The Korean Peninsula Peace Forum 2021 took place on 17 November at King’s and saw topics ranging from denuclearisation and geopolitics to culture and the prospect of reunification discussed by guests.

The event was hosted by the London Asia Pacific Centre for Social Science, a joint initiative between King’s and SOAS, with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the UK.

Professor Ramon Pacheco Pardo, head of the Department of European and International Studies at King’s, said: “The forum is an incredibly important event and it was a pleasure to bring people together again at King’s this year. I am grateful to our panellists for providing some fascinating and invaluable insight as well as to our audience for their participation and insightful questions.

“We look forward to working with our colleagues at SOAS and the embassy again at future forums and on continuing to build on the collaborative work across our institutions.”

Korean Ambassador the UK, Gunn Kim delivered an address to open this year’s proceedings, alongside Professor Funmi Olonisakin, Vice President (Global Engagement) and Vice-Principal (International), at King's, and Professor Adam Habib, Principal and Director, SOAS.

Professor Pacheco Pardo chaired the first panel and was joined by Reinhold Brender, Head of Division Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific, European External Action Service; Kim Saeme, KF Indo-Pacific Programme Visiting Fellow, RUSI; and Dr Avinash Paliwal, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, SOAS.

The second panel was chaired by Dr Tat Yang Kong from SOAS, who was joined by Ambassador John Everard, former UK Ambassador to the DPRK; Dr James Hoare, former UK Chargé d'Affaires to the DPRK; and Hong Juhyoung, Korean Peninsula and Foreign Affairs Reporter, Segye Times.

Both panels took questions from audience members and the event was streamed live around the globe on YouTube. A reception was hosted after the event for guests.