Researchers
Michael H. Armacost - Shorenstein Distinguished Fellow at Shorenstein APARC, Stanford University
Stephen W. Bosworth - Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University
Robert Carlin - Pantech Fellow at APARC, Stanford University
Victor Cha - Director of Asian Stdies at Georgetown University
Thomas C. Hubbard - President at McLarty Associates
Don Oberdorfer - Chairman of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University
Charles L. Pritchard - President at The Korea Economic Institute
Evans J.R. Revere (Principal Investigator) - President at The Korea Society
Gi-Wook Shin (Principal Investigator) - Director of Shorenstein APARC and Stanford KSP at Stanford University
Daniel C. Sneider - Associate Director of Research of Shorenstein APARC at Stanford University
David Straub - Associate Director at Korean Studies Program, Stanford University

The New York-based Korea Society and Stanford University's Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center launched the nonpartisan "New Beginnings" policy study group on January 10, 2008, to offer recommendations on how U.S. policymakers could expand and strengthen the alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK, or South Korea). Composed of former senior U.S. government officials, scholars, and other American experts on U.S.-Korean relations, the New Beginnings project team premised its efforts on the belief that the inauguration of a new South Korean president in February 2008 and a new American president in January 2009 would provide a special opportunity for the two countries to increase mutual understanding and transform the alliance into a global partnership. In a coincidence occurring only once every twenty years, the two new presidents' terms of office would overlap for a full four years. Moreover, the alliance needed renewal and revitalization after a decade of strain and tension that arose from divergent worldviews of progressive governments in Seoul and a conservative administration in Washington.

Since its establishment, the New Beginnings policy study group has issued a report to the U.S. administration each year. New Beginnings' reports and recommendations reflect insights gained from group conferences as well as individual members' continuing engagement with U.S.-Korean affairs.

October 30, 2012

Thomas C. Hubbard, former American ambassador to the Republic of Korea and a member of the Shorenstein APARC-Korea Society led New Beginnings initiative to strengthen U.S.-South Korean ties, offers advice for getting the bilateral relationship off to a good start after the upcoming presidential elections in the United States and South Korea. Click here for his comments.

Funding provided by
• William Perry Endowment
• Pantech Group