Susan A. Thornton is Project Director of the Forum on Asia-Pacific Security at the NCAFP, Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School and Senior Fellow at the Paul Tsai China Center. In 2018, she retired from the State Department after a 28-year diplomatic career focused primarily on East and Central Asia. In leadership roles in Washington, Thornton worked on China and Korea policy, including stabilizing relations with Taiwan, the U.S.-China Cyber Agreement, the Paris Climate Accord and led a successful negotiation in Pyongyang for monitoring of the Agreed Framework on denuclearization. In her 18 years of overseas postings in Central Asia, Russia, the Caucasus and China, Thornton’s leadership furthered U.S. interests and influence and maintained programs and mission morale in a host of difficult operating environments. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, she was among the first State Department Fascell Fellows and served from 1989–90 at the U.S. Consulate in Leningrad. She was also a researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute from 1987–91. Thornton holds degrees from the National Defense University’s Eisenhower School, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Bowdoin College. She speaks Russian, Mandarin Chinese and French, is a member of numerous professional associations and is on the Board of Trustees for the Eurasia Foundation.

Thomas J. Byrne joined The Korea Society as President in August 2015. Since June 2023, he had also taken the role of “Honorary Ambassador,” appointed by the minister of MOTIE under the auspices of KOTRA/Invest Korea, to help promote trade and investment ties between Korea and the U.S. Byrne comes to the Society from Moody’s Investor Services, where he was Senior Vice President, Regional Manager, spokesperson, and Director of Analysis for the Sovereign Risk Group in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions, based in Singapore. Prior to that, he was the Senior Economist of the Asia Department at the Institute of International Finance in Washington D.C. from 1984 to 1996. Byrne has an MA in International Relations with a concentration in international economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced international Studies and a BS in Biology from State University of New York at Stony Brook. Before his graduate work, he served in South Korea for three years as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. Byrne teaches as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in New York City and at Georgetown University’s Graduate School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. As president, he has written opinion articles published in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg View, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, The National Interest, and Reuters Breakingviews.

Jenny Town is a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center and the Director of Stimson’s Korea Program and 38 North. Her areas of expertise include North Korea, US-DPRK relations, US-ROK alliance relations and extended deterrence, and Northeast Asia regional security. She was named one of Worth Magazine’s “Groundbreakers 2020: 50 Women Changing the World” and one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business in 2019 for her role in co-founding and managing 38 North, which provides policy and technical analysis on North Korea. Ms. Town is also an Associate Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a Member of the National Committee on North Korea, and an Associate Member of the Council of Korean Americans. She serves on the Editorial Board for Inkstick, an online foreign policy journal for emerging scholars. She previously served as the Assistant Director of the US-Korea Institute at SAIS (2008-2018) and an expert reviewer for North and South Korea for Freedom House’s Freedom in the World Index (2010-2023), where she previously worked on the Human Rights in North Korea Project.

Ms. Town holds a BA in East Asian Studies and International Relations from Westmar University and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. She is a frequent commentator for a range of print, radio and television news, including Reuters, BBC, CNN, Financial Times, Deutche Welle, Voice of America, Japan Times, NHK, CGTN, BBC World Radio, and more. And has been featured on a number of podcasts including Asia Matters, The President’s Inbox, the Impossible State, Today Explained, The DSR Daily Brief, and more.

Sung-Hwan Kim was a career diplomat and served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea from October 2010 to March 2013. With a career spanning over 36 years, he held a number of senior diplomatic posts including the Senior Secretary to the President for Foreign Affairs and National Security and Vice Minister of MOFAT. He was ROK's ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna and the ROK's Ambassador to Uzbekistan. He was appointed as a Member of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda in July, 2012. After retiring from the Foreign Service, he served as the Chair of Institute for Global Social Responsibility and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Seoul National University until March 2015. He also taught at Hanyang University as a Distinguished Professor and served as the Chairman of the Gangwon Art and Culture Foundation. He is now working as the President of Taejae Future Consensus Institute and the Chairman of the East Asia Foundation and Beautiful Mind Charity Foundation.

