For Serious
Research on Diplomacy

Rep. Chung Mong-joon launches Policy Research Institute for research on security diplomacy, ties with the U.S.

Rep. Chung Mong-joon, a member of the Grand National Party Supreme Council, has set up the Asan Policy Institute on Jan. 28, dedicated to conducting research on diplomacy, human rights, the environment and terrorism, among other subjects.
The institute bears the penname of the legislator's late father and founder of the Hyundai Group, Chung Ju-yung, and has already named Dr. Han Sung-joo, former foreign minister and acting chancellor of Korea University, as its president with Rep. Chung as honorary chairman.
Chung, who campaigned vigorously for President Lee Myung-bak, a former chairman of Hyundai Construction Co., a flagship company of the Hyundai Group, joined the GNP in the second half of 2007. He was elected a member of the party's Supreme Council later.
President Han said the institute aims to make a contribution to the country with significant research activities in such pertinent areas as diplomacy, security, the environment, human security and policy development in key areas just as the Asan Foundation, set up by the late Hyundai founder Chung some 30 years ago, raised the level of social welfare in the country.
The former acting chancellor of Korea University said the institute will be non-partisan, much like the Hoover Institute in the United States, and will work without political intentions, solely limited to policy research in the aforementioned areas, especially, in the area of international diplomacy. It will have only three or four staff at the initial stages, but is ultimately expected to grow like the Brookings Institute, a global comprehensive think-tank, Han said.
As the first subject for research, the institute will form a joint committee for the improvement of ties between Korea and the United States with the Korea Society and Stanford University, dedicated to a long-term vision for the two countries'alliance. In addition, the institute is currently preparing subjects for a joint research with NCAFP and USIP.
The institute will also join with the IISS, a representative think-tank, on international relations in Britain to host an international conference on the theme 'Korea inside the power balance in Asia.'The institute also plans to conduct a joint research on security diplomacy in alliance with a number of well-known global policy research institutes such as the IFRI in France, IISS in Britain, the Beijing University International Research Institute in Britain and the International Exchange Center in Japan.
Han said the institute intends to form a global advisory group made of well-known people around the world to make the institute a global think-tank in the area of policy research. He added that the institute is in talks with such eminent people as Dr. Guy Sorman of the University of Paris, President Edwin Fuller of the Heritage Foundation in the United States and President Strobe Talbot of the Brookings Institute in the United States to join the institute's international advisory group.
The institute plans to hold a celebratory reception for its opening at 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Chosun Hotel in downtown Seoul on March 11. The institute is now located in a building in Shinmoon-ro in Seoul, but eventually will build its own offices in the same area.
Chung operates the Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, the world's largest shipyard. He is also the vice-chairman of the Federation of International Football Association.
He has been an independent legislator without party affiliation until the latter part of last year before joining GNP presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak's successful campaign.
Rumors have it that he will seek the GNP presidential nomination five years hence in competition with Rep. Park Geun-hye, who lost the nomination to Lee last year and is sure to seek the party's nomination again. He ran in the presidential election in 2002, but withdrew in the middle of the campaigning period, which opened the way for President Roh Moo-hyun to win the election.
The institute is the first step in Rep. Chung's strategy to prepare himself for big-time politics again, political sources said.
He will use his relationship with the president to the fullest extent to win the nomination and will expand his exposure in all areas of politics to be the frontrunner in the struggle to be the standard bearer of the GNP, the sources added. nw

Rep. Chung Mong-joon.

Former foreign minister Han Sung-joo who was named to head the Asan Policy Research Institute launched by Rep. Chung Mong-joon Feb. 1.