H.R. McMaster: Threat from North Korea & South Korean–American Alliance's Future

H.R. McMaster in conversation with Ho-Young Ahn, President of University of North Korean Studies on Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at 9AM PT.

In this second episode of Battlegrounds, H.R. McMaster and Ambassador Ahn discuss the daunting challenges South Korea faces with North Korea’s nuclear and missile ambitions and China’s political and economic aggression. South Korea’s relationship with Japan is increasingly strained due to historical grievances as South Korea-U.S. relations are complicated due to anti-alliance sentiment among a vocal minority of South Koreans as well as demands from American leaders that South Korea share more of the defense burden.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS 

Ho-Young Ahn is President of University of North Korean Studies.  From 2013 to 2017, he was South Korea’s Ambassador to the U.S. and prior to that served as First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 

H. R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He was the 26th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs. Upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1984, McMaster served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018. 

ABOUT THE SERIES 

Battlegrounds provides a needed forum with leaders from key countries to share their assessment of problem sets and opportunities that have implications for U.S. foreign policy and national security strategy. Each episode features H.R. McMaster in a one-on-one conversation with a senior foreign government leader to allow Americans and partners abroad to understand how the past produced the present and how we might work together to secure a peaceful and prosperous future. “Listening and learning from those who have deep knowledge of our most crucial challenges is the first step in crafting the policies we need to secure peace and prosperity for future generations.”