Agenda

Day Zero

Thursday 10 September

Optional Pre-Program

• 6:00 AMDepart from Four Seasons Hotel Seoul
• 8:40–9:00 AMStaggered tee-off timesGolf Outing at Haesley Country Club＋A spectacular mountain course crowned by Shigeru Ban’s landmark clubhouse.
  

  One of Korea’s most distinctive members-only golf destinations, Haesley pairs a beautifully crafted course with an extraordinary timber clubhouse — all set against a dramatic mountain landscape. Part of CJ Group, Haesley reflects the company’s distinctive approach to architecture and experience.

• 3:30 PMDepart from Haesley

Day One

Friday 11 September

• 12:00 PMRegistration & Light Welcome LunchOUL, Four Seasons Hotel Seoul 2F
• 1:40 PMDepart for CJ ENM Studios
• 2:45 PMK-Entertainment and the Global Content Economy＋Inside CJ ENM, a Powerhouse of CreativitySee how Korean stories move from script to screen — and from Seoul to audiences around the world. Explore the technologies reshaping production, meet actors and creators, watch a K-drama being filmed, then step onto the set to perform a scene yourself.
  

  Step inside a global content powerhouse to see how stories are created, scaled and reimagined. Moving beyond K-content’s most visible successes, this experience explores the creative decisions, technologies and production systems behind the screen.

  At CJ ENM’s Paju Studio Center, members will hear from figures across Korean entertainment about how stories are developed for global audiences — and how virtual production and new forms of creative collaboration are reshaping the future of content.

  The afternoon concludes with private access to CJ ENM’s production infrastructure: a working studio tour followed by a visit to its virtual production studio, where physical sets and real-time digital environments converge.

• 5:00 PMDepart for CONGDU 50, FKI Tower, Yeouido
• 6:20 PMThe Story of Corporate Korea and Its LeadershipChallenges, Continuity, Longevity — and BeyondModerated by YPO Korea Gold Chair H.S. ChoPanelists:Stephani Cho of Hansol Chemical (YPO Pan Asia)Sung Hwan Choi of SK Networks (YPO Korea)Jong Nam Oh of Kim & Chang (Senior Advisor)Chinwon Park of Doosan Bobcat (YPO Korea Gold)FKI Conference Hall · MULO, 50F
  

  H.S. Cho

  Vice Chairman, HS Hyosung Group · YPO Korea Gold Chair

  H.S. Cho is Vice Chairman of HS Hyosung Group, a global forerunner in advanced materials (supporting the mobility, energy, semiconductor, defense, aerospace, etc.), AX, SCM, and premium lifestyle sectors.

  A recognized business diplomat, he chaired the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in 2025, representing the Asia-Pacific business community and presenting policy recommendations to APEC Leaders. His public leadership also includes the OECD’s Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) as Executive Board Member, the Korea–Vietnam Economic Cooperation Committee as Chairman, and the Seoul Chamber of Commerce and Industry as Vice Chairman, alongside recognition as a WEF Young Global Leader and Asia 21 Young Leader of Asia Society.

  Following early career at Bain & Company, Marubeni, and NTT, he joined Hyosung Group in 1998, shaping strategy including execution of restructuring projects during the Asian Financial Crisis, and driving more than 30-fold growth in market capitalization. Named Vice Chairman in 2021, he has led HS Hyosung Group as Vice Chairman since 2024, holding various board positions across both.

  He holds a B.A. from Brown University, where he sang tenor with the Jabberwocks, Brown’s oldest a cappella group, and a B.A. from Yonsei University.

  His interests include sports, music, photography, writing, and philanthropy. He also demonstrates leadership in public interest organizations, having chaired the Young Friends of the National Museum of Korea (YFM). He serves on the Development Support Committee of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, supports the Gaon Soloists, a non-profit chamber ensemble of disabled and non-disabled musicians together, and leads HS Hyosung Group’s Nanum (“Sharing”) Volunteer Corps.

  

  Jong Nam Oh

  Senior Advisor, Kim & Chang · Former Executive Director, IMF

  Few careers trace Korea’s economic transformation as closely as Dr. Jong Nam Oh’s. Over more than three decades in public service, he worked at the heart of Korea’s economic policymaking, before going on to represent 14 Asia-Pacific member countries as Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund.

