Korea Strategic Talks Webinar VII: Presidential Election in South Korea – What Next?
On June 3rd, South Korea will hold its ninth presidential election. The election follows a very turbulent time in South Korean politics, initiated by former President Yoon calling for martial law on December 3rd last year. After the Constitutional Court upheld the National Assembly’s impeachment vote, President Yoon was officially removed from power on April 3rd.
The second Strategic Talk for 2025 will take place on June 17 at 15.00 hrs Stockholm time and 09.00 hrs US East Coast time. Our guests for this session are Ms. Jenny Town, Stimson Center, and Mr. Bruce Klingner, Heritage Foundation.
In June 2024, the ISDP Stockholm Korea Center introduced a new series of “Korea Strategic Talks,” to further promote dialogue and exchange of views related to the developments on the Korean peninsula. The overall aim of the initiative is to further increase the understanding of the many factors and policies that impact political and security developments. We invite scholars and experts from different backgrounds to a conversation moderated by Mats Engman, Head of the Stockholm Korea Center. By conducting two or three talks within a short time span, we believe it will enable us to identify possible differences in understanding, assessments, and policies.
The Strategic Talks are live, online, and recorded for later use. A typical session runs for 60 minutes. Occasionally, we will also summarize a Strategic Talk or a series of talks into a publication.
This third round of Strategic Talks will feature two sessions: one with two South Korean experts (12 June) and one with two US experts (17 June), discussing the potential implications of the June Presidential election.
During this third series of talks, we will concentrate our discussion on domestic political development in South Korea, following the outcome of the presidential election. Some of the issues we will discuss are.
- Can we already say something about possible policy shifts in foreign and defense policies?
- How will the outcome impact prospects for inter-Korean relations and engagement with DPRK?
- What possible implications will the outcome have on the ROK domestic situation, a continuation of societal division, or a return to more of a compromise?
- How have domestic institutions handled the political turmoil following the martial law declaration on December 3rd?
Speakers:
Mr. Bruce Klingner specializes in Korean and Japanese affairs as the Senior Research Fellow for Northeast Asia at The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center. Klingner’s analysis and writing about North Korea, South Korea and Japan, as well as related issues, are informed by his 20 years of service at the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Klingner, who joined Heritage in 2007, has testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
He is a frequent commentator in U.S. and foreign media. His articles and commentary have appeared in major American and foreign publications and he is a regular guest on broadcast and cable news outlets. He is a regular contributor to the international and security sections of The Daily Signal.
From 1996 to 2001, Klingner was CIA’s Deputy Division Chief for Korea, responsible for the analysis of political, military, economic and leadership issues for the president of the United States and other senior U.S. policymakers. In 1993-1994, he was the chief of CIA’s Korea branch, which analyzed military developments during a nuclear crisis with North Korea.
Klingner is a distinguished graduate of the National War College, where he received a master’s degree in National Security Strategy in 2002. He also holds a master’s degree in Strategic Intelligence from the Defense Intelligence College and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Middlebury College in Vermont.
Ms. Jenny Town is a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center and the Director of Stimson’s Korea Program and 38 North. Her areas of expertise include North Korea, US-DPRK relations, US-ROK alliance relations and extended deterrence, and Northeast Asia regional security. She was named one of Worth Magazine’s “Groundbreakers 2020: 50 Women Changing the World” and one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business in 2019 for her role in co-founding and managing 38 North, which provides policy and technical analysis on North Korea.
Ms. Town is also an Associate Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a Member of the National Committee on North Korea, and an Associate Member of the Council of Korean Americans. She serves on the Editorial Board for Inkstick, an online foreign policy journal for emerging scholars. She previously served as the Assistant Director of the US-Korea Institute at SAIS (2008-2018) and an expert reviewer for North and South Korea for Freedom House’s Freedom in the World Index (2010-2023), where she previously worked on the Human Rights in North Korea Project.
Ms. Town holds a BA in East Asian Studies and International Relations from Westmar University and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. She is a frequent commentator for a range of print, radio and television news, including Reuters, BBC, CNN, Financial Times, Deutche Welle, Voice of America, Japan Times, NHK, CGTN, BBC World Radio, and more. And has been featured on a number of podcasts including Asia Matters, The President’s Inbox, the Impossible State, Today Explained, The DSR Daily Brief, and more.