Yesterday, the International Student conference, the Korea Foundation and hes Foundation Hosted a conference on the future of relations between south korea, japan and the United States and the role of digital diplomacy. We will hear from former state Department Officials and representatives of student groups. We thank you all for joining us today. We know it wasnt the easiest commute this morning. For those of you following us on social media, we have created a hashtag for todays conference. Ctrilat. My name is Alexander Evans and i will be your master of ceremonies for todays event. I currently work as the research and Program Coordinator at the center for east Asian Studies within johns hopkins. More importantly for todays n alum of the conference back in 2011. It was that experience that continued to motivate me to study japan and put me on the , particularly given it was right after the march japan was not open. To be able to go in there and have a persontoperson exchange changed my life. Before we get started today, we will have a couple of introductory remarks. I want to introduce the executive director of isc. She served as the director of Media Relations and Public Affairs a legislative researcher for the embassy of the republic of korea in washington, d. C. She has written and spoken on topics related to technology, security, gender and the environment. [applause] thank you for that kind introduction. Thank you for joining us on a very cold morning. You being here is a testament to your support for the next generation of leaders that will strengthen the relations between the u. S. , japan and korea. Ourould like to express gratitude to supporters who made this years forum possible. U. S. Department of state and u. S. Embassy in tokyo, u. S. Japan foundation, Korea Foundation, the center for Global Partnership and the Peace Foundation usa. Isc was able to fly in 21 members for the student conference. Truly an honor working with you all. We look forward to continuing together to empower our student leaders. Committee members met with key experts, government officials and the public to continue building relations to problem solve and continue their search for the truth. A common question was asked of them. How would you handle the situation . What is your background on trilateral relationships that you feel you can continue moving forward . Theres a lot of discussion about u. S. Asia relations and what is going on in the asia region. There was a lot of discussion of fears or capitation about what will happen this year and beyond. I continue to observe our student leaders interacting with these experts and officials, i felt at these. At peace. These are people who are taking into account the relationships thaten three countries will continue to strengthen the relationship no matter how we move forward. , we are awatching nonprofit based in washington, d. C. Whose main goal is to prepare and support the future generation of u. S. Japan and korea. The conference was created in 1984. Students from america and japan worked together to serve as a bridge of understanding across the pacific. Now, that continues to thrive and the Mission Continues to be just as significant today as when it was founded. Launched a second conference the alliance was facing several challenges and the need for improved cultural understanding and people to people diplomacy was vital. Why arers later these conferences so important . This is a major question i asked last as we hear again and again, u. S. Relations with japan and korea are at their strongest ever but alliances are not only built by the government and foundations of the people. It would be unwise to think shortterm. When looking at this years conference in this years symposium, we worked with leaders to make sure we are discussing topics of interest in their field. As i look at them, i see whatever challenges countries may face, we have built lifelong friendships that present it to any obstacles that come my way. If you believe i am painting a rosecolored picture, take a look at the history of our conferences and are accomplished alumni. It is important we carry symposiums to provide opportunities for students to gain leadership skills and expose people to outside cultures to be mutual understanding, friendship, and trust during the three countries. Thank you. [applause] thank you. We know that there is a lot of effort that goes into organizing symposiums, forums, and the discussions will be in no small part to your great effort. It is my honor to introduce an ambassador who will give the final opening remarks. Before that, he served as the ambassador to senegal and the 2015 to january 2017. He was also responsible for policy towards japan and korea, the Deputy Assistant secretary in the bureau of east asian asian affairs,st and when the synonymy struck in 2011, he was serving as the deputy chief and u. S. Embassy tokyo. He has a 36 Year Foreign Service career and it is our great pleasure to have him here today. [applause] good morning, everyone. Thankingto start by you for coming today and grading the snow and cold. It shows how important i think we all feel it is to talk about relations. Korea by, too, wanted to thank linda such a, because i know conference isnt easy to put on. It requires a lot of effort. I wanted to thank you for all the work you have done in assembling a group of students who can talk together. , we are also a nonprofit and washington, d. C. , and our efforts are to strengthen u. S. Relations through programs such as this one. We are delighted to be one of the cohost with the International Student conferences. The third time we are supporting supporting this initiative to bring together American University student leaders. Abouty i wanted to talk bilateral relationships between japan, korea, and United States. My predecessors up here talked about u. S. Alliances with japan and korea. From our perspective in the United States, it is important to see the Alliance Structure in east asia and how we do not have bilateral alliances but a web of contacts and relationships because it would not be possible for the United States to meet our defense obligations to the republic of korea with that to u. S. Bases in japan. Our access it there our access their is because of our relations with japan. It is really one network of obligations and responsibilities we face together. I think it is natural for the United States, japan, and korea to work in thing together because we have shared values. The three countries, are democracies, we believe in human rights, rule of law, and we have a shared love of baseball. [laughter] we also have many shared want to seehey all a stable and peaceful order in northeast asia and the region. Growingy want to see Economic Prosperity around the world. My last assignment before retiring from the state department, i was u. S. Ambassador to senegal, and we worked closely with our friends from japanese and korean governments because we had a lot of shared interest there. For example, the United States had a large peace corps presence in senegal with 250 volunteers. Nexto next the two largest country sending volunteers were korea and japan. A were doing many of the same things American Peace corps volunteers were doing. As i traveled around, i enjoyed meeting young koreans and japanese, who are sacrificing two years of their lives to try and make the world a better place. Me how theed to three countries share common inues and how young people japan, korea, and United States see themselves as global citizens contributing outside of the countries. Will have good conversations today and you are already having good conversations. It is important to acknowledge wildly my car while we have differences, there is tremendous potential for partnership as we advance our common interests around the world. Programs like this where you discuss important issues like digital diplomacy and challenges in the workplace, i hope will create a foundation for stronger trilateral relations going forward. I look forward to hearing your remarks today and i want to thank you for giving me the chance to talk. Thank you. [applause] thank you. Your