The Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies (ICAS) at Temple University, Japan Campus cordially invites you to the following evening lecture on Monday June 24, 2019. All ICAS events are held in English, open to the public, and admission is free unless otherwise noted.


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- ICAS Event -
Can North Korea 'Reform and Open Up'?
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Date & Time: Monday, June 24, 2019 | 19:30 - 21:00 p.m. (doors open at 19:00 p.m.)

Venue: Temple University, Japan Campus, Azabu Hall, 1F Parliament <https://www.tuj.ac.jp/maps/tokyo.html>

Moderator: David Satterwhite, Temple University Japan Campus


Speaker: T.W. Kang, Global Synergy Associates

Admission: Free. Open to the public.

Language: English

RSVP: RSVP is encouraged but not required (icas@tuj.temple.edu <mailto:icas@tuj.temple.edu>).


Overview:
The situation the international community is facing regarding North Korea increasingly looks like an overly constrained set of equations perhaps without solution. But even Kim Jong Un appears to think that a sustainable North Korea can be realized only through transition from a "military first" structure to emphasis on economic health. This transition involves denuclearization on one hand, and development of a competitive market economy on the other.


Returning from a three week visit to South Korea, T.W. Kang aims to provide the perspective from the Korean peninsula, together with insights on the prospects of North Korea's transition to a market economy from his past visits to numerous former socialist countries that have made that transition.



Speaker:
T.W. Kang is Managing Director of Global Synergy Associates. In addition to his experience on the boards on U.S., Japanese and Chinese firms and as an adviser to Fortune 500 firms on international strategies, T.W. Kang is also the author of numerous books, including "Is Korea The Next Japan?", which was translated into six different languages. He has been involved with many public sector projects, such as visiting Russia and Central Asia on Japanese government missions to aid their transition to free market economies, and serving on Japan-Korea joint project committees at JETRO and the Japan Institute of Labor. He is one of the few South Koreans to have visited North Korea. He earned degrees from MIT and the Harvard Business School and is fluent in English, Japanese and Korean.