The next generation of Korea experts

On September 30, the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at Brookings hosted the second annual Young and Brave conference featuring presentations by young professionals from universities, government, private sector, NGOs, and the media.

Continuing tensions on and around the Korean peninsula make new research and fresh ideas for constructive change particularly urgent. This year’s young scholars and thought leaders offered innovative insights on a diverse array of issues: the dangers and limitations of North Korean cyber power; the economic commodification of nationalism in South Korea and its neighbors; lessons of the December 2015 ROK-Japan agreement on “comfort women;” alternatives to government-organized reunions of divided families; ethnic identity among North Korean defectors in South Korea; South Korean female athletes as “soft power” and women’s empowerment; economic “progress” of North Korea’s byungjin policy; lessons from mutual spying between East Germany and the DPRK; why there is no “Pyongyang Spring.” The conference will feature perspectives on the Koreas from those who have deep experience as residents in Australia, China, Sweden, Germany, Canada, South Korea, and North Korea to enrich the public’s understanding of how people around the world perceive developments on the peninsula.