  Much of his government career was spent at the Economic Planning Board — a predecessor of today’s Ministry of Economy and Finance and one of the institutions that helped steer Korea’s rapid industrial development. He also served as Commissioner of Statistics Korea and Secretary to the President for Finance and Economy.

  Since leaving government, Dr. Oh has remained closely engaged with both business and public life. He is currently Senior Advisor at Kim & Chang and Chair of the Board of SNU Holdings, and has chaired the boards of Samsung Securities, Standard Chartered Bank Korea, and the Korea Human Development Institute, alongside board roles at GM Korea and UNICEF Korea. He also teaches at Seoul National University and serves as Dean of the Gaedong Elder Academy.

  Dr. Oh holds an LL.B. from Seoul National University and an M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Southern Methodist University.

  

  Sung Hwan Choi

  President & Chief Operating Officer, SK Networks · YPO Korea

  Sung Hwan Choi is President & Chief Operating Officer of SK Networks, where he has driven the company’s portfolio transformation, directing investment and new business development toward AI, data and emerging technologies. Since joining SK Networks in 2019, he has also spearheaded the development of its Silicon Valley investment platform, expanding the company’s access to global technology companies and new growth opportunities. He concurrently serves as President of Encore, the group’s data solutions company.

  Choi began his career at SKC in 2009, working across strategy and planning, the Chairman’s Office, and human resources and culture. He joined SK Holdings in 2017, taking on leadership roles spanning business support, global business development and business model innovation, before moving to SK Networks as Head of Strategy and Planning.

  A third-generation member of SK’s founding family, Choi represents a new generation of leadership within the group, with a particular focus on technology, investment and new business creation. He is also the author of INSCHOLARY, a structured discipline of innovation designed to help the next generation understand, apply and lead innovation in the AI era.

  He holds a bachelor’s degree from Fudan University in Shanghai and an M.B.A. from London Business School.

  SK Networks

  AI Company, SK Networks · SK Group

  Founded as Sunkyong Textiles in 1953, SK Networks is the company from which the wider SK Group grew. Its evolution mirrors Korea’s own industrial development: from textiles and international trading into ICT distribution, mobility services, appliance rentals and hospitality, including Seoul’s Walkerhill hotels.

  Today, SK Networks has established itself as an AI-driven company through a sustained transformation of its business portfolio. The company has built capabilities across AI and data, developed a global technology investment platform through SK Networks Americas in Silicon Valley, and translated these investments into new businesses and growth opportunities across its portfolio.

  SK Group spans some of the industries shaping Korea’s next chapter, including semiconductors, telecommunications, energy, advanced materials and life sciences. Its major companies include SK hynix, SK Telecom and SK Innovation. From its origins in textiles, the group has repeatedly expanded into new industries as Korea’s economy evolved, with AI and semiconductors now at the center of its future growth strategy.

  

  Chinwon Park

  Vice Chairman, Doosan Bobcat · YPO Korea Gold

  Chinwon Park is Vice Chairman of Doosan Bobcat, bringing more than three decades of operating experience across Doosan Group’s consumer, industrial and heavy-equipment businesses. Before joining Doosan Bobcat in 2021, he served as President of Doosan Industrial Vehicle from 2011 to 2017, and later as Vice Chairman of Doosan Neoplux and Doosan Mecatec.

  Park began his career at Doosan Beverage, the group’s Coca-Cola bottler, in 1993, and subsequently held roles at Doosan Corporation and Doosan Infracore. His career has spanned businesses across multiple stages of the group’s evolution, from consumer products to industrial machinery and equipment.

  A fourth-generation member of Doosan’s founding family, Park has built his entire career within the group, combining long institutional experience with leadership across a diverse range of businesses.

  He holds a B.B.A. from Yonsei University and an M.B.A. from New York University.

  Doosan Bobcat

  Global compact equipment leader · Doosan Group

  Doosan Bobcat is a global leader in compact equipment, drawing most of its sales from North America and Europe. It is one of the Doosan Group’s largest global businesses.

  Founded in 1896 as a dry-goods store in Seoul, Doosan is Korea’s oldest company. Today it is a global group spanning heavy equipment, energy and machinery — with Doosan Bobcat anchoring its equipment business, and Doosan Enerbility a key player in nuclear power and gas turbines as the world reinvests in energy infrastructure.

