Asia Society Policy Institute: U.S.-Korea-China Relations

With strategic competition between the United States and China intensifying and a new South Korean President set to shift Seoul’s foreign policy preferences, join us for this discussion on U.S.-Korea-China relations, featuring: Dr. Seong-Hyon Lee, Harvard University Fairbank Center visiting scholar, former director of Sejong Institute Center for Chinese Studies and senior fellow at the Bush China Foundation, Yun Sun, senior fellow and co-director of the East Asia Program and Director of the China Program at the Stimson Center, Daniel Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, and Dr. Katrin Katz, Korea Society Van Fleet senior fellow, moderated by policy director Jonathan Corrado. This program is produced in collaboration with The Korea Society.

SPEAKERS

Daniel Russel is Vice President for International Security and Diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI). A career member of the Senior Foreign Service at the U.S. Department of State, he most recently served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Prior to his appointment as Assistant Secretary on July 12, 2013, Mr. Russel served at the White House as Special Assistant to the President and National Security Council (NSC) Senior Director for Asian Affairs. During his tenure there, he helped formulate President Obama’s strategic rebalance to the Asia Pacific region, including efforts to strengthen alliances, deepen U.S. engagement with multilateral organizations, and expand cooperation with emerging powers in the region. Mr. Russel was educated at Sarah Lawrence College and University College, University of London, UK.

Yun Sun is Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the East Asia Program and Director of the China Program at the Stimson Center. Her expertise is in Chinese foreign policy, U.S.-China relations and China’s relations with neighboring countries and authoritarian regimes. From 2011 to early 2014, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, jointly appointed by the Foreign Policy Program and the Global Development Program, where she focused on Chinese national security decision-making processes and China-Africa relations. From 2008 to 2011, Yun was the China Analyst for the International Crisis Group based in Beijing, specializing on China’s foreign policy towards conflict countries and the developing world. Yun earned her master’s degree in international policy and practice from George Washington University, as well as an MA in Asia Pacific studies and a BA in international relations from Foreign Affairs College in Beijing.

Dr. Seong-hyon Lee is Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and a Senior Fellow at the George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations. He is the Director at the Center for Chinese Studies at the Sejong Institute in Seoul, South Korea. His research focuses on contemporary relations between China and South Korea. He received his Ph.D. from Tsinghua University.

Dr. Katrin Fraser Katz is The Korea Society’s inaugural Van Fleet Nonresident Senior Fellow. Dr. Katz is a former director for Japan, Korea, and oceanic affairs on the staff of the National Security Council, where she served from 2007 to 2008. Previously, she was a special assistant to the assistant secretary for international organization affairs at the U.S. Department of State and an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. She currently also serves as an Adjunct Fellow (Non-resident) in the Office of the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC. She was previously an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University and has also taught at Georgetown University. In 2017, Dr. Katz received the inaugural Sherman Family Korea Emerging Scholar Lecture Series award from The Korea Society. Dr. Katz’s research, which has been supported by grants from the Korea Foundation and the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy, explores the interplay of cooperation and conflict in East Asia’s political, economic, and security dynamics. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University; a master’s degree in East Asian and international security studies from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where she was awarded the John C. Perry Scholarship for East Asian Studies; and a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, in international relations and Japanese from the University of Pennsylvania.