On February 27, NCNK hosted a discussion on balancing multiple interests in addressing the North Korea crisis, featuring remarks by Dr. Moon Chung-in and Dr. John Linton. Video of their remarks is below.

Speakers

Dr. Moon Chung-in is the special advisor for unification, diplomacy and national security affairs for President Moon Jae-in. Dr. Moon retired from Yonsei University in 2016 where he taught for 22 years. In the Roh Moo-hyun government, Dr. Moon served as the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northeast Asia Cooperation Initiative in 2004 and 2005, and member of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Defense Reform from 2004 to 2007. He was also appointed Ambassador for International Security Affairs by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2006 to 2008. During his advisory role to presidents Roh and Kim Dae-jung, he contributed in drafting and implementing the Sunshine Policy of engagement toward North Korea. He was born on Jeju island, received his BA in Philosophy at Yonsei University, obtained an MA and PhD in Political Science from the University of Maryland.

Dr. John Linton is the Director of International Health Care Center at the Severance Hospital of Yonsei Medical School. Dr. Linton received his M.D. in 1987 from Yonsei University College of Medicine. After a Family Medicine residency in New York, he returned to Korea in 1991, where he has served as the Director of International Health Care Center at Yonsei University Severance Hospital until the present. He earned his M.S. and Ph. D from Korea University in 2000 and 2003, respectively. He has received many awards from the government of South Korea, two of which include the Order of Civil Merit ‘Mokryun’ and the Order of Merit from the National Human Rights Commission of Korea. 

Moderator:

Frank Aum currently serves as Senior Expert on North Korea at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, DC.  He was also a Visiting Scholar in the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.  He previously worked as a political appointee in the Obama administration from 2010-2017, serving as the Senior Advisor for North Korea in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.  During this time, he advised four Secretaries of Defense on issues related to Northeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula, including North Korea policy, defense posture, counter-missile capabilities, missile defense, military exercises, contingency planning, and POW/MIA remains recovery.  Frank also served as head of delegation for working level negotiations in Seoul with the Republic of Korea (ROK), spearheading coordination of bilateral agreement on a range of key strategic issues, including the ROK's Revised Missile Guidelines and the transition of wartime operational control.  In 2017, he received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. Frank received his B.A. from Dartmouth College, his M.P.P. from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.