Ambassador LEE Tae-sik and Alexander Vershbow address the Worlds Affairs Council of Oregon.
Korea is one of Oregon's most important trading partners and a variety of issues related to the Korean peninsula are at the top U.S. foreign policy concerns. What is the status of the Six-Party Talks regarding North Korea's nuclear plans? What must the negotiators accomplish in order to achieve the goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula? What steps are necessary to move toward a normalization of DPRK-US relations? What are the prospects for further economic and energy cooperation? How will South Korea and the U.S. deal with the long-run challenges of low birthrate, Korea's role amid the rising economies of China and India, and the daunting burden of the unification of the two Koreas?- World Affairs Council of Oregon
Bio
Ambassador Lee Tae-Sik
The official ambassador of South Korea, also known as the Republic of Korea, to the United States. He is Seoul's top envoy to Washington and represents the nation. Ambassador Lee is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and his official residence is at the Korean Embassy in Washington D.C. He also recently affirmed the US-ROK alliance at the 53rd anniversary of the Korean War armistice on July 27th, 2006.
Ambassador Alexander Vershbow
The United States Ambassador to South Korea; he was appointed to the position in October 2005. Before that post he had been the ambassador to the Russian Federation from 2001 to 2005 and the ambassador to NATO from 1998 to 2001. For his work with NATO he was awarded the State Department's Distinguished Service Award.