  

  Stephani Y. Cho

  Vice Chairman, Hansol Chemical · YPO Pan Asia Chapter

  Stephani joined Hansol Group, her fourth-generation family business, in 2014 and has been in charge of the Chemical arm of the business. Since joining, her focus has been to grow the business base globally; through multiple M&A, international expansion and successful IPOs, she has grown the market capitalization of the business more than sevenfold.

  Before Hansol, she was in management consulting at the Boston Consulting Group and in retail at Victoria’s Secret. She holds a B.A. from Wellesley College and an M.B.A. from Wharton.

  Hansol Chemical

  Advanced materials company · Hansol Group

  Hansol Chemical began in 1980 with hydrogen peroxide for Korea’s paper and textile industries. Today, its materials are used across semiconductor manufacturing, from wafer cleaning to thin-film deposition, alongside products for displays and secondary batteries.

  The company has steadily broadened its portfolio through both R&D and acquisitions, adding specialty gases, electronic materials and high-performance tapes.

• 7:30 PMOfficial Welcome Dinner at CONGDU 50with YPO Korea and Korea Gold membersCelebrating the newly integrated Pan Asia Chapter.Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving)–inspired festivities
  
  

  Chef Hyonam Park

  Executive Chef, Congdu F&C · Master Chef of Korean Cuisine

  A designated Master Chef of Korean Cuisine and recipient of both a Presidential Commendation and the French Order of Merit, Hyonam Park has led presidential state banquets and international diplomatic events, bringing Korean cuisine to some of the country’s most consequential tables.

  Across a career spanning fine dining, diplomacy, and education, Park approaches cooking as more than technique — a responsibility to ingredients, tradition, and the people gathered around the table. Earlier in his career, he became the youngest chef ever appointed Executive Chef within the global Hilton Group.

  CONGDU 50

  A contemporary Korean food & culture platform

  Founded in 2001 by Han Yun-ju, Congdu has spent twenty-five years reinterpreting Korean cuisine through a contemporary lens — beginning with jang, the fermented foundations of Korean cooking. Under her direction, what began as a restaurant has grown into a cultural platform where gastronomy meets craft, art, and design.

  CONGDU 50, designed by architect Min Kyung Sik, brings these ideas together against the Seoul skyline. Korean craftsmanship and cultural memory run through the space, while Library of Light, an installation by artist Kang Airan, gives physical form to the accumulation of knowledge, memory, and stories.

• After-DinnerCharles H. bar & OUL Bar, Four Seasons Seoul

Day Two

Saturday 12 September

• 9:00 AMDepart from the Lobby for Jinkwansa Temple
• 10:00 AMTemple Tour & Meditation
  

  Venerable Bon Eom

  Buddhist nun & Dharma teacher, Jinkwansa Temple

  Venerable Bon Eom is a Buddhist nun and Dharma teacher who brings the depth of Korean Buddhist tradition into conversation with contemporary life.

  Her academic work examines secular Buddhism in modern Western societies, particularly how Buddhist thought has been reinterpreted through reason, practicality, and lived experience. It forms part of her wider engagement with international Buddhist education.

  Her teaching begins with a simple but demanding practice: stepping back from the restless thoughts we mistake for the whole of ourselves, and rediscovering the larger stillness beneath them.

  

  Venerable Kyeho

  Guiding Elder & former Abbess, Jinkwansa Temple · Master of Korean temple food

  Venerable Kyeho is the guiding elder and former abbess of Jinkwansa, and a senior monastic of the Jogye Order. A master of Korean temple food, she understands food, ritual, learning, and hospitality as expressions of the same Buddhist practice — a life’s work that has made Jinkwansa not simply a place where tradition is preserved, but one where it continues to live.

  As abbess, she led Jinkwansa through a period of remarkable renewal, reaffirming the temple’s role as guardian of Suryukjae — the great Buddhist rite of compassion now recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

  Ordained at Jinkwansa as a young woman, she studied at Unmunsa Monastic College and Joong-Ang Sangha University, spent thirteen years educating a new generation of Buddhist nuns, and served three terms on the Central Council of the Jogye Order.