support of todays events. I would like to ask speakers in the first panel so they can get microphone debt. This first panel focuses on digital diplomacy. Ishink digital diplomacy changing, particularly when we look at the upper level of government. We have a new revolution in political rhetoric and Services Like twitter, but i think it extends much more from that high level. I think the panel will talk about looking at how this change in technology and connection impacts us on a personperson level. Barriers toreat Communication Exchange with the dissonance between all the countries involved in todays trilateral summit. As we decrease distance to technological advancements, that paves a new way how we interact with not just those around us but across the world. While they are finalizing the prep, i want to introduce the a graduate student in the Public Policy program at auburn university. As an american delegate of the globalization and economic 68thd table during the japan america student conference in 2016, should begin interested in Economic Development and will pursue these throughout her graduate career. As a student, she has has several Years Experience in working for University Wide and targeted constituency support. She is an intern at the u. S. Department of federal Service Program where she provides service to the International Program entrepreneurship program. Thank you for the remarks. To begin the panel on digital diplomacy, i will introduce myself and our five panelists and allow student panelists and guest panelists to talk about their experiences about digital diplomacy in the 20 rate. After that, we will open up the floor to discussion. Floor, ipen up the would ask audience members wait to be called on and we will bring you a microphone. Please state your name and affiliation before the question. My name is wallace, and i am a graduate student at auburn university. I am an intern for the department of state and i was delegatejapan american and i would not be on this path today without that experience. Foruld like to thank isc that. Our student panelists are , and shenderson, completed undergraduate studies at John Hopkins University and is pursuing a masters degree in korean studies. Our other student panelists is the vice chair of the japaneseamerican student conferences executive committee, a sophomore studying law, and has been selected to go to korea as a representative of japaneseamerican students to it i will introduce the professionals on our panel. Japanesee director of officer that there since august last year. She has the rank of minister counselor and has served in positions including deputy chief in cambodia, economic counselor in thailand, coordinating civilian military foreign assistance, economic officer in tokyo, and creating programs in japan. She received her bachelors degree in Political Science and her masters in International Affairs from columbia university. Our next panelist currently serves as a fellow of Public Opinion on global affairs. As a nexusly served scholar and is a member of the trilateral working group. He was previously based in seoul, where he was a program officer. He received his bachelors degree in Political Science and his masters degree in international commerce. Our last professional panelist is the Vice President and cofounder of a program which aims to promote Global Awareness through virtual control Language Exchange programs. She worked in japan for the Japan ExchangeTeaching Program and as a Program Manager for the Exchange Foundation in tokyo. She has served as the Cultural Affairs coordinator at the japan information of Culture Center at the embassy of japan in the United States. She received her bachelors degree in japanese and International Studies and a masters in international communication. I would like to let rebecca began. If she could, will you tell us about your viewpoint on government and government actors exercising digital diplomacy across the globe . Is there anyway we can improve the communication and cooperation of these Communication Strategies . First of all, i would like to thank isc for this opportunity. It is surreal to be sitting amongst his fingers speakers, who are far more qualified to speak on the subject than i am. When we are talking about and newdiplomacy approaches of diplomacy and could change in International Policy agendas, this is the estimate leaders, load inherits, so i think it is relevant we are part of the discussion and im happy to be here today. Even though i am not south korean myself, as a representative of the korean student conference, i will do my best to speak from a south korean perspective and do it justice in the discussion today. Going back to digital diplomacy termsays governance, in of where south korea is that today, this country is very technologically advanced, so i , southoving forward korea as a nation is uniquely positioned to take advantage of these new approaches to diplomacy. I think there is a lot of area to drive moving forward. We have seen in the past few years more efforts towards this. You know, i, for one, and appreciative of the fact i can take a 40 minute subway ride and be connected to wifi the entire time. Internet, speed, connectivity, ownership, social media usage, these are things that moving forward will be interesting to see how south korea really takes up the mantle of digital diplomacy and incorporates it to its traditional approaches to reaching out to the rest of the world. As a current moment, we have president who ran a Successful Social Media Campaign process, alection new foreign minister of affairs at the united nations, so highlevel officials decision to take korea into the next stage. Into this newward era, where digital diplomacy is not novel but a norm. Suggestionsve a few for how south korea can make changes moving forward from my own perspective. By no means am i an expert, but i think it would be pertinent for the government, and beyond south korea, it is important to define the objective for digital diplomacy. It is not a bandwagon but taken advantage of these Natural Resources that are ready there. I think it will help south korea fully realize its globalized potential. Another area i would like to see an expansion of is english social Media Presence and also related to delegate a dedicated staff on all platforms. We had twitter, facebook, youtube, the list goes on and on. I think there have been some inroads. There is a new Korea Foundation initiative in a restaurant guide the cap in a restaurant , so i very much appreciate that. I think this could be an area moving forward where we could see more growth. My last point i would like to drive home is it may be presumptuous of me as a in person speaking, but talking youngdigital diplomacy, people do seem to go hand in hand with that. To us, these Digital Tools are not so much new. We grew up with this and have a different way of viewing how these things can be used and we are familiar with it. I would like to see south korea taking advantage of the generation gap and putting more trust in younger people. I think this will be a specific challenge based on the society it currently has, but there is a certain amount of risk taking that comes along with judicial diplomacy. I think moving forward, south koreas position to become a leader in this field, im excited to see moving forward, and i think it can be pertinent to the discussion of trilateral relations. Fantastic. I agree with increasing engagement with the public. Those are great platforms to get more people engaged in Public Administration and politics. Either any ways you think the Public Sector actors can engage with the public digitally decides popular social media platforms . Is there a value in the diplomacy . About digital diplomacy, since i came from japan, i want to share about japanese issues. Use of it, for example, they made a cultural media policy. Based on those policies, they have an account now, for example, twitter, youtube, and one is very famous as a communication tool. You can get a message from your government. For example, last december, there was an abduction problem between japan and north korea, government sent