Free and Unified Korea: A Catalyst for Regional and Global Peace and Development

Hon. Choong-Hwan Kim is co-chair of Action for Korea United, Secretary General of the Parliamentarian’s Society, former two-term member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, and Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Affairs and Unification. He received his doctoral degree of Public Administration at the University of Seoul. In 2009, he was awarded the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in Parliamentary Legislation and Policy. He also served as Head of Gangdong-Gu Office in Seoul. He currently serves as Chairman of Peace and Unification Institute and as Standing Leader of Action for Korea United. He is active in ongoing citizen-led movements for Korean unification.

Mr. James P. Flynn is International President of the Global Peace Foundation. Overseeing the strategic operations of more than twenty GPF field affiliates and initiatives worldwide, Flynn manages Global Peace Foundation’s diverse portfolio of peacebuilding and international development projects from the GPF headquarters office in the Washington DC area. Since his appointment as International President in 2013, Flynn has engaged a global network of key leaders in support of GPF’s diverse peace-building programs. He guides organizational partnerships with national and regional governments, faith-based organizations, and volunteer and philanthropic groups to advance objectives in community driven peace-building, character and leadership development, and civic engagement and empowerment. Recent priorities include peacebuilding efforts among Nigeria’s high-level civic and religious leaders, peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula, a Presidential Mission promoting ethical leadership and good governance in Latin America, and efforts advancing peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific. Mr. Flynn has more than thirty years’ experience in the development and management of educational and service projects in the non-profit sector, including operations, program design and implementation.

Hon. Jin-pyo Kim is the 21st Speaker of the ROK National Assembly. He began public service after passing the 13th Public Administration Examination in 1974 and served as the head of the Office for Government PolicyCoordination, a ministerial level, in the Kim Dae-jung administration, and as Deputy Prime Minister in the Roh Moo-hyun administration. Hon. Kim was elected to the 17th National Assembly in 2004, and after being re-elected to the 18th National Assembly, he served as the floor leader of the Democratic Party and is now a five-term member of the National Assembly. He served as Chairman of the National Planning Advisory Committee with the launch of the Moon Jae-in administration.

Hon. Myoung-Su Lee is a four-term Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea representing Asan city’s Gap District since 2008. He is currently a member of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly. Prior to this, Hon. Lee held the positions of Chairman of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, President of the Korea-Azerbaijan Friendship Association of the National Assembly, and Chairman of the Human Resource Recruitment Committee of the Liberty Korea Party. He holds a BS, MS, and Ph.D. in Public Administration from Sungkyunkwan University.

Hon. Dong Hyeon Seok, Secretary General, Peaceful Unification Advisory Council

Dr. Edwin Feulner is the Founder and former President, the Chairman of the Asian Studies Center, and Chung Ju-yung Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, one of the nation’s leading research and public policy institutions located in Washington, DC. Dr. Feulner was awarded the Gwanghwa Medal, Order of Diplomatic Service by the President and National Assembly of Korea, and the Presidential Citizen Award, the second highest civilian award in the United States, conferred by President Ronald Reagan. He has received honors from the governments of Taiwan and South Korea, among others. He is the author of eight books, with a concentration in East Asian affairs and a contributor to numerous journals and magazines. An expert on Korea, Dr. Feulner has spoken on many topics such as the “Role of Civil Society and Global Cooperation in Furthering a Unified Korea,” and at a GPF forum at the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, “The Power of Freedom in Addressing the Divided Human Family: Empowering the Voice of North Korean Defectors.”

Hon. Seung-Joo Baek is the President of the War Memorial of Korea appointed by President Yoon and Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Defense of the ruling People Power Party. He previously served as the fortieth Deputy Secretary of National Defense and member of the twentieth National Assembly of Korea. He also served as director of North Korea Research Section, Korea Institute for Defense. Dr. Baek earned a Ph.D. in political science from Kyungpook National University with the thesis On the Change to Political Power under Deng Xiaoping in the People’s Republic of China and became a visiting fellow at Beijing University. He is currently an expert featured in KBS, CBS, BBS, YTN, Hanguk Ilbo, and Gukbang Ilbo sharing his insights on security issues and current affairs.

