On Wednesday, December 7, 2016, the Sejong Institute held the 12th Sejong Policy Forum of the year on the topic of “Political Landscape Outlook of 2017 (2) – Northeast Asian Political Landscape and Tasks for South Korean Diplomacy” at Somerset Palace Seoul. In the first session, Haksoon Paik (Vice President for Training and Education, the Sejong Institute), Hyun-Wook Kim (Professor, Korea National Diplomatic Academy), Jae-cheol Kim (Professor, Catholic University of Korea), and Yanghyeon Jo (Professor, Korea National Diplomatic Academy) presented on the prospects of next year’s political landscape of four major powers surrounding the Korean Peninsula – the U.S., China, Russia, and Japan – and the Korean Peninsula itself. In the following session, Yeol-su Kim (Professor, Sungshin Women’s University) and Jaehung Chung (Research Fellow, the Sejong Institute), gave a presentation on  South Korea’s strategy and tasks on Northeast Asia.

The presentations were complemented by profound discussions of six discussants, including Young-ho Kim (Professor, Korea National Defense University), Jin-ha Kim (Research Fellow, Korea Institute for National Unification), Choo Suk Suh (Senior Research Fellow, Korea Institute for Defense Analyses), Young Nam-Gung (Professor, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies), Hyunjung Yoo (Research Fellow, Institute of National Strategy and Security), Hyunjoo Yoo (Professor, Trinity University) and government officials. The participants discussed on the core issues in South Korea’s foreign policy and security in 2017 and strategies to secure autonomous space for South Korea’s diplomacy.