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Category Archives: Chatham House

Prospects for Korea’s Energy Diplomacy - Chatham House

08-Jun-08
Notice of this weeks Korea Discussion Group Meeting at Chatham House Korea Discussion Group Thursday 12 June 2008 1.15-2.30 Lunch – 12.45 (£10) Prospects for Korea’s Energy Diplomacy SPEAKER: DR Jae-Seung LEE, Associate Dean and Associate Professor at Korea University CHAIR: DR JIM HOARE, Chargé d'Affaires, British Embassy in Pyongyang, DPRK (2001-2003) Dr Lee is currently an Associate Dean and Associate Professor in the division of International Studies at Korea University. Before joining the University, he served as professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He received Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University. As a scholar of international political economy, Dr Lee has published a number of books and articles regarding Korea, East Asia and Europe. His ...
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The financial sector as engine for growth

31-May-08

The financial sector as engine for growth

There was no hope of applying the Chatham House rule at yesterday's talk by HE Dr Jun Kwang-woo, chairman of Korea's Financial Services Commission. With two TV cameras and numerous digital recorders on show, this meeting was firmly on the record. Reflecting the more formal nature of this meeting, Dr Jun spoke from a prepared text, though there was also a generous amount of time afterwards for Dr Jun to take questions from the floor. It was a whistle-stop tour for Dr Jun. Earlier in the week he had been at the IOSCO meeting in Paris, where he was appointed Chair of IOSCO's regional committee for Asia. He was only in London for the day and was heading back to Seoul immediately ...
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Top banking watchdog in town. You too can quiz him

27-May-08
Dr Jun Kwang Woo, the Chairman of the Korean Financial Services Commission, is in Paris and London this week for a range of meetings, including the UK finance minister and the FSA. He will also be speaking to the Korea Discussion Group at Chatham House on Friday afternoon at 4pm. His subject is Korea's responses to challenges from the global financial markets. The gathering will be chaired by Dr John Llewellyn, Senior Economic Policy Advisor at Lehman Brothers. Interested parties can join the discussion group by pre-registering (details at the bottom of this article). Further background on Dr Jun’s talk: Developments in international financial markets have brought opportunities for faster growth and expansion. At the same time, developments also mean that the ...
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Park Cheol-hee at Chatham House

11-Feb-08
The next Korea Discussion Group talk, on 19 February, will be 'Korean Foreign Policy Initiatives under the New Presidency' by Dr. Park Cheol Hee.Jim Hoare will be chairing. The meeting is 1-2pm with lunch 12:30-1:00 (£10 charge) Dr. Park is currently associate professor at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) at Seoul National University (SNU), Korea. Before moving to SNU, he was an assistant professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) under the Korean Foreign Ministry. Between 1999 and 2002, he taught Japanese politics at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo, Japan, as an associate professor. Professor Park graduated from Seoul National University, where he got BA and MA and obtained his ...
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North Korea: new approaches - conference report

23-Jan-08
The panel and attendance list of the 8th International Conference on North Korean Human Rights & Refugees was a who’s who of North Korean experts and Koreanists in general ((The Chatham House Rule was invoked, and a strict reading of that implies that I can’t say who was in the audience, but at least the speakers are a matter of public record)). As expected, there was no representation from the DPRK embassy. Given that more than one panellist characterised past conferences as “people getting together to bash North Korea and feeling better afterwards” that was hardly surprising. But this conference was billed as exploring new approaches, so maybe a different attitude might have been fondly hoped-for this year. Instead, the ...
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North Korea - New Approaches

14-Jan-08
Received from Chatham House: North Korea: NEW APPROACHES The 8th International Conference on North Korean Human Rights & Refugees January 22, 2008 - London, UK Venue: Chatham House -- The Royal Institute of International Affairs 10 St James's Square, London SW1Y4LE AGENDA Language of proceedings: Korean/English Tuesday, 22 January, 2008 09:00 Registration (Chatham House, 10 St James's Square, London SW1Y 4LE) 09:15 Opening Session (Conference Room -- Chatham House) Welcoming Remarks Dr Robin Niblett, Director, Chatham House Jan Ramstad, Chairman, The Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, Norway Keynote Speech Kjell Magne Bondevik, Former Prime Minister, President, Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, Norway Opening Speech Stephen Lillie, Head of Far Eastern Group, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK 10:15-12:30 Discussion 1 A. Changing Perceptions in North Korea Moderator: Jim Hoare, Former UK Ambassador to Pyongyang,UK Panelists: Political Leadership of North Korea, Professor Dae-Sook Suh, USA Culture and ...
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Leonid Petrov at Chatham House

