The Kim Koo Professional Series at the Korea Society brings together senior New York professionals for a timely discussion of events on the Korean Peninsula and in East Asia. Influence makers from business, media and international organizations join in dialogue with senior scholars and other thought leaders in Asian affairs. Established with the generous support of the Kim Koo Foundation, the series honors the late Kim Koo, Korean independence leader and last provisional president. Classes have welcomed participants from Park Avenue and Wall Street, the United Nations and its supporting missions, and major media, to include the Associated Press, Arirang TV, Bloomberg, Forbes, and Thomson Reut ers.

Speakers have included Columbia University Korea Foundation Professor Charles Armstrong, Lazard Asset Managing Director Nicholas Bratt, Pacific Forum CSIS President Ralph Cossa, American Enterprise Institute Wendt Chair Nicholas Eberstadt, USC Distinguished Professor Stephan Haggard, Mansfield Foundation President Frank Jannuzi, Fletcher School Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Professor Sung-Yoon Lee, National Committee on North Korea Executive Director Keith Luse, Columbia University Visiting Professor Stephen Noerper, former Commander General (ret.) Walter “Skip” Sharp, University of Central Lancashire Professor Hazel Smith, and BowerGroupAsia Managing Director Sue Mi Terry. Discussants include former class participants, adding synergy among scholars and practitioners. The emerging Kim Koo Professional Series alumni network is rich and growing.

Through the series, Kim Koo fellows advance both their knowledge on Korea and contemporary Asia, as well as their professional networks. All sessions take place at the Korea Society, celebrating sixty years since its founding as the nation’s premier American non-profit dedicated to educating Americans on Korea.