an image of director hes so we can get information from our government now. That this can be more use for our countries. Hearing, we are just the information among japanese the people who are interested in diplomatic issues. Perspective, we can improve some things. Campaigning can spread the information and what we want to tell people all over the world, or they can promote things, like the issue of diplomacy by using digital diplomacy and if they can conglomerate views, like people to people diplomacy with digital property. For example, i joined there to pharmacy i joined their Diplomacy Program last summer between japan and korea, and pictureed when i put a about the problems, they asked careertag, like Japan Exchange program, or Something Like that. If we can collaborate with digital diplomacy and the cultural diplomacy, we can expect more diplomacy in our field. Experience, for with thesome problems u. S. Embassy or something, we have our digital diplomacy and we can make the issue more ivolved to other people, but guess the cultural diplomacy from people to people still has a value. Collaborateis to and cooperation between the diplomacy, digital diplomacy, and safety. I think collaboration is definitely important in bringing this message together into the 21st century and with the technology we have today. Weould like to ask, how can as current public administrators or government representatives, how can we create and maintain relationships of transparency in communications with the public, whether crosscultural or things like that, is it possible to do this through Digital Media or does that come across as impersonal . Where can we go with this . First, thank you for the organizers for organizing this event. We are talking about shared values. This takes my interest. As a koreanamerican working on japan issues for the u. S. Department, the Trilateral Forum is important to be a part of, so thank you. Lets talk about this date department view of digital diplomacy and how we have adapted to the changing environment of communication. Communication in the 20 century, diplomacy, was restricted to how government created to other governments. Talking no government to the public directly. What changed all that . Radio. A huge expansion of radio, the popularity of it and people could communicate directly. Fast forward, and we are not only focusing on the message of that some ofgrams you have been involved in in the past. Fast forward to after september 11, secretary colin powell established a task force on you diplomacy. Ediplomacy and created a transformation. 2008 to theld in georgetown crowd where it was said that it requires the modernization of the state department. We need to trust our people to manage risk, we need to get our people the best technology to liberate them from offices so we can work anywhere or anytime. We need to be better at rewarding creativity, initiative, innovation, and independent thinking. This spurred a lot of programs at the state department. I 24yearold came into the state department as part of the staff on adiplomacy initiative. I had on ediplomacy initiative. I had the privilege of meeting him. We saw how we could engage a young audience in iraq using technology to affect change. Following that, a Senior Advisor for innovation took it to the next level. How do we use web video and social media to reach fine numbers of people we otherwise could not . We did text message reminders to hiv patients knew when to go to check up. We developed services in rural countries, so we were leapfrogging from communities and using mobile banking all groups were supporting our diplomatic initiative. The u. S. Do this when beennments reputation has risk of earth and all these changes in diplomacy are happening rapidly . When we looked at the obama was the first, it administration that utilized facebook and twitter in that expensive way. He saw that in the last president ial campaign and now with President Trump, the use of twitter as a direct messaging. For comparison, in 2013, the state department had 29 million visitors to its main website. Www. State. Gov. Now 48. 5the number is million views, 28 on mobile devices. We can attest that mobile devices are the way we connect, learn, live, dates, shop, and that is the way it diplomacy that andt to living delivering messages. During President Trumps visit hoursa, because of the 24 of new cycle, we not only depend on media outlets, facebook, totter, but we work hard connect images from the white house and state department and others to get our message across during the visit. As we looked at the social media challenges to come and how we are using it strategically, one example is how we went to increase u. S. Japan student double thatd to amount by 2020. One of the things we are using our social media analytics, a tool we did not have in previous years to look at targeted groups of College Students 17 to 25 and respond to civic concerns and address them. We also used digital diplomacy to decode what it means to the average american. State. Gov, we have how each state in the United States contributes to how the state department contributes to that economic growth. Marketplacee this of free exchange, there are challenges because anybody can post anything at any time. We have things that are not true, so that is one of the challenges as diplomats that we have to address and encounter right away. In my own career, i have seen digital diplomacy play part of a tool. N i was in vietnam in 2000 i think it was 2004 we had our first web chat, live web chat with their master at the time. That was unheard of at the time. Vietnam sensors are strong in terms of telling us what organize, even cultural music programs were allowed to be performed. Where we had chat, no previews or censorship for the director to talk directly to general audiences in vietnam was lifechanging and i think it was a start of how you are using digital diplomacy in the country like that. Second example is cambodia. I spent three years and cambodia , a poor, undeveloped country with gdp per capita of 16 Million People but to their roots of the population is under the age of 30, so ripe for digital diplomacy. Ask usbodians information mainly through social media, where they seek other entertainment and information and social media, then television, then radio. Utilizing that, the Embassy Facebook would start with 1000 followers in the first year. Within a few years, it jumped to over 1. 3 million followers in a country where 4 million using the internet. Ofhave captured the audience millions of facebook users, and that is where we can relate information about what is going on in the world, president ial announcements, speeches, and without any censorship or interference. And that a forum where people could comments. Some were negative that many positive, and it allowed Democratic Free speech to flourish, where people can see we have a forum where we accept criticism, praise, and it was good for all. That is to of the ways where the state department has used diplomacy to empower, connect and listen. , ahink that would be a tool huge range of tools were digital diplomacy would continue to revolutionize and will continue between United States and the other countries. With your experience abroad, with facebook, or Something Like that, the best digital diplomacy work best fors to your organization at time, that seemed the best way to do that. Do you think it has improved diplomatic relations . I believe so. It provides an avenue for people to connect to people where they otherwise would not. If you look at twitter followings of President Trump or the pope, average everyday citizens feel they can connect to those people. I cannot tell you how many times i have met people years later and in person and it makes you feel closer to that person and what they stand for and what they have said in the past. I know that twitter, social media, things like that have challenges and we cannot rely on it purely. Face to face exchanges are important. I think it helps as a toll in diplomacy. Fantastic. Ask do you now to think there is a best to do the diplomacy . Use for is there a best strategy to