The alliance between the United States and South Korea has endured through seven decades of shifting regional and geopolitical security contexts. Yet it now faces challenges from within. Domestic political turmoil, including deepening political polarization and rising nationalism in both countries, has cast doubt on the alliance's viability—with critical implications for the balance of power in East Asia.

In this talk, Scott Snyder will discuss the internal and external pressures on the U.S.-South Korea alliance and explore its future prospects. He argues that nationalist leaders' accession to power could put past successes at risk and endanger the national security objectives of both countries. In the United States, "America First" nationalism favors self-interest over cooperation and portrays allies as burdens or even free riders. "Korea first" sentiments, in both progressive and conservative forms, present the U.S. military presence in South Korea as an obstacle to Korean reconciliation or a shackle on South Korea's freedom of action.

Snyder will also examine North Korea's attempts to influence South Korean domestic politics and how China's growing strength has affected the dynamics of the alliance. He considers scenarios in which the U.S.-South Korea relationship weakens or crumbles, emphasizing the consequences for the region and the world. Drawing on this analysis, Snyder offers timely recommendations for stakeholders in both countries on how to preserve and strengthen the alliance.

Scott A. Snyder is president and chief executive officer at the Korea Economic Institute of America. Previously, he was senior fellow for Korea studies and director of the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations from 2011 to March 2024. Mr. Snyder is the author of The United States-South Korea Alliance: Why It May Fail and Why It Must Not (December 2023) and South Korea at the Crossroads: Autonomy and Alliance in an Era of Rival Powers (January 2018). Mr. Snyder received a BA from Rice University and an MA from the regional studies East Asia program at Harvard University.

With the rapid advances in the last couple of years, generative AI has attracted a great deal of attention in advanced economies. The U.S. seems to be betting on its positive potentials while Europe is generally more apprehensive about its harmful aspects. Japan has arguably been one of the most forward-leaning countries when it comes to harnessing the potential of AI, in the hopes of reclaiming its leadership in high-tech industries lost during the last few decades as it fell behind on digital transformation. How is Japan catching up on information technologies in general, and what are Japan’s plans for leveraging generative AI for economic resurgence while ensuring its peaceful and equitable development? This panel session addresses these questions with leading experts of AI and digital transformation in Japan and the U.S.

Speakers:

Kenji Hiramoto is the Director General of the Digital Infrastructure Center (DISC), IT Promotion Agency (IPA), Japan and Executive Officer for the International Data Strategy, Digital Agency, Japan. He began his career at NTT Data in 1990 as a systems engineer. In 1998, he served at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), where he provided educational technology. In 2001, he served as project manager of Stanford Japan Center, Stanford University. In 2002, he served at consulting firm. Hiramoto served as Executive Advisor to the Government CIO in 2008, and in 2012, became Chief Strategist(IT) in the cabinet secretariat, where he was responsible for digital strategy for 13 years. In more recent years, Hiramoto served as Head of Data Strategy and Executive Officer of the Digital Agency in 2021, where he was responsible for the National Data Strategy and the Government Interoperability Framework. In 2023, he become the Director General of DISC, IPA. Presently, he now serves as the Secretary General of the Japan AI Safety Institute.

Akiko Murakami is the Executive Officer and Chief Data Officer of Sompo Japan Insurance Inc.. She delivers DX of P&C insurance utilizing digital technologies and AI for the purpose of innovation challenges with digital media. Prior to joining Sompo Japan in 2021, she was a researcher of natural language processing, social analysis and text mining at IBM Research for 16 years. After this, she represented Watson development as an architect at IBM for 5 years.Murakami is involved in "resilient engineering" that utilizes IT for disaster recovery, mitigation, and risk management and founded “IT Disaster Assistance and Response Team” (IT DART) in 2015 and became a board member. She is also a board member of The Association for Natural Language Processing from Apr 2022. She was a part-time lecturer at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University by Mar. 2024. In 2024, her background led her to become the Executive director of the Japan AI Safety Institute.

Moderator:

Tricia Wang, a social scientist, consultant, and thought leader, is on a relentless quest to ensure technology serves humanity, fostering social impact at the intersection of data and humanity. Renowned for helping companies unearth pivotal customer behavior insights to unlock growth, Tricia co-founded Sudden Compass and has advised industry giants like Google, Spotify, and P&G. Her insights have been featured in publications like Quartz, New Yorker, Buzzfeed, Techcrunch, The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, Slate, Wired, The Guardian, and Fast Company. In a world where data is the cornerstone of innovation, Tricia has long recognized its potential, well before the recent rush of consumer-facing AI products. Tricia's unique fusion of ethnography and data science offers an invaluable perspective on technology, design, and human experience. She has been instrumental in launching tech labs with clients, including a recent collaboration with The World Economic Forum in founding the Crypto Research and Design Lab (CRADL). As an acclaimed speaker, Tricia's enlightening keynotes and her TED Talk delve into AI, data, and their societal, economic, and personal impacts. Her concept of "thick data" advocates for deep human understanding in AI and emerging technologies, transcending conventional data analysis. Her ethnographic fieldwork spans from China to South America and North America, offering unique insights into the adoption of social media under authoritarian regimes and advocating for consumer-centric approaches in the private sector.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) celebrated its tenth anniversary last year, marking a significant milestone for a project that has attracted international attention and scrutiny. While much discussion about the BRI revolves around China's infrastructure loans in the Global South and its nascent development bank, the AIIB, it is still unclear how the BRI is engaged with China's broader trade strategy. This session will take a deeper look into the trade implications of the BRI and make a broader examination of its impact on global commerce dynamics since its founding ten years ago. Join our panelists Jessica Liao and Laura Stone as they ask: What is the essence of China’s 21st-century trade strategy, and how does the BRI factor into this vision?

Jessica C. Liao is an associate professor of political science and 2020-2021 Wilson China Fellow. She spent the past two and a half years in Beijing and throughout 2022, served as an economic development specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing where she covered China’s relations with Belt and Road Initiative countries. Prior to NC State, she taught at George Washington University and was a visit fellow at Monash University, Kuala Lumpur campus. She received her PhD in international relations from the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on Chinese foreign policy and East Asian politics.

Laura Stone, a member of the U.S. Department of State, is the Inaugural China Policy Fellow (2022-24) at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC). She was formerly Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Maldives, the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for China and Mongolia, the Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs, and the Director of the Economic Policy Office in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs. She served in Hanoi, Beijing, Bangkok, Tokyo, the Public Affairs Bureau, the Pentagon Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. While at APARC, she is conducting research with the China Program on contemporary China affairs and U.S.-China policy.

This webinar is co-hosted by the Asia Health Policy Program and the Korea Program at Shorenstein APARC

What are the underlying issues that have led to the physician-government stand-off impacting South Korea’s medical system? In this webinar, Korean health policy experts and medical students share their views on the breakdown of trust hampering resolution of the impasse. Medical interns and residents walked out over a month ago to protest the government’s announced plan of a substantial increase in the quota for medical school enrollment, to address Korea’s rapidly aging population and low doctor-population ratio. Medical trainees objected to the policy, alleging it would only exacerbate current problems and decrease quality. Military physicians have been called upon to help support the strained medical system. Some attempts at dialogue have failed to diffuse the tensions, with many senior physicians also tendering resignations in support of the junior doctors, albeit remaining at work. Join our webinar to better understand the genesis of the stand-off and potential longer-term impacts.

Soonman Kwon is Professor and Former Dean of the School of Public Health, Seoul National University (SNU) and has worked over 30 years on UHC, health finance and systems, and ageing and long-term care in Korea and LMICs. He is the founding director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health System and Financing, and was the Chief of the Health Sector Group in the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He was the president of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), which is a R&D agency under the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

He received the Excellence in Education award of Seoul National University in 2020. He served as president of leading academic associations in Korea, including Health Economic Association, Society of Health Policy and Management, Association of Schools of Public Health, and Society of Gerontology. He is an associate editor (Asia Region Editor) of Health Policy (Elsevier) and International Journal of Health Economics and Management (Springer). He holds PhD from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (1993) and taught at the University of Southern California School of Public Policy.

He has held visiting positions at the Harvard School of Public Health, London School of Economics, University of Toronto, University of Tokyo, Peking University, and University of Bremen. He has been a member of board or advisory committees of Health Systems Global (HSG), WHO Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, WHO Centre for Health and Development, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), etc. He is a member of WHO TAG (Technical Advisory Group) on UHC and WHO TAG on Pricing Policies for Medicines. He has occasionally been a short-term consultant of WHO, World Bank, and GIZ for health system and financing in Algeria, Armenia, Barbados, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, Georgia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Jing Li is an Assistant Professor of Health Economics at the Comparative Health Outcomes, Policy and Economics (CHOICE) Institute at the University of Washington (UW) School of Pharmacy. A major focus of her research studies economic, social and behavioral factors related to decision-making of healthcare providers.

Her work has examined social preferences including altruism of medical students and practicing physicians in the U.S., and has linked these preferences to their career choice and medical practice behavior. Her publications have appeared in leading academic journals including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Health Economics, and JAMA Neurology.

Dr. Li was a faculty at Cornell University's Weill Medical College prior to joining UW. She received a PhD in Health Economics and MA in Economics from University of California, Berkeley, and an MA in International Comparative Education at Stanford University.