East Asia Institute (EAI) held the 36th Smart Talk Forum with Richard Bush on Thursday, January 23, 2014. Richard Bush is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, holds the Chen-Fu and Cecilia Yen Koo Chair in Taiwan Studies, and is director of its Center for East Asia Policy Studies (CEAP). At the forum, participants discussed on North Korea after the execution of Jang Sung-taek, the U.S. stance towards China’s declaration of an air defense identification zone, and Washington’s views on South Korea-U.S.-China-Japan relations.

Topic
- How Washington views the troublesome South Korea-Japan relations and how it is willing to intervene with what terms
- How Washington views the political and economic conditions of North Korea and the prospect of China-North Korea relations
- How the security threat from North Korea has changed since the purge and execution of Jang Sung-taek
- How the U.S. is responding to China’s assertive behavior in maritime and air defense region issues 
 
Presenter
Richard Bush, Brookings Institution 
 
Moderator
Sook-Jong Lee, EAI
 
Discussants
Wooseon Choi, Korea National Diplomatic Academy
Chaesung Chun, EAI & Seoul National University
Young-Sun Ha, EAI
Seung Mi Han, Yonsei University
Byung-Kook Kim, Korea University
Yul Sohn, EAI & Yonsei University