U.S.-Korean Relations: The Challenges for Presidents Obama and Lee

On June 16, Korean president Lee Myung-Bak will arrive at the White House for his first official visit with President Barack Obama. The meeting comes as both nations face major challenges in their attempt to advance their long-standing strategic and economic alliance. The U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement is mired in controversy, and North Korea has just greatly upped the diplomatic and security ante with an underground nuclear test, provocative missile launches, and the threat of attack against South Korea. At this AEI event, experts will analyze the grave military threats to the alliance, the economic dilemmas arising from the global financial crisis, and lingering disagreements over trade. Representative Kevin Brady (R-Texas), the ranking Republican on the House Subcommittee on Trade, will lead off the conference as a keynote speaker. His remarks will be followed by a panel of experts on economic and security issues composed of Claude Barfield and Nicholas Eberstadt from AEI and L. Gordon Flake from the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation. AEI's Philip I. Levy will moderate. The conference will conclude with a presentation on the North Korean threats to global peace and security by Ambassador John R. Bolton.

About the Author

 

Claude
Barfield
  • Claude Barfield, a former consultant to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, researches international trade policy (including trade policy in China and East Asia), the World Trade Organization (WTO), intellectual property, and science and technology policy. His many books include Free Trade, Sovereignty, Democracy: The Future of the World Trade Organization (AEI Press, 2001), in which he identifies challenges to the WTO and to the future of trade liberalization.
  • Phone: 2028625879
    Email: cbarfield@aei.org

 

Nicholas
Eberstadt
  • Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist and a demographer by training, is also a senior adviser to the National Board of Asian Research, a member of the visiting committee at the Harvard School of Public Health, and a member of the Global Leadership Council at the World Economic Forum. He researches and writes extensively on economic development, foreign aid, global health, demographics, and poverty. He is the author of numerous monographs and articles on North and South Korea, East Asia, and countries of the former Soviet Union. His books range from The End of North Korea (AEI Press, 1999) to The Poverty of the Poverty Rate (AEI Press, 2008).

     

  • Phone: 202-862-5825
    Email: eberstadt@aei.org
  • Assistant Info

    Name: Kelly Matush
    Phone: 202-862-5835
    Email: kelly.matush@aei.org

 

Philip I.
Levy
  • Philip I. Levy's work in AEI's Program in International Economics ranges from free trade agreements and trade with China to antidumping policy. Prior to joining AEI, he worked on international economics issues as a member of the secretary of state's Policy Planning Staff. Mr. Levy also served as an economist for trade on the President's Council of Economic Advisers and taught economics at Yale University. He writes for AEI's International Economic Outlook series.

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  • Phone: 202-862-5890
    Email: philip.levy@aei.org
  • Assistant Info

    Name: Chad Hill
    Phone: 202-862-5862
    Email: chad.hill@aei.org

 

John R.
Bolton
  • John R. Bolton, a diplomat and a lawyer, has spent many years in public service. From August 2005 to December 2006, he served as the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations. From 2001 to 2005, he was under secretary of state for arms control and international security. At AEI, Ambassador Bolton's area of research is U.S. foreign and national security policy.

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  • Phone: 202-862-5892
    Email: christine.samuelian@aei.org
  • Assistant Info

    Name: Christine Samuelian
    Phone: 202-862-5892
    Email: christine.samuelian@aei.org
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