  Track 1: Temple tour · Blessing ceremony · Meditation — with Venerable Bon EomTrack 2: Trail Walk at Bukhansan Mountain
• 11:10 AMThe Power of Living HeritageCulture, Collective Creativity & Continuitywith Creative Director Kyungen Kim
  

  Kyungen Kim

  Architect & Creative Director · House of Shinsegae Heritage

  Kyungen Kim is an architect and creative director whose practice spans architecture, art, brand, and cultural identity. Educated at Wellesley College (B.A.), RISD (M.F.A., Sculpture), and Harvard GSD (M.Arch.), she brings a multidisciplinary perspective to cultural and spatial practice.

  As Creative Director of House of Shinsegae Heritage, Kim leads a cultural platform translating Korean craft and heritage into contemporary life through exhibitions, artisan curation, spatial design, collections, and storytelling. The project has received international recognition including the 2026 iF Design Award, Design for Asia Award, IDA, and Architizer Vision Awards.

  She also serves as Creative Director of JAJU, following seventeen years as Design Principal of Suh Architects. There, she helped shape a series of major environments for Hyundai Motor Group and Genesis, including Hyundai Motorstudio Seoul, Genesis House New York — winner of the Red Dot Best of the Best and an Art Directors Club Gold — and a series of Genesis studios and exhibition spaces, projects that translated brand identity into architecture, hospitality, culture, and physical experience. Her broader portfolio spans work for Aesop, Kolon Industries, and Maeil Dairy, alongside an installation at the Venice Biennale and a traveling hotel collaboration with artist Do Ho Suh. She has also taught as a visiting professor and critic at Yonsei University, Seoul National University and Myongji University, and earlier at RISD.

  In this session, Kim looks at living heritage not as something fixed or preserved, but as a creative system that continues to evolve. Drawing on Korea’s experience, she explores how enduring cultural values are continuously reinterpreted through craft, space, design, and everyday life — shaping collective creativity and a distinctly contemporary Korean identity.

• 11:40 AMIgnite Talks by PAC membersAkshay — Growing Up in a Country the World Forgot: High School in Burma (Myanmar)Voon — From Apple II+ to AskKEMP.ai: Rebooting at 59Anna — HOW HOT CAN IT BE?Cleosant — A Letter to Theo and Ava
• 12:10 PMTemple Cuisine Lunch
• 1:10 PMThe New Health Generation: The Numbers Your Body Needswith Professor Sooyeon Oh, Chaum Life Center & CHA Bio Group
  

  Sooyeon Oh, M.D., Ph.D.

  Chaum Life Center · CHA University School of Medicine

  Dr. Sooyeon Oh is a physician-scientist working at the intersection of clinical medicine and healthy longevity. An Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at CHA University School of Medicine, she practices at the Chaum Life Center in Cheongdam — CHA’s flagship wellness and longevity clinic — where she has led the Immunity Clinic since 2018 and served as Vice Director of the Health Life Center. She trained at Seoul National University College of Medicine (M.D., Ph.D.) and is board-certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology.

  Her research spans immunity and longevity — from natural killer cell activity, vitamin D and exercise to biomarkers for the early detection of gastric cancer and NK cell therapy for solid tumors. She directs university courses on clinical immunology, mind-body medicine, and meditation and medicine, and is the author of The New Health Generation (2026; English edition forthcoming), a guide to the numbers your body needs before you get sick.

  

  A global healthcare ecosystem evolving around cell and gene therapy, AI, and life sciences.

  Founded in 1960 with its roots in women’s medicine, CHA Bio Group has grown into an integrated healthcare and biotechnology system spanning 96 medical institutions across seven countries. In Korea alone, more than 10,000 babies were born with the help of CHA fertility centres in a single year — a powerful measure of its impact on human life.

  CHA is now building its next chapter around three strategic pillars: cell and gene therapy (CGT), healthcare, and life sciences. In CGT, it is concentrating research on the most clinically and commercially promising technologies while strengthening its global development and manufacturing capabilities. In healthcare, CHA is combining medical data and AI with its international clinical network to connect prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and continuing care. In life sciences, it is translating decades of expertise in women’s health and anti-ageing into an integrated portfolio of consumer-facing products and brands, extending its reach across the human lifespan.

  Few healthcare groups possess such an integrated platform. Hospitals and fertility centres in Korea connect with CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, City Fertility in Australia, Singapore Medical Group, and Total Cell Clinic Tokyo in Japan. Alongside them, CHA University, research institutes, biotechnology companies, and US-based Matica Biotechnology link scientific discovery with clinical practice and global production.

