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

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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Past Event

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

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 Robert L. Gallucci

Keynote Address by Han Sung-joo

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Agenda

Former Brookings Expert

Professor of Political Science, Wasserman Chair of Asian Studies - Wellesley College

President

Senior Fellow, Korea Chair - Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

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

Senior Adviser and Korea Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies - D.S. Song-Korea Foundation Endowed Chair in Government and International Affairs, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

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

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

Former Brookings Expert

Professor of Political Science, Wasserman Chair of Asian Studies - Wellesley College

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

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

Associate Professor, Department of Politics - Catholic University of America

Senior Fellow - Middle East Institute

Former Brookings Expert

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

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

Senior Fellow - Middle East Institute

Former Brookings Expert

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

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

Inspector General - Federal Foreign Office of Germany

Executive Director - Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

Nonresident Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for East Asia Policy Studies, John L. Thornton China Center

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

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

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

Former Brookings Expert

Professor of Political Science, Wasserman Chair of Asian Studies - Wellesley College

Former Brookings Expert

Professor of Political Science, Wasserman Chair of Asian Studies - Wellesley College

Former Brookings Expert

Professor of Political Science, Wasserman Chair of Asian Studies - Wellesley College

Former Brookings Expert

Professor of Political Science, Wasserman Chair of Asian Studies - Wellesley College

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

Senior Fellow - Middle East Institute

Former Brookings Expert

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

Inspector General - Federal Foreign Office of Germany

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

Professor, Department of History - University of Connecticut

Sophia Smith Professor of Government, Department of Government, Smith College - Director, Taiwan Studies Workshop, Harvard University

Associate Professor, Department of History - University of British Columbia

Nonresident Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center for East Asia Policy Studies, John L. Thornton China Center

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