General John H. Tilelli, Jr. retired on January 31, 2000 from the United States Army after over 30 years of service. His last active-duty assignment was Commander-in-Chief of the United Nations Command, Republic of Korea/United States Combined Forces Command/United States Forces Korea. During his time in Korea, he commanded the largest standing joint and coalition force in the world comprising over 650,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines.
General Tilelli’s military career includes serving as Vice Chief of Staff of the Army and the Army’s Deputy Chief of Operations during which he led the Army’s vision of the Army of the 21st Century and implemented reforms in acquisition and procurement.
General Tilelli’s military career also includes two tours in Vietnam and four tours in Germany. His combat tours include assignments as a Company Commander and District Senior Advisor in Vietnam and Commanding General of 1st Cavalry Division during Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Currently, General Tilelli is employed with Cypress International Inc. in Alexandria, Virginia, as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer – Emeritus. He served as the former Vice Chairman for Korea Defense Veterans Association and is currently serving on the KDVA Council of Advisors. He is the chairman of the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation.

Dr. Hyun Jin Preston Moon is the founder and chairman of the Global Peace Foundation (GPF), established in 2009 and currently active in 24 countries. Working across lines of identity – from culture, ethnicity, religion, and beyond – GPF works to foster the moral, innovative leadership necessary to resolve the most pressing issues in our world today. Dr. Moon’s disciplined focus on a common vision, universal principles and shared values guides GPF in building innovative models of peace, development, and a global network of multi-sectoral partners. Even while addressing local issues, numerous regional and international level conventions, forums, and programs, enables the organization to garner lessons and best practices for a global community. Dr. Moon has a lifelong passion for empowering young leaders, particularly in emerging countries. He founded Service for Peace in 2002 to provide international service-learning opportunities for youth of diverse backgrounds who work together to address urgent social needs. Service For Peace is now established in 27 nations and has special consultative status with the United Nations. Dr. Moon is the author of Korean Dream: A Vision for a Unified Korea, which won the Book of the Year in 2014 by the Readers’ Newspaper in Korea.

Dr. Kim Dong Su is a Senior Adviser to the National Institute for Security and Strategy and has served in numerous research capacities since 1998. Dr. Kim hails from Hamgyong Province, North Korea. He is a former diplomat with the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was posted in Italy, Norway, and Switzerland. He served as a consultant to the Yoon Suk Yeol Transition Committee in 2022 and was a visiting scholar in Waseda University in Japan and Johns Hopkins University (SAIS). He is the author of numerous research reports and two books on North Korean foreign policy, trade, nuclear weapons, the North Korean People’s Army and the Workers Party of Korea. He received his PhD and MA from Kyong-nam University and his BA from Pyongyang Foreign Language Institute as well as Dar-es-Salam National University in the Republic of Tanzania. He is married with one son and one daughter.

Col. (Ret.) David Maxwell is a senior fellow at the Global Peace Foundation and is a retired US Army Special Forces Colonel who has spent more than 30 years in Asia and specializes in North Korea and East Asia Security Affairs and irregular, unconventional, and political warfare. He had command and staff assignments in Korea, Japan, Germany, the Philippines, and CONUS, and served as a member of the military faculty teaching national security at the National War College. He is the editor of Small Wars Journal, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a Senior Advisor for the Center of Asia Pacific Strategy.

H.E. Ambassador Jargalsaikhan Enkhsaikhan is the Chairman of Mongolian NGO Blue Banner and Former Mongolia Ambassador to the UN. He is an international lawyer and diplomat. As a diplomat he served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, represented his country in the Soviet Union/Russian Federation, Austria, Italy, Croatia, at the United Nations in New York and at international organizations based in Vienna. He also served as the foreign policy and legal advisor to the first democratically elected President of Mongolia and as the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council of Mongolia when the State Great Hural (parliament) considered and adopted the country’s first concepts of national security, foreign policy, and the basis of military doctrine in 1994.

