On Thursday, May 11, the Sejong Institute held a special colloquium with Senior Fellow Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute. In the colloquium on the topic of “ROK-U.S. Relations in the Era of Trump” moderated by Vice President for Research Lee Sang Hyun, Doug Bandow stated that the ROK-U.S. relations will encounter many challenges and tasks ahead as the two countries have new administrations sworn in at a similar time. He pointed that although President Moon will want an expanded role, it is difficult to find common grounds with his counterparts, Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, and Abe Shinzo. He suggested that it is desirable to focus on building personal bonds at the top leadership rather than explicating the policy stance at the early days of the administration. After Senior Fellow Bandow’s presentation, the participants touched on various issues, the North Korean nuclear issue, a new approach to North Korea, ROK-China relations and the THAAD issue, and the current U.S. political climate, among others. In this colloquium, Sejong fellows, including Vice President Yang Un-Chul, Vice President on Education Program Lee Tai-Hwan, Research Fellows Lee Seong-hyon and Chung Jaehung, and Sejong-LS Fellow David Straub took part in the discussions.​