Jaechun Kim is a professor of International Relations at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) at Sogang University and currently Dean for Sogang GSIS. He is political scientist trained at Yale University (MA in International Relations; Ph.D. in Political Science). Before joining Sogang, he worked at Yale University as lecturer for the Department of Political Science and Yale Center for the International and Area Studies (YCIAS). He is currently a member of the advisory board for the National Security Council, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Unification in South Korea. He is the chairperson of the Subcommittee for International Cooperation of Unified Future Planning Committee. He was on the advisory board for South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for about 10 years. He also was a member of the Government Performance Evaluation Committee and a member of Presidential Committee for Unification Preparation in ROK. He was a Fulbright visiting fellow to the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at George Washington University and a visiting scholar to Denver University. Earlier in his career, he worked for the National Assembly of ROK as a legislative assistant. His research interests include International Security, US Foreign Policy, Northeast Asia Regional Affairs, and Inter-Korean Relations. His recent work includes a chapter for Contested Multilateralism 2.0 and Asian Security Dynamics, (Routlege, 2020) and many other journals.

Hyung Du Choi is a sitting member of the 22nd National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. He represents the Masanhappo District. Before his current role, he served as the Secretary of the President for Public Relations Planning at the Presidential Office in Seoul from March 2013 to April 2014. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Minister and Director General of the Public Relations Office at the Office of the Prime Minister from February 2012 to February 2013.

Before his career in public service, Choi was a journalist for over two decades, during which he was the Chief Political Correspondent and Washington Bureau Chief for The Munhwa Ilbo. He earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in June 2002, where he was a Mason Fellow.

Yoo Myung-hee was the first female Trade Minister of the Republic of Korea (2019-2021). Prior to that, she served as Deputy Minister for Trade Negotiations (2018-2019) and Director General of Trade Policy (2015-2018) at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Spokesperson for Foreign Media in the Office of the President (2014-2015). She dedicated most of her 30-year public service to trade initiatives, designing Korea’s trade policy and negotiating trade agreements. As Korea’s chief negotiator, she led numerous bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations, including the Korea-US FTA amendment negotiations and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). During her term as trade minister, she played a pivotal role in shaping Korea’s policy on emerging trade issues such as global supply chains, and green and digital trade, and contributed to international initiatives in these areas. Currently, she teaches international trade and economic security issues at the Graduate School of International Studies of Seoul National University as a visiting professor. She is also a non-resident senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She received her BA and MPA from Seoul National University and JD from Vanderbilt University Law School.

Young-bae Kim is a current member of the 22nd National Assembly, representing the 1st District of Seongbuk-gu. Since May 2024, he has served as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee. He received his PhD in Political Science and International Relations from Korea University.

Tami Overby is a Senior Counselor in the East Asia & Pacific practice at Albright Stonebridge Group, where she draws on more than three decades of experience working in Asia to advise clients on investment and trade issues in Korea and across the region. Ms. Overby most recently served as Senior Director at McLarty Associates. Previously, she was Senior Vice President for Asia and President of the U.S.-Korea Business Council at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where she represented U.S. businesses during negotiation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), directed the Chamber’s work with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and helped companies navigate market access and investment issues throughout the region. Earlier in her career, Ms. Overby spent 14 years as President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea, where she helped grow the bilateral trade relationship and supported the completion and ratification of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement.  Ms. Overby sits on the boards of the Korea Society and the U.S.-Asia Institute and is on the Advisory Council of the Korea Economic Institute. She received her B.S. in Business Administration and Management from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

Ambassador Kim Gunn is a veteran diplomat who is well versed in North Korean nuclear affairs and the Korean Peninsula peace issue. Since joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1989, he served as the Director for North Korean Nuclear Negotiation Division (2007-2008) and the Director-General for North Korean Nuclear Affairs (2015-2016), which is the deputy representative for North Korean nuclear affairs. He was also posted as a Secretary at both the US and Chinese embassies, and served as a Deputy Director-General for North American Affairs Bureau (2013-2015), gaining experience in working with the US and China, which are key partners in North Korean nuclear affairs. Furthermore, he was appointed as Consul-General at the Korean Consulate General in Vancouver, Canada (2016-2018), Ambassador for International Security Affairs and Special Advisor to the Minister (2018-2019), Deputy Minister for Political Affairs (2019-2021), and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Permanent Mission to the International Maritime Organization (2021-2022). During his service, he was awarded a Presidential Citation (2012).