approach how we absorb and use information we receive digitally in diplomatic ways, and how can we relay that to others . Whether it applies domestically or across the medications. If we are getting the message out, i think it is always twitter. There has been a Natural Division that the person is now on facebook but the professional side trends toward twitter. Something always comes to mind. There has been positivity about digital diplomacy. I will offer a different take Public Opinion often do not think highly of social media because we have seen the effects on campaigns. Everyone has the idea that there are these campaigns but as far as the vote, that has not been shown in a number of countries where it hasnt taken over. If you have seen this family cooper movie of 2001 a space odyssey im getting blank looks, maybe a little too old for the crowd but in the beginning, there is a scene called the dawn of man and the ape has a big bone in his hand and he starts to hit things and break things, and then he aalizes this phone can be tool. He is smashing things and envisioning all the things he can hunt, the food he can have, so it is this going to unlock the power of civilization. In the next scene, a tribe comes up and he murder someone. That is basically to me what twitter is. [laughter] and has the power to ring people together, share ideas, but you get on it in one minute and someone gets murdered. It is any kind of conversational naturally turn towards comparison to hit learn hitler. You see that all the time on twitter. To go to elements julie brought up, digital diplomacy will be with us and it is important, but shuman but it will never go away. All of these social tools are what you make of them. Too often, they get away from us and take us into a bad direction. Not to follow up, probably not a great followup to say a bad direction, but the president s president s tweet, when we do polling, the public doesnt one tim to tweet and that comes doesnt want him to treat. To tweet. Supporters, divide basically minorities and men say he should stop great it is an effective and isnt seen as furthering u. S. Strategic goals. Coming back to the Human Elements, that is why conferences are important, and at a young age, to meet people who are going to share same interest. I think you will find over time your lines will intertwine in and out of each other. You meet someone on twitter, you follow them, and the people who are here now, you end up interacting in unusual ways that you would not imagine in the future, so you see them move think thisbs, so i kind of thing will be the backbone of diplomacy in the future. Fantastic. Whatan we decide statements may be made on digital platforms as tools and things like that, how can we filter out what statements or to thes are legitimate public or other nations . Which is authoritatively and which is not as authoritative . My approach is to listen to nothing. [laughter] i have a very strong filter. Anything through twitter, facebook, i take with a grain of salt. It is pr branding. They are trying to get your message out and that is what needs to happen. Dedicated ife more you are trying to look at some problems, so you take one piece of information from twitter and you look at the news, analysts, experts, so this idea that digital diplomacy is going to be big and there, we have to be dedicated about who we listen to, and making sure we do Due Diligence in putting other pieces together. Absolutely. Could you speak to this with your Educational Program experiences, crosscultural and cross communication experiences to add on to that, can you see your perspectives . First, thank you to everyone us here ashaving part of this important discussion, said thank you. Was in 2011, the synonymy in japan, and that was what brought about our organization and our program. I am a former jet participants, for the Japan ExchangeTeaching Program years back, so myself, and other former japanese friends, really wanted to do something for those in japan when this and not be struck. We were all here in d. C. , and we came up with an idea to connect students. We do not have a lot of money and we wanted to do a project that would bring more than what donations would give. And what we have been doing for 5. 5 years our virtual and Language Exchange called global classmates. We take a class of students in the u. S. Studying japanese and a class of High School Students in japan studying english and connect them with an equal an eclassroom. It looks like facebook but on an educational website platform, so it is monitored and secured. For six months, students post messages to each other. Chat, it isnt a web is all posting messages, and they talk about fun things they like to talk about, like music or what food they are eating or what is cool. We do fun topics like what is on your bucket list . Or if you could be anyone for a day, who would you be, and why. In englishhey write and japanese, allowing them to practice what they study and allowing the other side to earn to learn. It is collaborative. It has been interesting to hear more from the government, the policy sector, and Public Opinion, and students. We have taken these tools and brought it to the educational level. I think what has been hit upon is important is that you were human connection, and everyone is saying it is so important. We do not see digital diplomacy as digital versus in person, but rather the pipeline to in person. We have all had an experience in our life that somehow sparked way tot in us and in a really be curious about International Things or learn a language. There is a program in japan and they do International Exchange programs for students in japan, and they have a large amount of data about the students on their programs. The big thing they found is that everyone had that moment. For one kid, it was the new International Student from the u. S. Who he fell four and all of a sudden he wanted to speak english and learn of her culture. For someone else, it was when they were in school, someone talked to them about another country. I think it is important that with digital diplomacy or these Digital Tools, we think about forting touch points students, especially our youth, to somehow get interested in furthering and opening up their world. I think all of these are important and as you were talking about, right now, we only work with the u. S. And japan, but having south korea with all of their technological advances, i think having waything in an educational or in each classroom would really help. With our program, the majority is six months of writing messages online and we do have gifts, and af video competition. We currently, as of the past summer, we are excited to add on the global classmates summit, which thank you for the foundation in the u. S. Embassy in tokyo and center for mobile partnerships, and it was free. Our global classmates Virtual Exchange is also free, so students and teachers pay nothing. The u. S. And Japan Foundation is also a big funder. Having resources and funding is important to get youth energized, but with the summit, when we brought people in person, they had talked to each other for six months online. You met in the twitter online sphere and when you meet each other, you never met, but you have, so it is awkward, do we hug . What do we do . But our students had eight nights together in d. C. , but it was amazing how quickly they could want with each other, learn, and help each other. I think looking at digital diplomacy is a pipeline and a way to allow our youth to gain touching points and opportunities despite their socioeconomic background or if they do not have access to International Things, it allows for that. I think that is about it for that. Fantastic. I agree, teaching across cultures and programs like this, it is a way we can inoculate and train people to interact with others during cultural and digital platforms and get involved in International Relations and engagement. I would like to open up the panel. I have a question. I have lots of questions. How much of an impact does cultural diplomacy have on mitigation, whether cultural or educational exchanges, or any other . In what ways can cultural diplomacy is it insufficient by itself . How can we supplement these strategies question mark just combining digital diplomacy with people to people diplomacy, or are there any other thoughts . That is one these i forgot to ourion, but the impact Virtual Exchange has, which goes to that, so we do a robust exit survey. The teachers agree they will do it but we have a 90 return rate. Last year, we had over 1100 from our students. It shows that 90 of the students are now more motivated to communicate in the language they study and warm and more motivated to study abroad, to engagement International Things, so online or with digital exchanges, it can be incremented directly. They have a huge impact. We showed at the summit that it and gets implemented correctly. What you are talking about is known as the contact area. In academic literature, that isnt proven. Withu come into contact someone, the theory is you grow a fondness for someone. With academic literature, it goes both ways. The idea you interact more with someone isnt id does not mean you grow a fondness. It is about how you engage in the type you engage with. That Human Element of surrounding yourself with like i did people can be important, even though that would run the risk of creating that bubble. I think we should not get ahead of ourselves when we assume that just interacting with someone will predispose you to liking you more. I will take the opposing view and say it helps. Anything helps. Unofficialsnt about or meeting in a meeting room. Any people to people, culture to culture or student to student, we think that leads to greater mutual understanding. One example outside of my professional world, there were afteriots in los angeles an africanamerican student was shot and killed by the koreanamerican. It fueled tensions between the korean american and African American community in los angeles. Why father at the time, as koreanamerican worker, set up a exchanges have between innercity africanamerican students and korean students and it current and it continued several years. It did not solve interracial tensions but created a greater understanding and appreciation of the various cultures we are dealing with. Thisa big believer in comes into interactions having a positive effect. Another question, in what ways can civilian and Government Entities cooperate and cord made programs . Coordinate programs . Lets tackle that. I think from someone in the fields, we are a nonprofit, and we look for anyone who wants to fund us. The u. S. Embassy in tokyo was great. They are the ones that i went to ruths office in 2012 and we had all these paper with maps like these are the schools we will work with, great, awesome, how can we support you . Energy having just that was in the government of willing to take risks you talked about is important to kind of try Different Things, and we work with those private companies. Think there are organizations that can bring those together but i think there is a lot to be said for. And the program is great. It isnt digital diplomacy, but it is coming together private and public that can do a lot of good. Fantastic. One last question on no messaging. What are ways in which government administrations can maintain consistency . Traffic of increased that the state Department Website has received an individual actors and their own messaging through their own digital platforms, how can you maintain insistence he, and if we cannot maintain consistency . If we cannot, how can they could how can they correct inaccuracies question mark you cannot base inaccuracies . Policies and strategies are not relayed through one tweet. If a u. S. Government official tweets something, we have a press conference, we follow up, and an interview, so it is part of a larger piece, so it becomes a part of that messaging to make that consistent. I would like to open questions to the public. We will go around with microphones. Goould go ahead and let you since you are in front of me. State your name. Iam a recent bachelor am a recent graduate and serving as american vice chair. My question is while technology has made information more accessible, it has become easy to weaponize social media by spreading false information. As we are learning from the current investigation into russias interference in the 2016 election, it is now possible for foreign entities to run targeted misinformation campaigns, so what effect does this have on global diplomacy . Does the panel believe we should regulate these means of medication to prevent digital attacks from foreign entities . Prevent of these to digital attacks from foreign entities . That information is widespread now and faster than ever. Terrorist actors also use social media to recruits, so it isnt always a positive influence. There are negative aspects of social media and twitter. Flaws, it ishe overall a positive tool and we should correct those errors. Do your homework. You have to have integrity in terms of seeking out information from a wide range of sources. Really brought in that knowledge to diverse news outlets and sources. Shows how it also important it is for us to get to know each other. It gives even more ways of white digital diplomacy is so important and accessible is largely free, so i think we need a better harness and how to incorporate them into our Education System and use them in ways to further get to know each other so when we hear things, we can say, is that really true . Rather than just ate it eat it up. Another question from the audience . My question is for karl. 2001i appreciated the reference. I have seen the movie. My question is about the use of twitter and your polling data on the president s use of it. I wonder if an issue you are finding is one of content versus medium, but if it is the medium, what does it say about digital diplomacy . At least one person has seen it. Int said, that is excepting and of itself. The content versus media, i think it if you hadnt. I think it is specifically the content. We had a list of, do you view these approaches as effective ways to achieve u. S. Foreignpolicy goals . Them,ot remember all of and we have done this on the advice of one of our Advisory Board members who had come in, so it was specifically counted on that. Other things we are seeing, i will have to go back and review them but i do not think there are problems with the medium, specifically just what is being put out there. The next question i am jenna gibson with the korean economic institute. When i was going to Journalism School five years or 10 years ago, everyone was excited about all you could do with the internet, social media, a way for people to interact with the media, respond to the content they are seeing. Now we are seeing a lot of newspapers online shutting down their comment sections because it has come into a huge fight and there is no value to that that they see. I am wondering from the diplomacy side, that was another thing people were excited about, we can hear back from the audience and not just a oneway conversation. Im wondering if you are seeing a similar thing and if there is value to the conversation or if it is just people ultimately ending up and fights and being trolls . [laughter] i do not know if this will get back to your underlying question but this goes back to the question about limiting free speech and if we have to go into some of these, but in korea, a lot of ways you have content, you log on to things and you have to go through a main policy by entering some numbers and. In america we tend to think highly of free speech and protected at all costs. That is great, but we need to look at other options. Not all countries have that specific freespeech policy and they do fine. There are still a lot of these things going on, but there is some measure of accountability. I think that is what is missing essentially. Important to is create the rules of the road. Many facebook pages have rules on users. Isyou post something that dangerous or inappropriate, we move them. People are aware of that caveat. Having said that, i think that robust debate, whether criticizing the u. S. Government for anything or not, i