Forum With Ambassadors Focuses on U.S.-Republic of Korea Alliance
New U.S. Focus on Pacific Puts UC San Diego at Leading Edge of Critical Foreign Policy Issues
11/01/2012
Christine Clark,
UCSD News
The rise of the Pacific region has been a focus of U.S. foreign policy. In the last presidential debate between candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, the president said the U.S. “pivot” to the Asia-Pacific is partly because it is “going to be a massive growth area in the future.”
The growing role of the Pacific region in the 21st century was the focus Thursday for “The Future of the Korean Peninsula and the U.S.-Republic of Korea Alliance” open forum between the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (South Korea), Sung Kim, and the Republic of Korea’s Ambassador to the U.S., Young-jin Choi. The forum was hosted by UC San Diego’s School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) and was moderated by Susan Shirk, Ho Miu Lam Professor of China and Pacific Relations at IR/PS and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs.
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Speakers:
Sung Kim is the Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Korea. Prior to his appointment, Ambassador Kim was the Special Envoy for the Six-Party Talks with the rank of Ambassador. From August 2006 to July 2008, he headed the Office of Korean Affairs at the Department of State, and has served in a variety of positions in the East Asia Pacific region including overseas assignments in Seoul, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, and Hong Kong. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Kim worked as a public prosecutor in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Choi Young-jin is the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States. Prior to his appointment, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Choi Special Representative for Côte d’Ivoire, mandated to certify the Ivorian presidential election of fall 2010 and defuse the political crisis which arose in its aftermath. In January 2004, Choi was appointed vice minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, followed in May 2005 with an appointment as South Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations, a position he filled until 2007, when he took an appointment as a resident diplomat scholar at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Moderator:
Susan Shirk is the chair of the 21st Century China Program and Ho Miu Lam Endowed Chair in China and Pacific Relations at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) at UC San Diego. She also is director emeritus of the University of California, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC), and chair of the IGCC International Advisory Board. From 1997-2000, Shirk served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, with responsibility for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mongolia. She served as the director of IGCC 1991–1997, research director 2000–2006, and director 2006–2011.
