The November 2026 midterm elections will shape the political landscape for the second half of the Trump presidency, raising important questions about the future direction of U.S. policy toward the Korean Peninsula. What will the future hold for the U.S.-South Korea alliance amid debates over OPCON transfer, burden-sharing, and nuclear submarines? How will Washington balance its security commitments to Seoul with the possibility of renewed diplomacy with Pyongyang? And how might the administration’s trade and economic agenda reshape bilateral relations, particularly with the ROK, and the growing importance of economic security? Experts will examine these interconnected dimensions of U.S. policy toward the two Koreas and assess their implications for regional security and economic relations. 

Co-sponsored by the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in San Francisco.
 

Speakers:
 

Michael L. Beeman is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Loyola Marymount University. He also is a Senior Associate (Non-resident), Japan Chair, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and a Senior Fellow for Economic Security at The National Bureau of Asian Research.

From 2023-24, he was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and university Lecturer and, during 2025, he was a Lecturer at UC San Diego. Prior to this, he served for over two decades in the federal government beginning at the Department of Commerce and then, for over 16 years, as a senior trade official and negotiator at the Office of the US Trade Representative (Executive Office of the President). As the Assistant US Trade Representative for Japan, Korea, and APEC, he led negotiations with Korea for the renegotiated U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (2018) and negotiations with Japan for the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement (2019).

He is the author of Walking Out: America’s New Trade Policy in the Asia Pacific and Beyond (2024, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center) and Public Policy and Economic Competition in Japan (2001, Routledge). He received his DPhil (PhD) in Politics from the University of Oxford, an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University, and a BA from Southern Methodist University. Dr. Beeman also was a Fulbright and Monbusho Scholar in Japan and an Advanced Research Fellow at Harvard University.
 

Mark Lambert joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as Visiting Scholar, China Program Fellow, for the 2026-2027 academic year, following a career in government with the U.S. Department of State. He served as China Coordinator and Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs. He oversaw the Office of China Coordination and the Office of Taiwan Coordination. Mark has extensive experience in China, cross-Strait, and Asia Pacific affairs. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary with responsibility for Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. Earlier he established the International Organizations Bureau’s office aimed at protecting UN integrity from authoritarianism and served as Special Envoy for North Korean Affairs.  Previously, he was named the State Department’s human rights officer of the year for devising a strategy to release Chinese political prisoners and promote religious freedom.
 

Sydney Seiler was the national intelligence officer for North Korea at the National Intelligence Council from 2020 to 2023 and is one of the nation’s top experts on North Korea. Previously, he was the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) senior analyst and senior defense intelligence expert for North Korea from 2016 to 2020, serving as the principal adviser and senior expert on Korean Peninsula security issues to the USFK commander and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Enterprise. Mr. Seiler also served as the U.S. special envoy for Six Party Talks (2014–2015), where he coordinated U.S. diplomacy and policy on the DPRK and led negotiations with North Korea. Prior to that, Mr. Seiler served as the director for Korea on the National Security Council (2011–2014). A member of the Senior National Intelligence Service, Mr. Seiler has over 40 years of experience focusing on Korean Peninsula affairs in a range of executive management, intelligence, and policy positions within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Directorate of Analysis, the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, the CIA’s Open Source Center, and the National Security Agency. He has four decades of experience watching North Korea and 17 years of serving in South Korea. He received his MA degree in Korean studies from Yonsei University and is a graduate of the Korean language programs of the Defense Language Institute and Yonsei University.
 

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