27-Nov-07
Korea Discussion Group Thursday 6th December 2007 "Squaring the Circle in North Korea: Pyongyang Strives for "Economic Miracle" (Domestic Politics and Socio-Economic Realities) Speaker: Leonid Petrov Lunch: 12.30-1.00 (£10.00 charge) Meeting: 1.00-2.00pm Film Screening: 2.15 -- 4.15pm Chair: Jim Hoare The talk will draw heavily on the findings of a recent visit to the DPRK by Dr. Petrov. In detail, the substance of the presentation will be as follows: The current socio-economic situation in the DPRK (North Korea) is dominated by two conflicting policies: "The Army-First Politics" and "The 1 July Economic Measures". Both policies serve as supreme guidelines for domestic governance, industry management, and even foreign relations and trade, placing all other political motions and economic campaigns firmly inside their original frameworks. Implementation of these two policies has brought ...
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October at Chatham House

30-Sep-07
Two talks at the Korea Discussion Group at Chatham House in October. Firstly: The Six-Party Talks & the Future of the Korean Peninsula Yuri Kim Monday 15th October 2007 Meeting: 2.00-4.00pm Chair: Jim Hoare Yuri Kim is chief of the DPRK (North Korea) Affairs Division at the U.S. Department of State. Her portfolio covers the broad range of U.S. policy toward North Korea, including the Six-Party Talks, non-proliferation, and human rights in the DPRK. She works directly with Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Six-Party Talks. Previous diplomatic assignments include Seoul (2003-06), the Executive Office of Secretary of State Colin Powell (2002-03), Tokyo (2000-2002), and Beijing (1998-2000). Yuri Kim holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and ...
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The North viewed from the North

01-Sep-07
Korea Discussion Group "The North viewed from the North: A Swedish diplomat's take on North Korea since 2001" Ambassador Paul Beijer Wednesday 5th September 2007 Meeting: 1.15-2.15pm Lunch: 12.45-1.15 (£10.00 charge) Chair: Jim Hoare The talk will be on the topic of The North viewed from the North: A Swedish diplomat's take on North Korea since 2001. The speaker will be Ambassador Paul Beijer. Ambassador Paul Beijer is currently Special Advisor to the Swedish Government on Korean Peninsular issues. Before his current role, he served as the Minister and Charge d'Affaires at the Embassy of Sweden in Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea and later as the Ambassador. Prior to this he was the Chair of the EU Common Foreign & Security Policy (CFSP) and has occupied many ...
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Two ambassadors and a minister at Chatham House

26-Jun-07
Next week is an eventful one for followers of the foreign relations of the two Koreas. On Wednesday afternoon there's a rare opportunity to hear two of the most senior figures from the foreign ministry of the DPRK speak on the subject of the DPRK's foreign relations, while on Thursday lunchtime the Korea Discussion Group welcomes a minister from the Japanese embassy in London to talk about Korea-Japan relations. As always, prior registration is required with Tamara Lynch at Chatham House. Further details follow. First, the DPRK foreign relations event: Asia Programme Meeting North Korean Foreign Relations Speakers: Ambassador Song Ryol Han, Ambassador Song Nam Ja 2.30-5.00 pm Wednesday 4th July 2007 Ambassador Han, former representative of the DPRK to the UN Mission and Ambassador Ja, the current ...
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Upcoming Korea Discussion Group talk at Chatham House

31-Mar-07
Another talk has been arranged for lunchtime on 3 April, on the topic of Inside North Korea: Changes and Continuity. The speaker will be Dr Kongdan Oh. Biography, courtesy of the Korea Discussion Group: Dr. Kongdan (Katy) Oh is a Research Staff Member at the Institute for Defense Analyses and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. She is a member of the Korea Task Force of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Korea Working Group of the United States Institute of Peace, International Institute for Strategic Studies, United States Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (Board of Directors), the Council on US-Korea Security Studies, and she is the co-founder and co-director of The ...
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Amnesty at Chatham House

22-Mar-07
Rajiv Narayan's talk at Chatham House last week about Amnesty International's activities and concerns on the Korean peninsula was timely but yet somehow seemed to miss the point. I was reminded about the story of a drunk who was found grovelling on the pavement underneath a streetlamp at 3am. A concerned passer-by asked him what he was doing. "Looking for my wallet. I dropped it in that dark alleyway over there." "So why aren't you looking for it in the alley?" was the obvious question. "Because I can see better over here, where the light is". So, because Amnesty has access to the South and no access to the North ((and I guess the way to get access to the North is ...
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Korea’s cute and funky cultural exports

22-Dec-06

Korea’s cute and funky cultural exports

Chatham House Korea Discussion Group China's 'Korea Wave': National Branding, Piracy, Idols and Fans Speaker: Dr Rowan Pease, 6 December 2006, 1:15pm If ever you get the chance to hear Rowan Pease talk on her chosen subject of the hallyu in China, drop everything and go to it. Even if you've heard some of her material before, there will always be something fresh and new. And even if you've heard all of it before, it's still entertaining to hear her quotes from teenage Chinese chat-room frequenters. Her opening remarks at her Chatham House talk earlier this month had the assembled company of academics, diplomats and city slickers completely embarrassed at their disconnection from popular culture. When did any of us last go to a ...
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