Thursday, October 2, 2008, 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Young Jong Choi is an Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations at the Catholic University of Korea. He was previously a Lecturer, Fellow, and Professor at Korea University. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Washington. Dr. Choi has written many articles in English and Korean on topics related to East Asian regionalism. Two of his book chapters are ìJapan-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Partnership: South Koreaís Perspective,î in Japan-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Partnership: Asian Perspective, and ìNortheast Asian Regional Integration: Regional Theories, Current Realities and Future Prospects,î in Political Economy of Northeast Asian Regionalism: Political Conflict and Economic Integration. He recently published a book in Korean, A New Diplomatic Strategy for a Global Korea.
Victor Cha is Director of Asian Studies and the D. S. Song-Korea Foundation Chair in Asian Studies and Government at Georgetown University and a Senior Fellow at the Pacific Council for International Policy. From 2004-2007 he was the Director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council and was also the Deputy Head of Delegation to the Six-Party Talks. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University. Dr. Cha is the author of Alignment Despite Antagonism: The US-Korea-Japan Security Triangle and co-author of Nuclear North Korea. He has published articles on international relations and East Asia in International Security, Survival, Political Science Quarterly, International Studies Quarterly, Orbis, Armed Forces and Society, Journal of Peace Research, Security Dialogue, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Asian Survey, Journal of East Asian Studies, Asian Perspective, and Japanese Journal of Political Science. He recently wrote the article "Winning Asia: An Untold American Foreign Policy Success" in the November/December 2007 issue of Foreign Affairs, and is currently working on Powerplay: Origins of the American Alliance System in Asia.
Derek Mitchell is Senior Fellow and Director for Asia in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Mr. Mitchell was Special Assistant for Asian and Pacific affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1997 to 2001. He was the principal author of the Department of Defense 1998 East Asia Strategy Report, and he received the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Exceptional Public Service in January 2001. Prior to joining DOD, Mitchell served as senior program officer for Asia and the former Soviet Union at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. In 1989, he worked as an editor and reporter at the China Post on Taiwan. From 1986 to 1988, he served as assistant to the senior foreign policy adviser to Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Mitchell received a Master of Arts degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1991 and a Bachelorís degree from the University of Virginia in 1986. He also studied Chinese language at Nanjing University. He is the coauthor of China: The Balance SheetóWhat the World Needs to Know Now about the Emerging Superpower (2006) and coeditor of China and the Developing World: Beijingís Strategy for the 21st Century (2007).
Dr. Young Jong Choi focused on the areas of regional cooperation that South Korea, as a "middle power", can take the initiative on. South Korea has the ability to push East Asian regionalism forward in a way that Japan, China, and the United States, as the region's major powers, are unable to. The limited capabilities of Japan and China in this regard are a result of historical antagonisms and fears of future hegemony. South Korea, which has no history or future prospects of regional hegemony, can thus be a major actor, especially in cooperation with the United States, in future moves toward regional integration