Mr. Kenji Sawai is Northeast Asia Freedom and Human Rights program specialist in the Office of Strategic Partnerships at the Global Peace Foundations. He is also an advisor to Action for Korea United – Japan. After joining GPF in 2014 and building a partnership with Jai-Poong Ryu and his One Korea Foundation, Mr. Sawai took on a key role in coordinating the One Dream One Korea K-Pop Commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Korean Liberation Day at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Since moving to the US from Japan in 2003, Mr. Sawai has worked with several NGOs and leadership initiatives including the International Young Leaders Assembly. He has consistently applied his mastery of the Korean language for North Korean human rights advocacy on the peninsula, in Japan and with the Korean diaspora and broader communities in the US. In recognition of his commitment and efforts, he received an award from the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council Washington Chapter in 2017.

Dr. Vladimir Ivanov is an Adjunct Senior Fellow with Henry L. Stimson Center. Based in Moscow, Ivanov leads programmatic activities aimed at promoting better understanding between Russia and other countries to avoid inadvertent conflict escalation and enhance policy alignment on issues of common concern. Prior to joining the Stimson Center, Ivanov served as Director of the Russia and United States Program at the EastWest Institute (EWI) and Director of the EWI Moscow Office. In these capacities, he led recent U.S.-Russia non-governmental expert dialogues on military cooperation and strategic stability and coordinated Track 2 efforts in combating terrorism and narco trafficking, particularly in Afghanistan. Ivanov graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University) and also holds a Ph.D. in history from MGIMO. He started his professional career as a professor of public relations at MGIMO, later becoming a journalist and a public relations manager for Fleishman-Hillard, Inc. and Sibirsky Aluminium Group in Moscow.

Dr. Markandey Rai is President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Indian Council for International Cooperation and the Chancellor of the IGTAMS University, India. He is a former senior advisor of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme after his retirement as the Chief of the U.N, former Chairperson of the Joint Advisory Committee, which advises UN offices at Nairobi on administrative issues. He has served UN-HABITAT in various roles for seventeen years and was elected President of the Nairobi Staff Union from 2000-2003. Dr. Rai has served on the boards of academic, cultural, and social bodies in different countries and in January 2006 he was the recipient of the Hindu Rattan Award. In 2009 he addressed the EU presidency seminar at the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm and Global Parliamentarians on Habitat conference in Washington, DC. Dr. Rai is a member of Global Peace Foundation’s Global Leadership Council and serves as President of Global Peace and Development Service Alliance.

Mr. Baek-san Kim is the President of the Global Peace Institute, an academic research institute that studies proposals and strategies for world peace and unification of the Korean peninsula. The institute regularly participates in international forums and seminars with the Global Peace Foundation and builds a network of scholars and experts. Mr. Kim is also the co-representative of Korea’s largest civic activist group, Action for Korea United. and serves as editor of an NGO press with the longest history of relations with NGOs in Korea. Through this, he sponsored the compilation of the 25-year history of the Korean civic movement. He is also serving as secretary general of the Preparatory Committee for the establishment of the Korean Dream History Foundation to establish the thought and vision of the Korean unification movement based on the history and founding spirit of Korea.

Dr. Kwang-kyu Nam is Professor and Director of the Center for North Korea Studies at the Asiatic Research Institute, Korea University. He is the president of Maebong Institute for One Korea. He received his Ph.D., from the Department of Political Science at Korea University. His areas of research cover the fields of North Korea Studies, Inter-Korean Politics, and foreign policy of South Korea. He frequently appears in major mass media and newspapers in Korea as an expert on North Korean affairs. He also served as moderator in a Current Issue program on North Korea for four years at the Korean Broadcasting Station in South Korea. His publications include nine books and many articles.

Mr. Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and former Special Assistant to U.S. President Ronald Reagan. He previously was affiliated with the Heritage Foundation. He writes weekly columns for the American Conservative online and Antiwar.com. Previously a columnist for Forbes online, a nationally syndicated columnist with Copley News Service, and editor of the monthly political magazine Inquiry, he has been widely published in such periodicals as Foreign Policy, Orbis, National Interest, Foreign Affairs online, and Fortune, as well as leading newspapers including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. He has written several books, including Foreign Follies: America’s New Global Empire and Tripwire: Korea and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changed World. He is co-author of The Korean Conundrum: America’s Troubled Relationship with North and South Korea. He received his B.S. in Economics from Florida State University in 1976 and his J.D. from Stanford University in 1979.

