Ambassador Ahn was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Korea to the United States of America by President Park Geun-hye in May 2013. From 2012 to 2013, he served as First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and before that he served as Korea’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium and to the European Union. From 2008 to 2011, he was the Deputy Minister for Trade at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during which time he served as President Lee Myung-bak’s sherpa to the G-20 and G8 outreach meetings.
With a special introduction from Ambassador Christopher R. Hill, THE DIPLOMAT tells the remarkable story of the life and legacy of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, whose singular career spans fifty years of American foreign policy from Vietnam to Afghanistan.
Free and open to the public. Remarks Susan Collins, Dean, Gerald R. Ford School Nojin Kwak, Director, Nam Center for Korean Studies Speakers Ambassador Thomas C. Hubbard is Chairman of The Korea Society and senior director at McLarty Associates, where he specializes in Asian affairs.
During his 33-year Foreign Service career Christopher Hill served as an ambassador to Macedonia, Poland, South Korea and, most recently, Iraq. Ambassador Hill was part of the team that negotiated the Bosnian Peace Settlement in 1995, headed the U.S.
Danny Leipziger is the Vice President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) and Head of the PREM Network of more than 700 economists and other professionals working on economic policy, lending, and analytic work for the World Bank's client countries. In this capacity he provides strategic leadership and direction to Regional PREM units as well as groups working on economic policy formulation in the area of growth and poverty, debt, trade, gender, and public sector management and governance.
Daniel Russel is a Senior Fellow and Diplomat in Residence at the Asia Society Policy Institute. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service at the U.S. Department of State, he served until March, 2017 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.
In May we traveled to Seoul and several other great Asian cities. It was an inspiring and incredibly productive trip. We’ve put together a video that captured the highlights from our time in Seoul. May, 2019.