Brief Information of the 23rd KF Forum next week

Obama Administration's East Asia Policy

◎ CSIS (the Center for Strategic and International Studies)

The Center for Strategic and International Studies is a bipartisan Washington, D.C., foreign policy think tank. The center was founded in 1964 by Admiral Arleigh Burke and Ambassador David Manker Abshire, originally as part of Georgetown University. The formal affiliation between Georgetown and CSIS ended on July 1, 1987.
According to its mission statement, "CSIS provides strategic insights and policy solutions to decision makers in government, international institutions, the private sector, and civil society." The center conducts policy studies and strategic analyses on political, economic and security issues, focusing on technology, public policy, international trade and finance, and energy.

◎ Speaker: John J. Hamre(CEO of the Center for Strategic and International Studies)

John J. Hamre (born July 3, 1950 in Watertown, South Dakota) is a specialist in international studies, a former Washington bureaucrat and the current president and CEO of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a position he has held with that think tank since April 2000.
Hamre was Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) (1993–1997) and Deputy Secretary of Defense (1997–1999), both under President Bill Clinton. Also worked on the Obama transition team. He is chairman of the Defense Policy Board.
- Educational background
He earned an M.A. (1976) and Ph.D. (1978) with distinction from the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.
- Political background
Hamre served in the Congressional Budget Office (1978–1984), where he became its deputy assistant director for national security and international affairs. In that position, he oversaw analysis and other support for committees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. In the 1980s, he worked for ten years at the Senate Armed Services Committee. During that time, he was primarily responsible for the oversight and evaluation of procurement, research and development programs, defense budget issues, and relations with the Senate Appropriations Committee.

◎ Victor Cha (Senior Adviser and Korea Chair)

Dr. Cha is the author of numerous articles, books, and other works on Asian security. He authored Alignment Despite Antagonism (2001), recipient of the Ohira Book Prize, which presented a new, alternative theory regarding Japan and South Korea's political alignment despite their historical animosity. Dr. Cha wrote this in response to previous research on the subject, which he felt focused too heavily on their respective historical antagonism. In 2005, Cha co-authored Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies with Professor David Kang of Dartmouth College and its Tuck School of Business. The co-authors presented their respective viewpoints on the best way to handle the Korean situation, with Dr. Cha presenting a more "hawkish" approach and Dr. Kang presenting his more "dovish" arguments.
Dr. Cha is currently planning on publishing two new works on East Asia: a book on "Sports diplomacy and the Olympics in Asia" and a monograph concerning “Origins of the Postwar American Alliance System in Asia".
- Educational background
Dr. Cha received both his A.B. and his Ph.D. from Columbia University, as well as a B.A. (and subsequent M.A.) from the University of Oxford



◎ Michael J. Green (Senior Adviser and Japan Chair)

Michael Green is a senior adviser and holds the Japan Chair at CSIS, as well as being an associate professor of international relations at Georgetown University. He previously served as special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council (NSC), from January 2004 to December 2005, after joining the NSC in April 2001 as director of Asian affairs with responsibility for Japan, Korea, and Australia/New Zealand. His current research and writing is focused on Asian regional architecture, Japanese politics, U.S. foreign policy history, the Korean peninsula, Tibet, Burma, and U.S.-India relations.
Dr. Green speaks fluent Japanese and spent over five years in Japan working as a staff member of the National Diet, as a journalist for Japanese and American newspapers, and as a consultant for U.S. business. He has also been on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a staff member at the Institute for Defense Analyses, and a senior adviser to the Office of Asia-Pacific Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He graduated from Kenyon College with highest honors in history in 1983 and received his M.A. from Johns Hopkins SAIS in 1987 and his Ph.D. in 1994. He also did graduate work at Tokyo University as a Fulbright fellow and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a research associate of the MIT-Japan Program. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the Aspen Strategy Group. He is also vice chair of the congressionally mandated Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission and serves on the advisory boards of the Center for a New American Security and Australian American Leadership Dialogue and the editorial board of The Washington Quarterly.



◎ Summary of Recent Interview with Dr. John J. Hamre
by JoongAng Daily



“Obama's trading policy is grade D… U.S must facilitate FTA with Korea ”


◇ Obama's Administration

Dr.Hamre evaluated Obama's administration upon each divided aspects.

Grade A+
-Hard work for changing American's attitude for other nation around the world
Grade A
-Proper confrontation policy to the middle east and north korea
Grade B
-Internal politic operation with some inefficiency
Grade C-
-Fail to make bipartisan culture in political system


◇ U.S Economy and Solution

Dr.Hamre evaluated U.S Economy upon each divided aspects.

Grade A
-Well-maintained financial system during the worst economic crisis.
Grade D
-Trading policy. Especially FTA between Korea and U.S needs to be effective.


◇ The Relationship between U.S and Korea

Dr.Hamre emphasized U.S-Korea's FTA as a point of boosting the relationship between U.S and Korea. He believed that FTA will makes positive outcome in Northern east asia's framework as well as Korea.




◇ G2

Dr.Hamre doesn't think China as a great partner in the international community with U.S. He thinks China is only focusing on Asian area as a leading power.


◇ North Korea's nuclear threat

Dr.Hamre said, Obama dealt with North Korea's nuclear threat in a good fundamental rule. He also mentioned that "This problem is basically for North Korea not the United States. They are turning against the world. Obama is ready to welcome them when they finish threatening.