  This reach also reveals a defining industry question. At Total Cell Clinic Tokyo, CHA’s Korean cell-culture technology is already being applied at scale within Japan’s more flexible regulatory environment, accelerating clinical use and the accumulation of patient data. CHA offers a compelling view of how AI, biotechnology, global healthcare networks — and regulation — will determine where and how quickly medical innovation reaches patients.

• 2:00 PMWhat I Learned From Noodle, Car and Buddhawith Producer Wook Jung Lee
  

  Wook Jung Lee is an internationally acclaimed documentary filmmaker and a pioneer of Korea’s “foodmentary” genre, using gastronomy as a lens through which to examine history, migration, cities, belief, and civilization.

  Over nearly three decades, he has created a landmark body of work including Noodle Road, Food Odyssey, Food Odyssey: Taste of the City, Chicken Odyssey, and Food Chronicle. Together, these series have traced how food travels across borders, carries cultural memory, and reveals the societies that produce it.

  His landmark series Noodle Road received the prestigious Peabody Award, while his most recent series, Buddha’s Kitchen, introduced the history, philosophy, and living traditions of Asian temple cuisine to audiences around the world.

  A graduate of Yonsei University in English Literature with a master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from Seoul National University, Lee later trained as a chef at Le Cordon Bleu in London. This unusual command of anthropology, filmmaking, and cooking allows him not simply to document what people eat, but to reveal the worlds built around the table.

• 3:00 PMDepart for Myeongdong
• 3:30 PMFrom Culture to National InfluenceHow institutions, public policy and cultural confidence helped turn creative capacity into global presencewith Dr. Byoung Gug Choung, former Minister of Culture, Sports and TourismAuditorium, Youngone Building, Myeongdong
  

  Dr. Byoung Gug Choung

  Former Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism

  Dr. Byoung Gug Choung is a former Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism and a five-term member of Korea’s National Assembly. His career has spanned the Presidential Secretariat, the Cabinet, the legislature, academia and Arts Council Korea, giving him an unusually broad view of how public institutions shape culture — and how culture, in turn, shapes a nation.

  In the National Assembly, he chaired committees covering culture, sports, tourism, broadcasting, communications and emerging technology. He later served as Chairperson of Arts Council Korea, where he supported international cultural exchange and institutional partnerships with organizations including the Getty Research Institute and LACMA. His public service has been recognized with the Hongjo and Cheongjo Orders of Service Merit.

  Drawing on nearly four decades in public life, Dr. Choung will examine how leadership, institutions and cultural policy contributed to Korea’s global emergence — and what the country’s next chapter may require.

  He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and a bachelor’s degree from Sungkyunkwan University, and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Yonsei University.

• 4:20–6:30 PMAfternoon at Your LeisureRest & refresh at Four SeasonsVisit to MMCA — Do Ho Suh, Korea Artist Prize and This is (Not) Conceptual Art on viewHanbok fitting by Naraesol, 6FHair & make-up with the team from Bit&Boot, the best of Korean beauty for you, 6FStudio Pan Asia: take your portrait, 6FTea Experience at House of Shinsegae Heritage
  
  

  The team from Bit&Boot — the Cheongdam studio behind the stage looks of BTS and TWICE — brings the best of Korean beauty to you. Come for a touch-up, product recommendations, or a quick pouch consultation — gentlemen equally welcome.

  

  The hanbok offered for the experience comes from Naraesol, a specialist atelier that creates historically informed costumes for major Korean period productions. Drawing on traditional court silhouettes, fabrics and accessories, each piece brings the craftsmanship and visual language of Korea’s screen heritage to life — take photos, roam around the hotel, or wear it to the evening.

  Medical pharmacy shopping
  

  In September, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in Seoul presents several major exhibitions side by side. Highlights include:

  Do Ho Suh

  27 August 2026 – 9 February 2027

  Korea’s leading installation artist returns home with a large-scale survey spanning his early works, major pieces and ongoing projects — following his acclaimed exhibition at Tate Modern in London.

  Suh is best known for his translucent fabric architectures: full-scale recreations of the homes he has lived in, stitched in gauze-like cloth, that visitors can walk through. Across sculpture, drawing and video, his work turns home, memory, migration and identity into physical space — asking what we carry with us when we move through the world.

  

  Korea Artist Prize 2026

  24 July – 6 December 2026

  MMCA’s flagship annual award exhibition, this year featuring Lee Hai Min Sun, Lee Jungwoo, Jeon Hyunsun and Hong Jin-hwon.

