Will Lee Jae-myung Reorient South Korea’s Foreign Policy?

Dr. Kim Joon-hyung (or Joon Hyung Kim) is a member of the National Assembly, Republic of Korea. He has been teaching as an international politics professor at Handong Global University for 25 years. He is currently the president of “Korea Diplomacy Plaza”, a network of regional experts and IR professionals. In 2016, he was a member of Moon Jae In’s presidential election camp, where he consulted and wrote major foreign policies. After Moon was elected, he joined the Government Transition Committee, and became a member of the Presidential Commission on Policy Planning. In 2024, he was elected as member of the 22nd National Assembly for the Rebuilding Korea Party. He is the standing committee member of the Foreign and Unification Committee.

Frank Aum is the senior expert on Northeast Asia at the United States Institute of Peace, where he focuses on ways to strengthen diplomacy to reduce tensions and enhance peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. From 2010 to 2017, he worked at the Department of Defense, including as special assistant to the assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, and senior advisor on the Korean Peninsula in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. During this time, he advised four secretaries of defense on issues related to Northeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula. Aum also served as the head of delegation for working level negotiations with the Republic of Korea on U.S.-ROK Alliance matters, and received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.

Darcie Draudt-Véjares, PhD is a fellow for Korean studies in the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A political scientist and policy analyst, she publishes regular commentary on South and North Korean domestic politics and foreign policy, Northeast Asian relations, and U.S.-Korea policy. Dr. Draudt-Véjares currently holds non-resident fellowships at the George Washington University Institute for Korean Studies (GWIKS) and the National Bureau of Asian Research. Dr. Draudt-Véjares holds a PhD in Political Science from the Johns Hopkins University, an MA in Korean Studies from the Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies, and an AB with Honors in Anthropology from Davidson College.

James Park is a research associate at the Quincy Institute’s East Asia Program. His research covers South Korean foreign policy and domestic politics, Chinese security issues, and U.S. policy vis-à-vis East Asia. He has written about East Asia affairs for various outlets, including The Diplomat, The National Interest, Responsible Statecraft, and American Conservative. James completed a master’s in Asian Studies at George Washington University, a graduate certificate in International Politics and Chinese Studies at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, and a B.A. in Global Studies with a minor in Mandarin Chinese from Arizona State University.

Jake Werner is director of the East Asia Program at the Quincy Institute. His research examines the emergence of great power conflict between the US and China and develops policies to rebuild constructive economic relations. Prior to joining Quincy, Jake was a Postdoctoral Global China Research Fellow at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, a Harper-Schmidt Fellow at the University of Chicago, a Fulbright Scholar at National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, and a Fulbright-Hays Fellow at East China Normal University in Shanghai. He received his PhD in history from the University of Chicago.