think it is healthy. And to see what people have on their minds in terms of a certain policy or viewpoints, i think that is useful. Next question. Hello, my name is growing the roy lee. My question is for the two student panelists. I have experienced a huge generation graph using social gap using social media compared to how my parents and grandparents consume information. I was criticized by my grandparents for getting news from twitter a while back but now i can say i am getting information directly from the president , so . [laughter] asquestion is, how are we young generations unique in using social media . What is the difference on how we compared toh it older generations and how is that affecting Health Information will be consumed in the future . I absolutely agree with that question there. I think that is at the core of the discussion. Diplomacy and then people goes hand in hand, so look atorward, as we the man so, there is a lot to be discussed. Discussions, it is interesting to see how we consume Information Online has already established this connection and trust, especially between south korea and japan with Popular Culture being very much per trade through the digital means. There and connection something to work off of. It is exciting moving forward with the new means we have without familiar we are with it as we grow up as these develop and how that will influence relations going forward. We are so i think the foregoing into the year, i was just exposed to the information for media. If i am living in japan, we are exposed to the information for like, we got a lot of information about history goalpost. Media, soed by that after going through that problem, i noted this is a real career. It is different from what i expected. I just focused on that the problemart or between japan and korea, but korea has a lot of cultural and music access, or the food, everything, so i did not i could not gather the whole picture from the media. Even if we are flexible and we can get a lot of information, we still need to know how it is in that country in the real meaning. It is difficult to express, but our issuesed to keep to know the countries, even if we can get a lot of information. Another question . Yes. Alexander evans. One of the themes that has come across in this panel is the importance of technology and Digital Media as a catalyst, whether good or bad. This is related but not as closely to the other questions. What does this mean in terms of the education of the Education Systems in these three countries . Andhese tools are important can be used for either incredibly good deeds or incredibly bad, how are these three countries approaching educating their citizens about the use of technology . Are some of them doing poorly . Orbe both from professionals students, what have you seen that indicates where the future is going in this regard, in terms of educating citizens how to use Digital Media . I have experience only with the u. S. And japan. We are working with 31 high schools in this country. , we havest six cycles a hundred high schools in each country. Im gaining my response from that experience. Open to is much more this Technology Idea and allowing students to use it and learn from it then japan is. A lot of the schools have google classroom, they are using that. In japan, i havent heard of anyone using google classroom. It was difficult to find a platform that would be able to be accessed through the japanese kind of firewall that they have. Available,t facebook is available, skype isnt available. I think the u. S. Has a lot of work to do as well, in regards to that. I think one really important tong is allowing the use understand with the internet can do, both good and bad. We all know about things that have happened when people tweeted things they shouldnt have. Adults, theres a lot of things that happen online that are not great things. But students wont be able to figure out what they can do until they can kind of in a safe environment play around with a little bit. Its really important to teach the youth how to be digital citizens, and do that safely and do that well, and understand kind of how to read information and take it in. And that is not all real. Anyone else . Was there another question . I am an Exchange Student from and i was studying political signs at American University. Thisnt understand diplomacy can promote students and enjoy a high level of technology. Thent to think about serious situation that we are in with the threat of north korea and then i want to know how can we use this kind of diplomatic diplomacy to deal with this kind of threats to our three countries. [laughter] diplomacy is a little bit after the north korea policy. Government to government to government statements that make sure that on a pressureing campaign, taking press statements in public statements together, and publicizing those. When we have trilateral meetings, we make sure we have good press conferences and interviews, so we can relay that we have united front and that the ultimate goal is the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. In terms of messaging, we could use that tool to do that. Another question. My question is about the economic gap and people who have can buy more convenient devices. Thinkk how do you guys about this situation, especially from the education perspective . Thats why its really important that schools offer their students, all schools offer their students a chance to interact with the internet and with online tools and understand what that is, especially in those areas where kids dont have smart phones they might not have laptops at home or ipads. School might be their only option. Its important to have the schools connected, have devices thatable, have classes teach them different tools that are available. As a great Online Learning tool for learning languages that are free. They were great translation devices websites or downloadable things you do but on your computer that are free. I think having the knowledge is really important. And then after you have the tools of the devices, incorporating programs like ours ,hat can connect students allows them to further the world around them through the internet. Its important for governments to make sure their schools are connected, otherwise, they will be left behind and will be like not being able to read almost. If you graduate from high school and you dont know how to search online, its going to be hard. Go ahead. Is nicole. Thanks for coming to speak with us today. Currently serving as the recruitment chair on the American Executive Committee of the japan america student conference. , all of ourdering countries are ruled ours and we have a big responsibility when it comes to using Digital Technology and acting digital diplomacy. Think that allowing politicians, especially the freelynt, to use twitter is, as you said, sometimes extremely unhelpful and sometimes, extremely irresponsible as well. Im wondering if you think, in your opinion, that it would be a good idea for the enactsnts to ,estrictions on individuals politicians in social media and if that would be just or what the implications of that might be. I seem to be the one that is the most skeptical of twitter and digital, but i would oppose that. Just because we have someone now in office who is not using it in the best way, i dont think its a good reaction to say no one should be able to do that and take it all away. I think its really important politicians, especially at the local level, my suspicion is that politicians at local levels really are able to use and speak to record to their constituents. Has full american constituents, but how many of us actually talk to him, but on the local level when you can interact, thats incredibly important. I dont have any Background Research to back that up. Thats kind of how i feel it would play out. I agree. Still being able to use social media and digital diplomacy platforms, like in local Elections Officials and things like that, local and State Government is probably one of the best ways to reach out to their constituents and people in their state or their county or jurisdictions to communicate