Conferences

Transatlantic and transpacific alliances: Deterrence and engagement in the Korean peninsula

Practical information

Wednesday 24 October 2018, 14:00-17:15
The Hotel, Vista room (Boulevard de Waterloo 38, 1000 Brussels)
This event is free of charge, but registration is mandatory.

KF-VUB Korea Chair organises a half-day conference "Transatlantic and Transpacific Alliances: Deterrence and Engagement in the Korean Peninsula" seeking to address how the Transatlantic Alliance (NATO) and the Transpacific alliances (US - Republic of Korea, US - Japan) can help to address the traditional and non-traditional security threats posed by North Korea.

The first panel will assess the role of deterrence and engagement in dealing with the nuclear and missile security threat posed by North Korea, Russia, and other illiberal countries. It will be followed by a second panel discussing how NATO members and its partners, especially the Republic of Korea and Japan, address hybrid threats from the same countries.

The conference is the first of an annual event on the Transatlantic and Transpacific Alliances to rotate between Brussels, Washington, DC, and Seoul. The Institute for European Studies, Brookings Institution and Asan Institute for Policy Studies are jointly organising this event, sponsored by NATO and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea.

14.00 - 14.05 Welcome remarks
Dr Ramon Pacheco Pardo, KF-VUB Korea Chair, Institute for European Studies, VUB
Dr Jung Pak, SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korean Studies, Brookings Institution
Dr Kang Choi, Vice President, Asan Institute for Policy Studies

14.05 - 14.15 Opening address: HE Hyoung-zhin Kim, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Belgium and the EU

14.15 - 15.30 Panel 1: Squaring the deterrence vs engagement puzzle in East Asia and Europe

Moderator: Dr Kang Choi, Vice President, Asan Institute for Policy Studies

Speaker 1: Dr Tongfi Kim, Senior Researcher, KF-VUB Korea Chair, & Assistant Professor of International Politics, Vesalius College

Speaker 2: Dr Beomchul Shin, Director for Security and Unification Affairs, Asan Institute for Policy Studies

Speaker 3: Dr Thomas Wright, Director of the Center on the United States and Europe, & Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

15.30 - 16.00 Coffee break

16.00 - 17.15 Panel 2: Hybrid threats: Insights from East Asia and Europe

Moderator: Dr Alexander Mattelaer, Director of European Affairs, Egmont, & Assistant Professor, Institute for European Studies

Speaker 1: Dr Jiyoung Park, Senior Fellow, Nuclear Policy and Technology, Asan Institute for Policy Studies

Speaker 2: Dr Jung Pak, SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korean Studies, & Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

Speaker 3: Dr Bonnie Jenkins, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Brookings Institution
 

The conference will be followed by a reception from 17.15 to 18.15.