Jean served as emcee of the 3rd Annual Women of Impact event held by the East-West Center, where the EWC’s Board of Governors honored President Hilda C. Heine of the Marshall Islands with this year’s Women of Impact Award to celebrate the remarkable achievements of women leaders. Jean also moderated a discussion exploring the role of women in innovation and their impact on addressing critical challenges with Dr. Yanghee Lee, Professor Emeritus, Sungkyunkwan University, Department of Child Psychology and Education; Mona Pasquil Rogers, Director of California Government Engagement, Meta, and Kristen Udui, Graduate Degree Fellow, East-West Center. View photos from the event on Flickr.
On Oct. 15, 2024, Jean spoke at the Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhono’s Asia Summit at New Zealand’s Parliament in Welllington, joining leading experts on Asia from New Zealand and offshore to discuss the big trends shaping the region for an event marking the Foundation’s 30th anniversary.
Jean served as emcee at the 2024 Women of Impact event at the East-West Center to honor President Hilda C. Heine of the Marshall Islands, and moderated a panel discussion on women’s leadership with Dr. Yanghee Lee, Mona Pasquil Rogers and Kristen Udui.
Journalists with firsthand experience in authoritarian countries shed light on the challenges that journalists face reporting on closed societies, discuss ways to help reporters overcome these challenges, and explore how this vital work relates to the broader global struggle between democracy and autocracy.
Generative AI is everywhere in the news today, but where will it be tomorrow? Jean Lee speaks to Charlie Beckett and Art Min about how artificial intelligence will shape the coming years, from elections to academia to mass media, and everything in between.
Jean Lee shares her perspective on how to read and understand North Korea today in a talk at the East-West Center in Honolulu.
Jean Lee testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs about North Korea’s suspected illicit financing campaign using cyber theft.
Jean Lee joins cybersecurity expert Michael Barnhart and Korea Society policy director Jonathan Corrado for a discussion about the North Korean cyber threat.
Jean Lee joins co-host Geoff White and musician Dessa — along with special guests — for a live recording of the Lazarus Heist podcast in New York City.
For this month, we invited Jean Lee, Public Policy Fellow at the Wilson Center, to discuss North Korea’s cyber-attacks and how they finance Pyongyang’s missile developments despite the international sanctions against the regime.
Jean Lee speaks with senior director Stephen Noerper on ROK-DPRK relations. They address impasse and opportunity between North Korea and South Korea and offer recommendations for US and other policy makers on peninsular realities and possibilities.
Jean Lee welcomes Cho Myoung-Gyon, Minister of Unification for South Korea, to Washington, DC, to share his thoughts on inter-Korean unity and prospects for peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Is the perfect storm brewing on the Korean Peninsula? Jean Lee joins geopolitical experts at the Milken Institute Global Conference to discuss security in East Asia and potential avenues for conflict resolution.
In a high-stakes diplomatic gamble, President Trump has accepted an invitation to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – and the dramatic development raises crucial questions:
Could this summit lead to meaningful constraints on North Korea’s nuclear program? What are the attitudes of China and South Korea toward bilateral U.S.-North Korean diplomacy? What preparatory work must be done to ensure a successful summit? And what would be the criteria for success?
In this Ground Truth Briefing, three veteran observers of U.S.-Asia policy and North Korea addressed these issues.
Romance, humor, tension — everyone loves a good sitcom, even North Koreans. But in North Korea, TV dramas are more than mere entertainment. They play a crucial political role by serving as a key messenger of the party and government policy.
The Sidebar with Steve Scully: As tensions with North Korea rise, this week we examine the history of that country's ruling Kim family. We spoke to Jean H Lee, author of "Kings of Communism: Inside Kim Jong Un's Bloody Scramble to Kill of His Family" in the September edition of Esquire Magazine.
What steps should the United States and South Korea take to maintain peace and stability in Northeast Asia?
Award-winning foreign correspondents, researchers and writers on the challenges of writing about North Korea today, from getting on the ground to turning to defectors for information about daily life inside the Hermit Kingdom.
Can Kim Jong Un be stopped before he turns the peninsula, and the region, into a nuclear wasteland? Jean Lee speaks at the Aspen Security Forum.
Jean Lee discusses the challenges of reporting on a country considered among the world's worst for press freedom, the role her Korean-American ethnicity played in her interactions with the North Koreans, and her observations on reunification after working as a journalist on both sides of the DMZ.
Social media has transformed culture, communication, creativity and journalism in every nation on Earth — other than North Korea, of course. Wait — not so fast. What do we really know about social media’s role in the mysterious nation — or what role it could play in the future, in the open or underground? Get some insight and answers to your questions as Associated Press Social Media Editor Eric Carvin leads a conversation with AP Korea bureau chief Jean H. Lee, a social media-savvy journalist with firsthand expertise on the reclusive regime north of the 38th parallel.
