In his final address at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, President Moon Jae-in once again urged the international community to join South Korea in taking steps to formally end the Korean War. The two Koreas had agreed upon ending the war in 2018; yet three years later, little actual progress has been made and President Moon’s term is coming to an end. This week, we have invited three panelists to analyze the significance of President Moon’s U.N. declaration, evaluate DPRK’s response, and assess the prospects of the Korean War ending at last. Ambassador Joseph Yun (senior advisor to the Asia program at the U.S. Institute of Peace) will kick off our discussions, with Hyunik Hong (senior research fellow at the Sejong Institute), Inh-hwi Park (professor at Ewha Women's University), and Han Xian-dong (professor at the China University of Political Science and Law) following shortly.

Japan's former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida won the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) leadership election and has secured his position as the next prime minister. Because of his role in the "comfort women" deal in 2015, along with a concern for forward-looking relations between the two countries, which have reached their lowest point in years over historical and territorial issues, there is doubt about prospects for Korea-Japan relations in the near term. Sheila Smith (senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations), Jennifer Lind (professor at Dartmouth College), Junya Nishino (professor at Keio University), Heesik Choi (professor at Kookmin University), and Changsoo Jin (director of the Japan Research Center at the Sejong Institute) will share their views.

In the FY22 National Defense Authorization Bill released earlier this month by the U.S. House of Representatives, South Korea was included as a potential addition to the so-called ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence program that currently involves Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand. Likewise, the nations of Japan, India, and Germany were also proposed as new members, conceivably ensuing the expansion of ‘Five Eyes’ to ‘Nine Eyes’. This, however, is contingent upon President Joe Biden’s decision to ratify the bill and the implications of including (or not including) South Korea in the Five Eyes intelligence program. On this, we have invited Youngjun Kim (professor at the Korea National Defense University), Alex Soohoon Lee (associate research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses), and Zack Cooper (senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute).

Bilateral links and cooperation between EU member states and the ROK have been strengthened in the recent past. The EU's growing interest and presence in the Indo-Pacific has boosted discussions on deepening and diversifying the EU-ROK cooperation. Nonetheless, there is still room for improvement in order for the EU-ROK cooperation to leap into a more comprehensive partnership especially in the area of security relations. Although the EU and ROK recognize each other as potential strategic partners contributing to regional stability, cooperation is constrained by the geopolitical competition between the U.S. and China. In order for the potential of EU-ROK cooperation to be fully realized under geopolitical constraints, creative approaches and diversification in the field of security cooperation are critical. Ramon Pacheco Pardo (KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Brussels School of Governance), Hae-won Jun (professor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security), Jinwoo Choi (professor at Hanyang University), and Eric Ballbach (research fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs) will share their view.