1. The Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA), together with the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), will hold a closed-door IFANS-CSIS strategic dialogue on February 3 and an open symposium on February 4 in Washington.

2. The closed-door strategic dialogue to take place on February 3 under the theme of “2015 Agenda and Beyond in Korea-US Relations” will bring together Korea Chair Victor Cha and Japan Chair Michael Green of the CSIS; Scott Snyder, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations; and Joel Wit, a visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins University, from the US. The delegation from the Republic of Korea will consist of 20-odd experts from IFANS and others.

3. The open symposium entitled “Korean Platform: A Conversation about Korea and the US” on February 4 will be moderated by the CSIS’ Korea Chair Victor Cha. The participants from the ROK will include the KNDA’s chair professor Hyun Oh-seok and former Ambassador to the US Choi Young-jin. Among the US panelists will be Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. The participants will engage in in-depth discussions on the ROK government’s unification policy; the current situation in North Korea; views of the Korean Peninsula’s neighboring countries on a unified Korea.

4. The year 2015 being a special one that marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean Peninsula’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule and its division, the upcoming symposium is expected to serve as an opportunity for the Korean and US experts to exchange meaningful views on the rapidly changing situation in Northeast Asia and ways to lay the groundwork for a peaceful unification of the Peninsula. It is also expected to be a chance for the ROK to send to a strategic message to the US in that regard. 


                 Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation