the summit meeting between President Park and President Obama? Will China play a more active role to dissuade North Korea from its dangerous course of action? What are the impacts of Japan's foreign and security policy under the Abe government on the regional strategic environment?

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/policy/koreas_growing_role_in_asia_regional_cooperation_and_national_unification.html

October 26, 2015 - World leaders launched the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” at the United Nations Summit in September 2015. The Agenda was a plan of action for people, planet, and prosperity, comprising 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets which seek to build on and complete the Millennium Development Goals. The integrated goals and targets seek to balance the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The global implementation and review of the 2030 agenda will be led by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, and the high-level political forum (HLPF) held annually under its auspices.

Ambassador Oh Joon of the Republic of Korea, newly elected President of ECOSOC, will talk on the significance of the Agenda and focus on four priority areas: ensuring ECOSOC is relevant to what is happening in the world, taking advantage of its new linkage with the HLPF to bolster the coordinating role of ECOSOC, strengthening and harmonizing the work of the ECOSOC system as a whole, and leading the efforts to build an inclusive and engaging global partnership.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/policy/transforming_our_world_the_2030_agenda_for_sustainable_development.html

October 22, 2015 - Stanford University's Kathleen Stephens discusses the recent visit by ROK President Park Geun-hye to the United States and United Nations, issues in bilateral affairs, and cooperation on international challenges. Stephens, who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Korea from 2008-2011, speaks to her time in Seoul and reflects on how to best read developments on the Korean Peninsula.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/policy/ambassador_kathleen_stephens_new_strides_in_u.s.-korea_relations.html