U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau - 2025 Van Fleet Policy Forum Keynote Remarks
Recorded November 14, 2025 @ Atlantic Council HQ Washington D.C. - We are happy to share this special keynote address from our 2025 Van Fleet Policy Forum featuring U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. The Van Fleet Policy Forum is The Korea Society's flagship policy event. Through panel discussions, keynote remarks, and networking opportunities, the forum convenes senior thought leaders from the US and Korea for dynamic, informative, and analytical discussions on security, diplomacy, geoeconomics, and alliance history. This year's conference was held in The Atlantic Council's office in Washington D.C. and produced in partnership with the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative in The Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. The 2025 Van Fleet Policy Forum was made possible by the generous support of The Kim Koo Foundation as well as The Korea Society's individual and corporate members. Introduction: Matthew Kroenig, Vice President and Senior Director of the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Keynote: U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/2060-us-korea-cooperation-across-domains-and-through-history
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Modern Architecture in Korea: Travels Through Terra Incognita
November 17, 2025 - Modern architecture in Korea is characterized by open and dynamic attitudes formed through a unique set of historical circumstances. Through colonial rule, war, and poverty, it was cut off from its older building traditions, emerging only in the latter half of the twentieth century as part of a condensed process of modernization. It is enigmatic in that its build first, think later (if at all) condition has rebuffed holistic narratives of its disjunctive evolution. Long dominated by the construction sector and state bureaucracies, it is now an amalgam of large corporate firms, creative studios, and diverse communities in the culture industry. It is now in crisis for its uncertain response to the challenges of climate change and Korea's turn to structural low-growth. Neither affirming nor negating traditions and theories, Korean architecture is most interesting when it raises questions and belies unfulfilled ambitions. This lecture, presented by 2025 Korea Foundation LAB Series, features Pai Hyungmin, a distinguished architect and scholar. Video version of this program can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlz7cw7mVis For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/gallery-talks/2062-modern-architecture-in-korea-travels-through-terra-incognita
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Reframing Suicide as a Shared Social Responsibility in Korea
Recorded November 10, 2025 - The Korea Society is pleased to announce that the ninth annual Sherman Family Korea Emerging Scholar Lecture Awardee is Dr. Peter Jongho Na, assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. In his lecture, Reframing Suicide as a Shared Social Responsibility in Korea, he casts suicide not as an individual failure or "extreme choice (극단적 선택)," but as a systemic and cultural crisis requiring a coordinated national response. Drawing on his experience as a psychiatrist, public health researcher, and mental health advocate, he examines the scale and societal costs of suicide in Korea and analyzes key structural drivers such as academic and workplace pressures, poverty and isolation among older adults, and the pervasive stigma surrounding mental illness and treatment. A central theme is how stigma has sustained silence, denial, and policy inertia. Dr. Peter Jongho Na shares his efforts to challenge euphemistic language and foster open public dialogue, while proposing an interdisciplinary roadmap inspired by global models that integrate public health, education, and social welfare reforms. Further, he highlights the Korean diaspora's potential role in breaking taboos and advancing cultural and policy change, underscoring that suicide prevention must be embraced as a collective, societal responsibility. Note: This presentation includes discussion of suicide and mental health topics that may be distressing to some individuals. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/korean-studies/2069-sherman-family-korea-emerging-scholar-lecture-2025
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Interview with Bank of Korea Governor Rhee, Chang Yong
Released November 4, 2025 - Please join us for a timely conversation with Dr. Rhee, Chang Yong, Governor of the Bank of Korea, as he discusses key issues shaping global and domestic economic policy. Governor Rhee sat down with Thomas Byrne, President & CEO of The Korea Society, during his visit to D.C. to attend IMF/WBG Annual Meetings and the G20 Finance Ministers & Central Bank Governors Meeting. In this interview, Governor Rhee shares his views on a wide-range of topics - ranging from global and Korea's economic outlook, local and global governance of the stablecoins, and to the fiscal challenges and investment negotiations between the US and Korea. This program was recorded at the Korea Inter-Parliamentary Exchange Center (KIPEC) in Washington D.C. on October 16, 2025. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/2076-interview-with-bank-of-korea-governor-rhee-chang-yong
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Rapid Reaction: APEC South Korea 2025
November 3, 2025 - Join us for a rapid reaction analysis of The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) 2025 summit, held in Gyeongju, South Korea from October 31 to November 1. Our discussion examines all the most significant outcomes in terms of trade and geopolitics, with special emphasis on the US, Korea, and the US-Korea relationship. The priorities for this year's forum are: "Connect, Innovate, Prosper." In a preparatory meeting, senior officials from APEC members discussed "strategies for digital economy integration, public health cooperation, and strengthening APEC's role as an incubator of practical, consensus-driven solutions." As host nation, Korea's initiatives include: "addressing demographic change and the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence technology." We are joined by Kate Kalutkiewicz, Senior Managing Director of the Trade Practice & McLarty Inbound at McLarty Associates, Professor Jaemin Lee, Professor of Law at Seoul National University and Dean of the School of Law, and Scott Jacobs, Head of Global Public Policy at Coupang. The conversation will be moderated by policy director Jonathan Corrado and policy program officer Chelsie Alexandre. This program is made possible by the generous support of our individual and corporate members and the Korea Foundation. APEC originated as a ministerial meeting of 12 Asian Pacific countries in 1989. The idea for the forum was proposed by Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke during a trip to Seoul in January 1989. A leaders' summit was introduced in 1993 and a series of expansions increased the number of members to 21. South Korea previously hosted the ministerial meeting in Seoul 1991 and the leaders' meeting in Busan 2005. APEC's mission is to "support sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region." This program is co-hosted by The APEC Study Center at Columbia University. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/2052-rapid-reaction-apec-south-korea-2025
THE KOREA SOCIETY is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) organization with individual and corporate members that is dedicated solely to the promotion of greater awareness, understanding and cooperation between the people of the United States and Korea.
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