information and really information effectively. Are there any other questions from the audience . The gentleman in the back. Good morning. Im a consultant here in d. C. What you allus think, if theres a consensus in the United States that theres a conversation going on about the theter responsibility for private sector for Companies Like google, facebook, twitter take a more proactive role in shaping the common conversations that are happening on their mediums. I was wondering if theres a similar kind of conversation happening in japan and korea. Ending the conversation and korea has been somewhat stunted because they just went through a phase where their Intelligence Services were trying to influence the online discussion and several of them have been put in jail. And thats where the conversation is in korea right now. Next question. And currently serving on the American Executive Committee and my question really revolves around Mental Health and i think that the conversation has recently opened up in our country and thats really positive. Noticed juste recently my high school where weve had a lot of suicide and just by going to college, its really disturbing to me that social media has become a source where they want to avoid awkward conversation with a wifi more information and has resulted in a disconnect between people. I think that moving on, its really important to bring back the positive aspects of in person communication, because i think when people look at social media, they are either viewing a perfect image, or something that has been skewed. I question is in terms of the intergenerational looking at the government, how to socially affect the future of our Mental Health in our country . Thats a very big question. And of gets only social media exacerbatesing or the Mental Health issues. Thaty kind of messaging will separate people out and make them feel more loan, which obviously, social media helps to drive. One of the examples, in co off thisople jump bridge into the river. The local government put signs that read like you are not alone, there is hope, and suicides increased. Any time theres been this type of messaging that takes people away from people, its going to fuel that. Anotherld like to add observation or example for my own experience. Very recently, a very popular member of a korean boy band committed suicide, i believe. And from what i saw, the response to that on social media that was very incredibly collaborative. There was people messaging me classmates say if anyone wants to talk, im here. Very optimistic and good thing to see. I think that in many ways, social media can actually be a place for it would come together to talk about these issues area the yes, they are very important. Going into your career, i can i exchangeorean with korean friends and we can share our pictures and i can know what someone is doing or Something Like that. Closer to her. True that social media sometimes makes people lonely or feel lonely and also separated from the group or Something Like that, but if we can change the way of using, it can be also a connecting people to people. It depends a lot about how you feel about humans overall. [laughter] another question. And in charge of [indiscernible] , many koreans denied to use [indiscernible] because they think it is a waste of time or it is hard to catch korea,trend because in there is and faster changing trends. [indiscernible] they are exhausted to hear the fake news. I want to get your panels thoughts about thinking about the problem to be observed for the new future. To clarify, your question is with all the tools that are out there in the fake news, how do we go about kind of understanding the tools that are available . [indiscernible] with what weve been doing, it hasnt the one issue that we see is, for example, our students connect on me classroom that we provide for them for six months. But after that, we say you should connect with each other and you can talk on facebook or whatever. , we found that in japan, basically no one in high school is using facebook. In the u. S. , as will students are using facebook, but far less than my generation. The rest commonality they have is twitter. Have everyone is using line, and in the u. S. , no one knows what line is. Theres this issue of where to reconnect . I have a friend yesterday who the baneing apps are of my existence and it is a screenshot of his phone he had like five different texting apps with five messages, 6, 7, because we all use my friends in japan and i talked the align, my friends around the world use whatsapp. My mama use the iphone text. Some people use facebook chat. It does get to be too much. I think after time, things kind of go by the wayside because we all tend to move with one thing. Or several things. Have a way of how we could go about i think it naturally just kind of happens. And its an explosion right now of apps and Different Things we can use. We just found something, the online tool we are using is free. We just found something that was free the works at both schools and we just ran with it and we are using it in a way it is not meant to be used, we dont have money to create Something Else right now, and thats another thing. Find something that works for you and just use that one. If you need to switch to Something Else, you can, but trying to do everything is too much as well. I dont know if that really answers your question. Thef it what we will see in future is twitter will have a blue checkmark for verified accounts i did we see something emerged that is all blue checkmarks. Everyone has to be verified so you know you are dealing with a person who says who they are. Do this all the time, its called social desirability bias. ,f you sit down with someone they are more likely to express opinions that they think are socially acceptable. The way tond further get from people, the more their opinions come out. If you sitting with someone, their opinions will be close to what they think a socially acceptable. On the phone, less so, but still there. If you remove the Human Elements, that all of these other opinions come out, like julie mentioned. There is some value in knowing what people are actually thinking, even if theyve been hiding for a long time. Eventually we see some sort of system, wered people can communicate with the people that they know that verified that will hopefully bring some stability back to the online discourse. Next question . The woman right here. Theres a microphone behind you. I and page cunninghams just to congratulate the organizers, this is a fantastic program and panel. The future is bright and im encouraged. I was into the discussion im wondering about the ability to use digital diplomacy a little thateyond the education shaanxi has spoken about a little bit more into the Public Policy round. Dialogs inck to conversation. Im really specifically interested in this trilateral discussion and the mechanics of it. And did all of you take utilize any ofd these various digital platforms available prior to this panel . It seems like it could be an opportunity to start a conversation in a dialogue on a variety of topics. And then collaborator bring together people facetoface for further conversation that could advance whatever the issue is being discussed. Im curious about the mechanics of not just this panel, but the conversations with your different conferences have worked and if you havent done it, have you considered doing it . Is there a place for utilizing this different platforms to advance some of the other policy issues we are facing . Think these are prime examples of it. We are likely to become executive to many members, and over the course of an entire connecting on facebook, gmail, collaborating, planning a lot. We get to come together and meet in person, i do really think we are really utilizing these Digital Tools and in our way, were acting as diplomats. Thank you for that question. As kind of where we are at. I would agree with that. Experienceing that of being accepted, or attending the conference six months in the future. And already laying the foundations of friendship, we did through Google Hangouts and skype and