Abstract

The Lee Jae-myung government was inaugurated after the impeachment of former president Yoon Seok-yul. The Lee government is facing tough internal and external environments: nuclear armed North Korea, tense inter-Korean relations, precarious ROK-US alliance, intensifying China-US strategic rivalry and the dilemma of being “sandwiched” between them, and deepening domestic polarisation. This seminar will address the dynamics of internal and external challenges facing the Lee government and elucidate the essence of its pragmatic diplomacy to deal with them.

About the Speaker

Chung-in Moon is a Vienna-based Global Neighbors fellow and James Laney Distinguished Professor at Yonsei University. He is Vice Chairman of APLN (Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation). He is also Krause distinguished fellow at School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego, and editor-in-chief of Global Asia, a quarterly journal in English. He was a special advisor to the ROK president for foreign affairs and national security (2017-2021). He was Chairman of the Sejong Institute (2021-2023) and dean of the Graduate School of International Studies, Yonsei Univ. and served as Ambassador for International Security Affairs of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northeast Asian Cooperation Initiative, a cabinet-level post. Dr. Moon was a special delegate to the first (2000), second (2007), third Korean summit (2018) held in Pyongyang. He has published over 60 books and 300 articles in edited volumes and scholarly journals.