Midwest symposium on U.S.-Korea relations

This is a virtual event for current U-M undergraduate and graduate students. 

This Midwest Symposium on U.S.-Korea Relations is made possible through a grant from the Korea Foundation.

In an era of rising strategic tension in East Asia, exacerbated by the pandemic and the continuing crisis in North Korea, U.S. relations with the Republic of Korea are ever more crucial to regional security, prosperity, and human welfare.

This symposium will bring together students from the University of Michigan and partner universities in the Midwest to learn from leading experts about the U.S.-Korea relationship and to engage in a diplomatic simulation on North Korea. Former Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, who also served as U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, will offer a keynote address on key challenges and prospects in U.S.-Korea relations. An expert panel will break down various dimensions of U.S.-Korea relations and their connection to other major regional powers, including China and Japan. Panelists will include Soojin Park, Public Policy Fellow at the Wilson Center and former Deputy Spokesperson at the Korean government’s Ministry of Unification; and Ross Tokola, Executive Associate to the Director at the East-West Center in Washington and former program officer at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. Students will participate in a regional diplomacy simulation on the North Korean nuclear program, guided by a facilitator from the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI). The program will close with a debriefing session in which experts share their reflections on the real-life diplomacy surrounding the Korean Peninsula.

• South Korea
• North Korea
• Stephen Biegun
• Soojin Park
• Ross Tokola
• International Policy Center
• Diplomacy and foreign affairs