  This is (Not) Conceptual Art

  19 June – 11 October 2026

  An exhibition tracing conceptual art in Korea — witty, questioning works, from Ahn Kyuchul’s planted chair onward, that ask what makes art art.

  
• 6:30 PMCocktail Reception & DinnerGarden Terrace, 15F · Four Seasons Hotel SeoulDress code: White, Pastels, or KoreanA quiet dance at dusk against the Inwangsan mountain as a backdrop
• Late-Night SeoulCharles H. bar & OUL Bar, Four Seasons Seoul

Day Three

Sunday 13 September

• 9:15 AMChapter MattersAra Hall, 6F
• 9:25 AMKorea’s AI Moment — What Leaders Should Build, Back, and Do Next＋with JP Lee, SBVA (formerly SoftBank Ventures Asia) & Minjae Kim, NC AI

  Artificial intelligence is moving from experimentation to execution. What should leaders build, back, and do next?

  Minjae Kim, CTO of NC AI, and Joonpyo “JP” Lee, CEO of SBVA (formerly SoftBank Ventures Asia), bring complementary perspectives: how AI is being built into real products, and how investors distinguish durable businesses from hype.

  Together, they will explore what AI adoption looks like inside real organizations, how leading Korean companies are creating competitive advantage through AI, and what CEOs should understand before making their next strategic move.

  What Members Will Take Away

  CEO Playbook — where to experiment, what capabilities to build, and what mistakes to avoid.

  AI Reality Check — what is real versus hype, what creates durable competitive advantage, and how to evaluate AI opportunities and risks.

  Korean Case Studies — how leading Korean companies are applying AI in products, content, software and enterprise workflows; what worked, what failed, and why; and lessons applicable across industries and geographies.

  

  Joonpyo “JP” Lee

  CEO, SBVA (formerly SoftBank Ventures Asia) · A global venture platform backing technology entrepreneurs

  Joonpyo “JP” Lee is CEO of SBVA, a venture capital firm founded in 2000 as SoftBank Group’s early-stage venture arm and now operating as an independent global platform with The Edgeof. A founder, operator and investor, JP founded Evixar and co-founded Enswers. Since joining SBVA in 2015 and becoming CEO in 2018, he has helped expand the firm’s global investment activities across software, media, AI, enterprise, and consumer technology.

  Speaking focus: How investors identify durable AI businesses, separate hype from reality, and where capital is moving next.

  

  Minjae Kim

  CTO, NC AI · An AI company built on NCSOFT’s AI research capabilities

  Minjae Kim is CTO of NC AI, an AI company spun out of NCSOFT. He leads the commercialization of AI built on decades of NC’s AI research and experience operating large-scale digital platforms. Dr. Kim earned his Ph.D. in image processing and computer vision from Korea University and previously worked at LG Electronics on vision AI for autonomous driving.

  Best known as the creator of some of Asia’s most successful online games, NCSOFT has evolved into a technology company with deep expertise in AI, virtual worlds, and large-scale digital platforms.

  Speaking focus: How AI moves from research to deployment, what adoption looks like inside real organizations, and what leaders should understand before scaling AI initiatives.

• 11:00 AMGeopolitics — The Korean Peninsula and Beyondwith Ilkyu Lee, former North Korean diplomat and senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS)
  

  Lee Ilkyu is a former senior North Korean diplomat whose 24-year career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs culminated in his appointment as Counsellor for Political Affairs and Party Cell Secretary at the DPRK Embassy in Cuba.

  Before returning to Havana in 2019, he served as Deputy Director of the ministry’s department responsible for Africa, the Arab world, and Latin America. Born in Pyongyang and educated in North Korea, Algeria, and Cuba, Lee studied French and Spanish and built a diplomatic career spanning several regions of the world.

  In November 2023, he defected to South Korea with his family — the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat to leave the regime since 2016. He is now a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy and served on the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council from 2024 to 2025. His experience offers rare first-hand insight into the inner workings of North Korea’s diplomatic establishment, its foreign policy, and the human realities behind geopolitics.

• 12:20 PMClosing ReflectionsWhat Will You Take Home from Seoul?
• 12:30 PMOfficial Program Ends
• 12:40 PMOptional Lunch
• 2:00 PMForum Meetings