President Donald Trump’s relentless pressure on South Korea over tariffs, investment, and “strategic flexibility,” coupled with North Korean leader Kim’s high-profile appearance alongside Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping at China’s WW2 commemoration, signals a geopolitical order in flux. Is the alliance on the verge of unraveling, or will it emerge stronger from crisis? Can Seoul move beyond the old paradigm of “U.S. for security, China for the economy” (안미경중) without paying a steep price in Beijing? With Pyongyang tightening its embrace of Russia and China, does talk of denuclearization have any credibility left? And how might South Korea’s deeply polarized domestic politics weaken its ability to navigate these external threats?
A renowned Korean expert, Gi-Wook Shin from Stanford University will offer his perspectives and insights on the rapidly changing political and security landscapes in the Korean peninsula.
SPEAKER
Gi-Wook Shin is the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea in sociology and a senior fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute. He directed the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center from 2005 to 2025 and founded its Korea and Taiwan Programs. Author/editor of 27 books, including The Four Talent Giants (2025), he now leads the Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab.