U.S. Foreign Policy
Human Rights and Diplomacy: The Koreas, U.S., and China
Editor’s note: In an indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York on July 16, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Sue Mi Terry with engaging in a conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and with failing to register as an agent of the Government of the Republic of Korea. Terry has been an occasional guest contributor of Brookings but has not been a Brookings employee or affiliate.
The U.S.-ROK alliance is founded on the shared experiences of the Korean War and hopes for stability and peace on the peninsula. This history has a profound effect on the contemporary structure and public perception of the alliance. For example, in addition to strategic and technical factors, different interpretations of alliance history and visions of cooperation affect the issue of wartime operational control. At the same time, policy decisions and the handling of unforeseen events can affect the interpretation and politicization of historical issues. Understanding the nexus between history and policy is important to improving the policy process, and a lack of understanding of how the policy process works in different organizational settings and political contexts can misinform scholarship and public awareness.
On November 17, the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at Brookings hosted a conference discussing the relationship between history and U.S. policy toward Korea. The event featured a series of roundtable discussions among historians and policy practitioners representing a wide range of expertise and institutional knowledge. These “comparative conversations” provided analysis of other country cases of political division and reconciliation. Historical analysis of different regional powers’ approaches to peninsular reunification and a comparative exploration of U.S. approaches on human rights toward both Koreas and other countries concluded the conference.
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History, Politics, and Policy in the U.S.-Korea Alliance (Part 1)
History, Politics, and Policy in the U.S.-Korea Alliance (Part 2)
Keynote Address by Han Sung-joo
Agenda
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November 17
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Welcome and Introduction
9:00 am
Katharine H.S. Moon Former Brookings Expert, Visiting Professor of Government - Harvard University, Professor Emerita of Political Science - Wellesley College @KathyHSMoon -
Keynote Address
RGRobert Gallucci President -
Roundtable 1 - History and Policy: Issues, Process, Implementation
CKACharles K. Armstrong The Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies in the Social Sciences, Department of History - Columbia University
Victor Cha Senior Vice President for Asia and Korea Chair - Center for Strategic and International Studies, Distinguished University Professor, D.S. Song-KF Chair, & Professor of Government - Georgetown University @VictorDChaJOJohna Ohtagaki Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian & Pacific Affairs - U.S. Department of DefenseTPTae-Gyun Park Professor of Modern Korean History, Graduate School of International Studies - Seoul National University -
Roundtable 2 - Alliance Management: Bases, Weapons, and Command
Katharine H.S. Moon Former Brookings Expert, Visiting Professor of Government - Harvard University, Professor Emerita of Political Science - Wellesley College @KathyHSMoonVJVan Jackson Visiting Fellow, Center for a New American Security - International Affairs Fellow, Council on Foreign RelationsMSMichael Shulman Political-Military Officer, Office of Korean Affairs, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs - U.S. Department of State -
Roundtable 3 - Division, Reconciliation, Peace-making: Lessons from other Lands
HBHenri Barkey Bernard L. and Bertha F. Cohen Professor, Department of International Relations - Lehigh UniversitySGStacie Goddard Jane Bishop '51 Associate Professor of Political Science - Wellesley College -
Lunch
12:25 pm
HBHenri Barkey Bernard L. and Bertha F. Cohen Professor, Department of International Relations - Lehigh UniversitySGStacie Goddard Jane Bishop '51 Associate Professor of Political Science - Wellesley College -
Keynote Address
1:50 pm
HSHan Sung-joo -
Remarks
HSHans-Ulrich Seidt Inspector General - Federal Foreign Office of Germany -
Roundtable 5 - U.S. Policy on Human Rights toward the Koreas
Richard C. Bush Nonresident Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for Asia Policy Studies, John L. Thornton China CenterNLNamhee Lee Associate Professor of Modern Korean History, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures - University of California, Los AngelesMSMark Schneider Senior Vice President and Special Adviser on Latin America - International Crisis GroupJSJiyoung Song Assistant Professor of Political Science, School of Social Sciences - Singapore Management University -
Closing Remarks
Katharine H.S. Moon Former Brookings Expert, Visiting Professor of Government - Harvard University, Professor Emerita of Political Science - Wellesley College @KathyHSMoon -
Reception
5:45 pm
Katharine H.S. Moon Former Brookings Expert, Visiting Professor of Government - Harvard University, Professor Emerita of Political Science - Wellesley College @KathyHSMoon -
Registration
8:30 am
Katharine H.S. Moon Former Brookings Expert, Visiting Professor of Government - Harvard University, Professor Emerita of Political Science - Wellesley College @KathyHSMoon -
Discussion on Division, Reconciliation, Peace-making
Katharine H.S. Moon Former Brookings Expert, Visiting Professor of Government - Harvard University, Professor Emerita of Political Science - Wellesley College @KathyHSMoonHBHenri Barkey Bernard L. and Bertha F. Cohen Professor, Department of International Relations - Lehigh University
SGStacie Goddard Jane Bishop '51 Associate Professor of Political Science - Wellesley CollegeHSHan Sung-jooHSHans-Ulrich Seidt Inspector General - Federal Foreign Office of Germany -
Roundtable 4 - Reunification and Regional Powers: Historical Views and Policies toward the Koreas
JMJohn Merrill Korea Chair Associate, Center for Strategic and International Studies - Visiting Scholar, School of Advanced International Studies, John Hopkins UniversityADAlexis Dudden Professor, Department of History - University of ConnecticutSHLSteven H. Lee Associate Professor, Department of History - University of British Columbia
Jonathan D. Pollack Nonresident Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for Asia Policy Studies, John L. Thornton China Center
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