• EAI Chairman Board of Trustees

  Young-Sun Ha

  2019.12.

• I celebrate the milestones EAI has passed for the last ten years. It is the devotion of EAI trustees and supporters that enables us to strive to attain several goals we have set since its inception.
  
  The Institute has crafted creative visions suitable for the new world order. Only those who have inspiring visions can prosper in the twenty-first century where global players engage in unprecedented competition. “Complex” diplomacy is one of our ideas that enables us to go beyond outmoded strategic thoughts incubated during the Cold War era. “Coevolutionary” strategy is a farsighted solution to properly defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula. These strategic insights produced by EAI will shape the future of national, regional, and global citizens.
  
  Our first ten years have also represented the Institute’s continued efforts to propose practical policy recommendations that better our way of life. Even in the twenty-first century, we Koreans are still struggling to overcome the historical legacies of hatred emanating from national division. Furthermore, the two Koreas as ever diverge in tackling common problems resulting from a globalizing world. EAI has been a venue for serious thinkers who endeavor to find innovative solutions to the difficulties we confront. We have deeply regretted that timeworn political ideologies, be they conservative or progressive, still dominate public policy dialogue in democratizing South Korea. Such simplex creeds help us little in dealing with the complex challenges of the twenty-first century. In a world of ideas, EAI has persuaded decisionmakers and practitioners to adopt new ways of conceiving public policies based on our complex and co-evolutionary scheme.
  
  No great ideas have impact without translating them into public policies. The rise of EAI in the global policy idea marketplace bears out the commitment, determination, and perseverance of an army of people who undertake to complete the mission in the Institute. I am proud of all the accomplishments of EAI. With the continued encouragement of our supporters, I am confident we will succeed.

• EAI President

  Yul Sohn

  2019.12.

• Pioneering institutions have a clear mission and great people. EAI uses a network of knowledge and ideas to change the Korean Peninsula,East Asia, and ultimately the world. We have leading intellectuals in South Korea, including Chairman Young Sun Ha and President Sook Jong Lee, together with a devoted staff that hails from all across the globe.
  
  Though the size of our staff and scale of our budget may pale incomparison to government and corporate-backed research institutes, there is a reason that our institute was ranked 64th in the world in the 2016 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report. Our ability to compete and establish a globally competitive brand from an office on a tiny alley in the Euljiro neighborhood is thanks to the research produced by our brilliant network, and this is also the source of the great hopes and expectations for our future.
  
  EAI is a network-based organization. We have worked to flexibly andorganically connect South Korea's top experts to build the nation’s intellectual capital. We offer a non-partisan policy vision that transcends generational, regional, and ideological differences, and will double our efforts to expand and deepen our network in order to reflect this vision in policy decision making. In tandem with our current work, EAI will focus on deliverable, future-oriented projects. The task of connecting global leading think tanks and experts to foster global intellectual capital is a critical one. If South Korea is to promise aprosperous, free, and sustainable future, we must facilitate substantive international cooperation and exchange with a broader, more long-term perspective in order to extend our reach to encompass the Korean Peninsula, East Asia, the Asia-Pacific, and the world.
  
  EAI is still a young and experimental organization. With an audacious agenda and a bold blueprint, we are moving towards becoming a truly outstanding institution. I am deeply honored to have been tasked with the operation of this organization and pledge to do my best to fulfill this responsibility. I ask for your support in this endeavor.

About EAI

The EAI was established as an independent think-tank dedicated to developing ideas and formulating policy recommendations on the main challenges facing the region. Through hosting scholarly seminars, forums, education program and various publications it can achieve these aims in creating influential products. The EAI is conducting research activities along with two main programs, the Foreign Affairs and Security Program and the Governance Research Program, which are conducted by the five research centers. Also through the utilization of the research task force team, the EAI addresses imminent and critical issues. In this way by working together with recognized scholars and leading policymakers, the EAI is at the center of producing research outcomes reflecting innovation and influential policy debate. As one of the leading think-tanks in Korea, the EAI is fulfilling the way in forming a true knowledge-net community in Northeast Asia by setting up a system of joint research and scholarly exchanges in the U.S., China, and Taiwan as well as many other countries.