Dr. Henry Huiyao Wang is the Founder and President of Center for China and Globalization; former Counselor of China State Council; Vice Chairman, China Association for International Economic Cooperation under Ministry of Commerce, Director of Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs; a Steering Committee Member of Paris Peace Forum and an Advisory Board Member of Duke Kunshan University. Once served as an official in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade. He pursued PhD studies at University of Western Ontario and University of Manchester and was a Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School and a Visiting Fellow at Brookings Institution.

Dr. Emanuel Pastreich is a senior fellow at Global Peace Foundation who is active in Washington D.C., Seoul and Tokyo, and president of the Asia Institute, a think tank that is committed to promoting cooperation in Asia in response to climate change, the impact of technology on society, the rapidly shifting nature of international relations, and the spread of a culture of anti-intellectualism. He also serves as a researcher at Yale University’s Council on East Asian Studies and senior associate at the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing. Pastreich ran for president of the United States in 2020. He published numerous books in English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other languages, including A Republic of Korea that Koreans do not know, designated as a national security book by the ROK Ministry of Defence. Fluent in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, Pastreich has an BA from Yale College, an MA from University of Tokyo, and a PhD from Harvard University.

Dr. Leonid A. Petrov is a Senior Lecturer and Dean at the International College of Management in Sydney. He graduated from St. Petersburg State University, where he majored in Korean History and Language. In 2002, he obtained a PhD in History from the Australian National University. Between 2003 and 2012, Dr. Petrov worked at the Academy of Korean Studies in Seongnam, Intercultural Institute of California in San Francisco, Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris, and the University of Sydney. He was involved in projects sponsored by the Australian Research Council: North Korea’s Quiet Transformation, Northeast Asia and the Korean War: Legacies of Hot and Cold Wars in Contemporary Constructions of the Region, and Historical Conflict and Reconciliation in East Asia. Dr. Petrov is a visiting Fellow at the College of Asia and the Pacific of the Australian National University, where he teaches subjects related to North Korean economy, politics, and culture.

Elyxzur C. Ramos Ph.D. CESE, or “Prof. X”, is the President of the University of Makati (UMak), a leading local university in the Philippines. He is also currently a member of the Philippines Second Congressional Commission on Education’s standing committee for Higher education (EDCOM 2). Dr. Ramos also holds the rank of Commander under the Philippine Navy (Reserve) and is a lifetime member of the Philippine Economics Society. He is a Trained Arbitrator, a Director of the Philippine National Red Cross, and a Fellow of the Society of Fellows in Supply Management. Dr. Ramos finished his BSBA in Economics and MBA degree from Colegio de San Juan de Letran, Manila and his Ph.D. in Management from the International Academy of Management and Economics with distinction. X and his wife Joyce, are advocates of family and marriage, being a team couple of the World-Wide Marriage Encounter, Philippines. 

Dr. Laode M. Kamaluddin is a prominent figure in education, agriculture, and maritime affairs. He earned his Ph.D. in Industrial Education Technology from Iowa State University and currently presides over Insan Cita Indonesia University, the nation’s first digital-based campus. He also leads the Indonesian 4H Association, nurturing young agropreneurs for rural progress. Kamaluddin advised the Global 4-H Foundation in Seoul while being President of Lakidende University. He chairs the Indonesian Society of Agricultural Engineers in Southeast Sulawesi and spearheads a modern agriculture project with the Ministry of Agriculture across five locations. With 30+ years of expertise, including as Chief Economic Advisor to Indonesian Vice Presidents, Dr. Kamaluddin’s contributions resonate globally in maritime conservation, community development, and international engagement.

Mr. Sanjay Bhalla presently holds the position of Vice President at the Indian Council for International Cooperation (ARSP) and serves as the Secretary General, India for the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin. He earned a degree in Engineering from the Dayalbagh Educational Institute in India and successfully completed the Executive Program in Management from the University of California, Berkeley, USA.