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History, Politics, and Policy in the U.S.-Korea Alliance

Past Event

History, Politics, and Policy in the U.S.-Korea Alliance (Part 1)

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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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Agenda

Welcome and Introduction

Keynote Address

Roundtable 1 - History and Policy: Issues, Process, Implementation

C

Charles K. Armstrong

The Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies in the Social Sciences, Department of History - Columbia University

Victor Cha

Senior Vice President and Korea Chair - Center for Strategic and International Studies

Vice Dean for Faculty and Graduate Affairs and D.S.-Song - KF Professor of Government - Georgetown University

J

Johna Ohtagaki

Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian & Pacific Affairs - U.S. Department of Defense

T

Tae-Gyun Park

Professor of Modern Korean History, Graduate School of International Studies - Seoul National University

Roundtable 2 - Alliance Management: Bases, Weapons, and Command

V

Van Jackson

Visiting Fellow, Center for a New American Security - International Affairs Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

M

Michael Shulman

Political-Military Officer, Office of Korean Affairs, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs - U.S. Department of State

A

Andrew I. Yeo

Associate Professor, Department of Politics - Catholic University of America

Roundtable 3 - Division, Reconciliation, Peace-making: Lessons from other Lands

H

Henri Barkey

Bernard L. and Bertha F. Cohen Professor, Department of International Relations - Lehigh University

S

Stacie Goddard

Jane Bishop '51 Associate Professor of Political Science - Wellesley College

Lunch

H

Henri Barkey

Bernard L. and Bertha F. Cohen Professor, Department of International Relations - Lehigh University

S

Stacie Goddard

Jane Bishop '51 Associate Professor of Political Science - Wellesley College

Keynote Address

Remarks

Roundtable 5 - U.S. Policy on Human Rights toward the Koreas

G

Greg Scarlatoiu

Executive Director - Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

N

Namhee Lee

Associate Professor of Modern Korean History, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures - University of California, Los Angeles

M

Mark Schneider

Senior Vice President and Special Adviser on Latin America - International Crisis Group

J

Jiyoung Song

Assistant Professor of Political Science, School of Social Sciences - Singapore Management University

Closing Remarks

Reception

Registration

Discussion on Division, Reconciliation, Peace-making

H

Henri Barkey

Bernard L. and Bertha F. Cohen Professor, Department of International Relations - Lehigh University

S

Stacie Goddard

Jane Bishop '51 Associate Professor of Political Science - Wellesley College

Roundtable 4 - Reunification and Regional Powers: Historical Views and Policies toward the Koreas

J

John Merrill

Korea Chair Associate, Center for Strategic and International Studies - Visiting Scholar, School of Advanced International Studies, John Hopkins University

A

Alexis Dudden

Professor, Department of History - University of Connecticut

S

Steven H. Lee

Associate Professor, Department of History - University of British Columbia

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