The professors come from different backgrounds and academic specialities [...] Now they are volunteering their time and experience to help MOFA develop new ideas and improve existing outreach efforts and programs. By bringing a fresh perspective, combined with extensive personal experience in Korea, we hope to get constructive criticism and new ideas to improve our work — strengthening Korea’s image and helping to attract more interest abroad in learning about Korea as a country, along with its rich culture, language and heritage.

A hard-line strategy is not likely to persuade the DPRK regime to give up its missiles and nuclear weapons. Nor will it garner the support of the South Korean public, which is poised to elect a centrist or center-left president in the May 9 election. Most importantly, preemptive strikes or enhanced sanctions will delay ongoing economic reforms in North Korea and set back its integration into the global economy. Internal economic and social change is ultimately the only path to moderate the DPRK regime and its policies.