Jean served as emcee at the 2024 Women of Impact event at the East-West Center to honor President Hilda C. Heine of the Marshall Islands, and moderated a panel discussion on women’s leadership with Dr. Yanghee Lee, Mona Pasquil Rogers and Kristen Udui.
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Journalists with firsthand experience in authoritarian countries shed light on the challenges that journalists face reporting on closed societies, discuss ways to help reporters overcome these challenges, and explore how this vital work relates to the broader global struggle between democracy and autocracy.
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Jean Lee, middle, moderates a discussion about AI with Art Min of TrueMedia.org (left) and Charlie Beckett of the JournalismAI Project (on screen), in a plenary session at the International Media Conference in Manila in June 2024.
Generative AI is everywhere in the news today, but where will it be tomorrow? Jean Lee speaks to Charlie Beckett and Art Min about how artificial intelligence will shape the coming years, from elections to academia to mass media, and everything in between.
Read MoreJean Lee shares her perspective on how to read and understand North Korea today in a talk at the East-West Center in Honolulu.
Read MoreJean Lee testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs about North Korea’s suspected illicit financing campaign using cyber theft.
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Jean Lee in conversation with journalist Elise Hu at NPR about her new book, “Flawless,” and lessons in looks and culture from the K-beauty capital.
Read MoreJean Lee joins cybersecurity expert Michael Barnhart and Korea Society policy director Jonathan Corrado for a discussion about the North Korean cyber threat.
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Photo credit: Jean H. Lee
Jean Lee speaks at Indiana University’s Institute for Korean Studies Annual Conference on The U.S.-Korea Relationship: Past, Present, and Future
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Jean Lee speaks at the US-Korea Security Forum hosted by Center for International Trade and Security at the University of Georgia.
Read MoreJean Lee joins co-host Geoff White and musician Dessa — along with special guests — for a live recording of the Lazarus Heist podcast in New York City.
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We're recording a live special episode of the Lazarus Heist at The Greene Space in New York on Monday 26 September, 2022.
Read MoreFor this month, we invited Jean Lee, Public Policy Fellow at the Wilson Center, to discuss North Korea’s cyber-attacks and how they finance Pyongyang’s missile developments despite the international sanctions against the regime.
Read MoreFeb. 16, 2022, talk at Duke University
Jean Lee speaks at Duke University for the Program in American Grand Strategy on the Kim regime in North Korea.
Read MoreOn Tuesday, February 15th, the National Committee on North Korea and Network 20/20 held a joint webinar featuring panelists Katherine H.S. Moon, Professor Emerita at Wellesley College, Scott A. Snyder, Senior Fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the Program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Jean H. Lee, Award-winning writer, Commentator, and Expert on North Korea, to hear their critical insight regarding the upcoming election. The discussion was moderated by Keith Luse, Executive Director of the National Committee on North Korea.
Read MoreJoin Hudson Institute Asia-Pacific Security Chair Patrick Cronin, Hudson Senior Fellow Alex Wong, and expert panelists Ankit Panda and Jean Lee, for a discussion on North Korea’s expanding missile arsenal and arms competition in Northeast Asia.
Read More“Kim Jong Un ultimately wants to return to negotiations, but he wants to return in a stronger position. That means there may be further provocations down the line. We need to remember that the threat is there, and it has only grown over time. We seem to have forgotten about it amidst the pandemic. The people of North Korea, and South Korea are the ones who are going to pay the price.”
Read MoreJean Lee speaks with senior director Stephen Noerper on ROK-DPRK relations. They address impasse and opportunity between North Korea and South Korea and offer recommendations for US and other policy makers on peninsular realities and possibilities.
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As the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic continues, South Korea has been held up as a model for effective public health response. South Korea’s neighbor to the north, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea, remains something of an enigmaTo help us understand the likely situation in North Korea, we are joined by Jean H. Lee, who is the director of the Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC.
Read MoreFew nations confront a more complex security environment than the Republic of Korea. South Korea’s security challenges come into sharp relief in its maritime periphery, particularly in the Yellow Sea/West Sea. In these choppy waters, exclusive economic zone and fishery disputes with China, and a boundary disagreement with North Korea, have led to consistent friction, and at times, outright hostility.
Welcome and Introduction
Alison Szalwinski, Vice President, National Bureau of Asian Research
South Korea and the Challenges of a Maritime Nation
Terence Roehrig, Professor of National Security Affairs and the Director of the Asia-Pacific Studies Group, U.S. Naval War College
North Korea and the Northern Limit Line
Jean Lee, Director, Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy, Wilson Center; Former Pyongyang Bureau Chief, Associated Press
Few nations confront a more complex security environment than the Republic of Korea. South Korea’s security challenges come into sharp relief in its maritime periphery, particularly in the Yellow Sea/West Sea. In these choppy waters, exclusive economic zone and fishery disputes with China, and a boundary disagreement with North Korea, have led to consistent friction, and at times, outright hostility.
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Leading U.S. experts and former officials to identify actionable policy steps the White House and Congress should take to address the growing threat from North Korea.