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The Burden of History: Foreign Policy Challenges in the New Global Era

By SHIN Yeon-sung, Consul General, Korean Consulate General, Los Angeles, CA

Wednesday, November 28, 2012
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
4357 Bunche Hall
UCLA

 

East Asia serves as the engine driving the global economy. Its regional policies are setting standards for the world. Of course, much has been made of the re-emergence of China, but the fact is that the entire Northeast Asia region is surging and has become a powerhouse of global leadership, cultural exports and sustainable growth.

Accordingly, the Obama Administration will likely maintain its focus with its so-called Pacific Pivot. And the nexus of this policy is the Korean Peninsula. The more than sixty-year alliance reached a new level in March when the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement went to effect. Today, our partnership has never been stronger.

As such, the traditional “hub-and-spoke” model (the series of bilateral relationships where the various nations would coordinate with the United States) may require a little oiling. And a thoughtful re-examination of some of the region’s historical legacies might be the most efficacious lubricant.  Now is the time to clear our history, and set the stage for the next era, one that is firmly grounded in globalization, green growth, and international harmony.

Consul General SHIN Yeon-sung joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1977 and has served in Korean Embassies in the Republic of Mauritius, the Russian Federations, the Hellenic Republic, and other countries as a diplomat as well as the Ambassador for Climate Change in 2010 before he came to Los Angeles as a Consul General in March 2011.

 

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For more information please contact

Sejung Kim
skim@international.ucla.edu