U.S.-Republic of Korea Ambassadors Panel

Date: 

Thursday, October 1, 2015, 4:30pm to 6:30pm

Location: 

Tsai Auditorium (S010), CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Kim Koo Forum on Korea Current Affairs 10th Anniversary Special Event

Ambassador Stephen Bosworth (1997 – 2001)
Ambassador Kathleen Stephens (2008 – 2011)
Ambassador Sung Kim (2011 – 2014) 
Moderator: Katharine Moon, SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies and Senior Fellow, Brookings Center for East Asia Policy Studies; Professor of Political Science and Edith Stix Wasserman Chair of Asian Studies, Wellesley College

Co-sponsored by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
With support from the Kim Koo Foundation 



Bios:

Stephen W. Bosworth
 is a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is also Chairman of the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins’ Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. He served as Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University from 2001-2013 and as the Payne Lecturer at FSI Stanford, Shorenstein APARC from 2013-2014. Amb. Bosworth had an extensive career in the United States Foreign Service, including service as Ambassador to Tunisia (1979-1981), to the Philippines (1984-1987), and to the Republic of Korea (1997-2001). He also served in a number of senior positions in the Department of State, including Director of Policy Planning and, most recently, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy for the Obama Administration (2009-2011). Amb. Bosworth was the founding Executive Director of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization from 1995-1997 and the President of the United States Japan Foundation from 1988-1995. In 2006, he co-authored the book, Chasing the Sun, Rethinking East Asian Policy. Amb. Bosworth is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Academy of Diplomacy, the Trilateral Commission, and a director of the Tunisian-American Enterprise Fund. He is also on the Board of Governors of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and a trustee of the Austen Riggs Center. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College where he served on the Board of Trustees from 1992 -2002. He is fortunate to be married to the former Christine Holmes; they have two daughters and two sons.

Kathleen Stephens is William J. Perry Distinguished Fellow at Stanford University’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC). Ambassador Stephens was a U.S. Foreign Service officer for over thirty years, achieving the personal rank of Career Minister. Recent postings included Charge d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in India (2014), Acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (2012), and U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea  (2008-2011). Stephens’ diplomatic career included service in Washington, Asia, and Europe. From 2005 to 2007 she was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP). She was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (EUR) from 2003 to 2005, focused on post-conflict and stabilization issues in the Balkans. Other Washington assignments included Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council during the Clinton Administration, Senior United Kingdom Country Officer in the European Bureau, and Director of the State Department’s Office of Ecology and Terrestrial Conservation in the Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Scientific Affairs. Her overseas postings included Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal (1998-2001), and U.S. Consul General in Belfast, Northern Ireland (1995-1998) during the consolidation of ceasefires and negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement. Earlier foreign assignments included consular and public affairs officer in Guangzhou, China, chief of the internal political unit in Seoul, principal officer of the U.S. Consulate in Busan, Korea, and political officer in fracturing Yugoslavia. Ambassador Stephens’ U.S. government awards include Linguist of the Year in 2010 and the 2009 Presidential Meritorious Service Award. Other awards and recognition include the Korean government’s Sejong Cultural Prize and the Korea-America Friendship Association Prize in 2013, the YWCA’s Women’s Leadership “Special Prize” Award (2010), the Pacific Century Institute’s 2011 Building Bridges Award, and the Outstanding Achievement Award from the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea. Her book, Reflections of an American Ambassador to Korea, based on her Korean-language blog, was published in 2010. She is on the Board of Trustees of The Asia Foundation, The Pacific Century Institute, and The Korea Society. Ambassador Stephens grew up in the American West. She holds a BA (Honors) in East Asian studies from Prescott College, a master’s degree from Harvard University, and honorary doctoral degrees from Chungnam National University and the University of Maryland. She studied at the University of Hong Kong and was an instructor at the Outward Bound School of Hong Kong. She was a Peace Corps volunteer in Korea in the 1970s.  

Katharine (Kathy) H.S. Moon is the inaugural holder of the SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies and Senior Fellow in the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at The Brookings Institution. She also is a professor of Political Science and Wasserman Chair of Asian Studies at Wellesley College. She received her B.A., magna cum laude, from Smith College and a Ph.D. from Princeton University, Department of Politics. She was born in San Francisco. Kathy Moon’s analytical approach is to bridge domestic politics and foreign policy. She is currently working on a book that analyzes the impact of demographic change (including defectors and immigrants) in South Korea on Korean democracy and foreign policy. She is the author of Protesting America: Democracy and the U.S.-Korea Alliance (2013), Sex Among Allies: Military Prostitution in U.S.-Korea Relations (1997 & 2002), and numerous articles on the Koreas, U.S.-East Asia relations, and women/gender in international relations. Moon’s op-eds and media interviews have been circulated worldwide. For details, see http://www.brookings.edu/experts/moonk.