things like that. You need to and you are like do we hug . I feel like i know you really well but we never actually met. Idea. S a really great how do you take it to the next level and institutionalize that. Were thinking about in the coming year for both organizations. This morning i was wondering whether this event was going on because of the snow and the twitter account said yes, it is still on, please come this morning. In terms oflpful how you go through your everyday routine. Planning for all these organizations involved, that is definitely worth taking a closer look at. Mother question from the audience another question from the audience . The gentleman in the back here . It seems that there is a , doer of the World Wide Web you think thats a real , whatility, and if so could you do to prevent them from happening and keeping the World Wide Web worldwide . I dont know really about that. Is the on the scope of my work. In general, english has been the language of choice for the internet. Whether the regional aspects are growing or not, thats why we promote english learning and a lot of our cultural exchanges and programs. Crosses a little label just. I think i will continue to be the trend. Another question. Speaking to that point, locally, with what just happened with Net Neutrality reveal, we for a while have seen the are not as a public sphere and the public product. I believe thats how it should become this tool it is there for public use. Net neutrality reveal, we are moving into an age where we can almost privatize the lines of communication and i think that is sort of really interesting, and not necessarily in the best way. They goes back to the question in terms of the economic gap. We are seeing people cannot charge higher prices to have. Ccess if you want to say communicated the highest rates, you have to pay the highest for it. Its really interesting this is happening in the United States. At uno how it is in japan or south korea, in terms of these kind of rules. And its really interesting to see how these things are being shaped, not only by users, but by actual policies and corporations. We are seeing compartment rosacea and cash ifd compartmentalization these guidelines are put back in place. Would tend to think of this as policy driven. People in Different Countries like things designed in different ways. Websites,to a korean it is designed to differently. How the content is laid out, how wide. Theres what everyone ever was going to accessing google, but they are also going to continue to have their neighbor and thats going to be laid out in different ways. This tiered system will continue to exist, im not that worried about seeing websites breakup into different regions. I think that is a most natural. Almost natural. Another question or comment . Andy name is Bridget Roddy i work in the office of diplomacy and i want to thank julie for mentioning how diplomacy is now embraced by the state department. One of the programs they launched is the virtual student Foreign Service. We are not 35 agencies and we rebranded to be called the virtual student cycle. I wanted to ask you a question as well. How do you think that students, being involved in governments, contribute to digital diplomacy and where do you see that going . At the very good thing. The students want to get experience in the Public Sector and try internships early on or try Networking Opportunities with different individuals across the board in all these different departments. Public sector departments, should say. I think its a really great thing and it connects so many people i just had a meeting with the state department yesterday, talking ashley one of our coordinators and interns and she says there are 1200 interns this year, which astounds me. They all do different types of research for the government representatives, for the Foreign Service officers, individuals , i have nothing but positive things to say about it. Connect, we can do google, skype, different Digital Media platforms to do research or provide research to ssos and government representatives for them to go compile the information or put it in such a way to where they can distillate and their location, domestically or internationally. Its a fantastic program. Beyond, i 2018 and think its important for sure with the rise of technology and how we are approaching digital diplomacy, to try to keep that weand to just ensure that are highquality level of by state actors and nonstate actors. That goes. Sting how question . The gentleman over here. Going back to a carlson about his projection for verified system or a more korea like system for the internet, i asder how you view that negatively impacting the usefulness of this forum . I look at diplomacy being into to anything, rather than a one way we are telling you what we think or we want you to think. Fewer reinjecting thats ability to it, you lose the honesty, which was very helpful for predicting things like brexit or even trumps election. I wasnt necessarily speaking about the internet as a whole, but just one current social Networking Service site just on that, where people can go on and eliminate all the trolls and the people who were trying to start trouble just want to argue. If you think you are right, theres a lot of value in getting real opinions and understanding exactly where we are as a country. A lot of the racism that has come out, these are things that we knew were there, but were and nownder the radar suddenly bubbled out into full view. I think that has been, right now, not positive, but its making this deal with it as a country. Eventually, inc. There will be something good that comes out of it. Aytime youre talking about real name system were verifone systems, he can be problematic, because inevitably, that social desirability bias will tend to suppress what people are really thinking. There would bee amazing great tools we see in digital diplomacy and we have to accept the bad along with the good. In bangkok, we had several trolls trolling our ambassador. Reallye of the threats got to a vital level and we have to utilize context and local government and have the police and Security Services investigate. These are things that we have to let ourselves adapt to. I still believe in that connectivity. Its got to be a colin response. It cant be a oneway communication. Whatever risks and challenges there are, you have to find ways to adapt. Host i think we have time for one more question. Fair anymore from the audience. And serving as the chair and my question would be how do you organize the information . Theres too much information and sms and twitter and youtube its really hard to organize myself and its really chaotic and information goes past and it just keeps moving. All the information flows and flows and flows. People read news or organize in your brain . Do you have any tools . Im just curious how did people organize information themselves . For me, number one is to accept the fact that you cant read everything. You are just going to miss a lot of stuff and thats how its going to be. Even though i have the most skeptical person appear about things, i love twitter. Twitter is great if you use it for the right people. As much as i know there are always some other things that go on on twitter, i rarely see any of that. Have a very curated list of people i know are going to put together good news outlets are going to provide commentary. For me, its a great way to stay in touch with what people are thinking outside of what they are writing. But they write in their own running commentary, things are just breaking or before the have a chance to more formally write it down, its a great outlet. I think you have to be careful about who you were a following and be ruthless about cutting people. It might be your friends, but they are not providing some of that content, just cut them and connect with them in person. Is a great note to rep everything up and end on. I was about the time for digital diplomacy panel. We want to thank all of our speakers, carl, julie, rebecca, for all their information and discussion and answering questions. 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