What will the future of security on the Korean peninsula look like and what ramifications will this have on the broader Indo-Pacific? How will the upcoming South Korean elections change the way we engage with an unpredictable North Korean regime?
For seven decades, the Korean peninsula has remained a potential flashpoint for destabilising conflict. When President Moon Jae-in came into office in 2017, he was determined to improve inter-Korea relations. However, far from the initial elation which met the historic Singapore Summit of 2018, North Korea has renewed its engagement in provocative behaviour. Since the beginning of 2022 alone, North Korea has launched over six rounds of missile launches.
Finding a way to engage with the North has thus proven to be a complex and polarising task. In South Korea, upcoming presidential elections in March will also have deep implications on North-South relations. And in the United States, President Biden’s cautious stance towards the regime means a repeat of a bilateral summit is highly unlikely.
Join Lauren Richardson, Asia Society Australia-Korea Fellow, Seong-Ho Sheen, Professor of International Relations, Seoul National University, and Justin Hastings, Professor of International Relations and Comparative Politics at the University of Sydney, for a discussion on the new strategic realities of the Korean peninsula. The discussion will be moderated by Jeongmin Kim, correspondent at NK News.
Date: Thursday 17 March 2022
Time: 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. AEDT
Venue: Online
Please note this event will run as a webcast only. Registration is essential. For any enquiries, please contact [email protected]
The Australia and Korea: Middle Power Parallels project is supported by the Commonwealth through the Australia-Korea Foundation, which is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This event is in partnership with Asia Society Korea.
This event is supported by
About our Speakers
Lauren Richardson, Lecturer in International Relations at the Australian National University and Asia Society Australia-Korea Fellow
Lauren Richardson is a Lecturer in the Department of International Relations at the Australian National University. She is also Director of the ANU Japan Institute and a Board Member of the ANU Korea Institute. Previously she taught Northeast Asian Relations at the University of Edinburgh and Keio University in Japan. She has been a visiting fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs, a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Australia-Asia Award (2011), a participant in the US-Korea NextGen Scholars Program (2015-16) and the German Marshall Fund’s Young Strategist Forum (2019).
Dr Richardson’s research focuses on the diplomatic and strategic dynamics of Northeast Asia, with a particular focus on Japan-Korea peninsula relations. She obtained Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Asian Studies from Monash University, which entailed extensive Japanese and Korean language study. She also completed a Master’s in Political Science at Keio University in Tokyo and a PhD in international, political and strategic studies at the ANU.
Seong-ho Sheen, Professor of International Relations, Seoul National University
Seong-ho Sheen is Professor of International Security and the Director of International Security Center at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS), SNU. He was a visiting fellow at the East–West Center, Washington, D.C., a CNAPS fellow at the Brookings Institution, an assistant research professor at the Asia–Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS), Honolulu, Hawaii and a research fellow at the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA), Cambridge, MA. He has taught at the University of Massachusetts Boston. In addition, he has advised various government organizations including the ROK National Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Unification, and the ROK National Assembly. His areas of interest include International Security, U.S. Foreign Policy, Northeast Asian Politics and the Korean Peninsula. Professor Sheen received his Ph.D. and M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and B.A. from Seoul National University.
Justin Hastings, Professor of International Relations and Comparative Politics, University of Sydney
Justin Hastings is a Professor of International Relations and Comparative Politics and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney, where he is also affiliated with the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, the China Studies Centre, the Sydney Cybersecurity Network, the Asian Studies Program, and the Centre for International Security Studies. From 2008 to 2010, he was an Assistant Professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received a PhD in Political Science in 2008 from the University of California, Berkeley, and an AB (honours) from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 2001.
Professor Hasting’s research is mostly focused on the structure and behaviour of clandestine state and non-state actors, such as terrorists, maritime piracy, smugglers, organized criminals, insurgents, and nuclear weapons proliferators, primarily in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. He has conducted academic and policy research in South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. His research has been financially supported by the Australian Research Council, the Korea Foundation, the Australian government, the United States federal government, the United States-Indonesia Society, the National Bureau for Asia Research (NBR), the MacArthur Foundation, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and the US National Science Foundation.
Jeongmin Kim, Lead Correspondent, NK News and NK PRO
Jeongmin Kim is a Lead Correspondent at NK News and NK PRO, based in Seoul. She covers inter-Korean, DPRK-related foreign affairs, defense and humanitarian developments. As a press corps member for the National Assembly, Democratic Party, and People Power Party, Kim has closely followed the 2022 ROK Presidential election news on the ground. Prior to joining NK News, she worked for Reuters Seoul bureau and CSIS Korea Chair in Washington D.C. Her writings on both Koreas appeared on Foreign Policy, Asia Society, and the National Interest, and has been a regular guest on TV and radio to discuss North Korea
With our sincere thanks to both the Asia Society Korea and AustChamKorea for kindly sharing this information.
