USKI | EVENT

Wielding Power Softly? The "Smart Power" Strategy of the Obama Administration and Ramifications for Korea

The Obama administration has promised and exhibited a radical departure from the Bush administration's foreign policy under the rubric of "smart power." What is the meaning and practical application of smart power? Kim Taehyun, Director of the Center for the Study of Grand Strategy at Chung-Ang University, will examine the words and deeds of the Obama administration and its key officials in order to further clarify the contents of the "smart power" strategy and how it relates to the Korean peninsula, especially with respect to North Korea’s nuclear challenge. 

January 28, 2010
2:00 – 4:00 PM
Berstein-Offit Building, Room 500
1717 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
RSVP HERE

Kim Taehyun teaches at the Graduate School of International Studies at Chung-Ang University in Seoul, South Korea. A graduate from Seoul National University’s International Relations Department (BA 1981; MA 1983), he received Ph.D. in political science from the Ohio State University in 1991 with a dissertation on U.S.-Soviet rivalry in the Third World. Before joining Chung-Ang University in 1998, he was a visiting assistant professor at University of Florida at Gainesville (1989-90), Merriam Fellow at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1990-91), and a senior fellow and director for foreign policy and security studies program at the Sejong Institute (1992-1998). He was also a visiting scholar at the Mershon Center for International Security at the Ohio State University for several periods, the latest of which was August 2006-July 2007, and is a visiting professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology. Currently, he serves as Director of Center for the Study of Grand Strategy, Chung-Ang University.

He has written scores of articles, either in English or Korean, on such subject as international relations theory, foreign policy analysis, inter-Korean relations, international relations in East Asia, and other international security issues. His latest writings include “Brother or Enemy? An Analysis of South Korean Mass Public Attitudes toward North Korea” (2000; mimeo); “Engaging the Estranged: Reciprocity and Cooperation on the Korean Peninsula” (Journal of East Asian Studies, 2003); “The Latest Wave of Anti-Americanism in South Korea: Its Political Psychological Roots” (Korea and World Affairs, 2004, in Korean); “More Than Meets the Eye: What North Korean Nuclear Crisis Portends for East Asian Security” (Korea Journal, 2005), “On Soft and Diplomatic Power” (National Strategy, 2008, in Korean).

He has contributed columns on foreign and national security affairs to such news papers as Chosun Ilbo, Dong-A Ilbo, Joong-Ang Ilbo, Munhwa Ilbo, Segye Ilbo, Kyunghyang Shinmun and Seoul Shinmun. He also has advised South Korean government for foreign policy and national security issues in a number of capacities.