RECENT Events

Jean served as emcee and moderator of a private discussion with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te during his visit to the East-West Center on Dec. 1, 2024, on a transit stopover in Honolulu.

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.

Dec. 1, 2024

You know you’ve done your job as an emcee if you get a big smile out of your keynote speaker!

Delighted to be able to welcome Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te to the East-West Center by congratulating him on Team Taiwan’s baseball championship victory a week ago — and to see his face light up at mention of the win.

It’s clearly more than just a love of baseball; I suspect it’s also about seeing baseball bring the Taiwanese people together, and into the streets in celebration, as “Team Taiwan.” (The national team is also known internationally as Chinese Taipei.)

Moderating a discussion with President Lai during his two-day stop in Honolulu was not only a great honor but also an incredible opportunity to get to know Taiwan and its new leader.

He was joined on stage by EWC President Suzanne Vares-Lum and two longtime Taiwan hands: Amb. James Moriarty, former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, and Dr. Richard Vuylsteke, a longtime president of the US Chamber of Commerce in Taipei.

Oct 10, 2017

Brookings Institution: The path forward: Who is Kim Jong Un?

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.

Aug 25, 2017

C-SPAN: The Rise and Rule of North Korea's Kim Dynasty

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.

Jun 7, 2017

Chicago Council: NORTH KOREA ON THE BRINK?

What steps should the United States and South Korea take to maintain peace and stability in Northeast Asia?

Dec 6, 2016

Wilson Center: Beyond Caricatures: Writing About the Real North Korea

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.

Jul 29, 2016

Aspen Security Forum: Peril on the 38th Parallel

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.

May 14, 2015

Korea Society: Opening Pyongyang

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.

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