Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Japan Korea Cooperation 20180104

Again, good morning and welcome to the fifth annual United Statesjapankorea trilateral symposium organized by International Student conferences and generously sponsored by Sasakawa Peace foundation usa and the Korea Foundation. We thank you all for joining us on this cold and blustery day as impacted hopefully other parts of the east coast more than us but we know it wasnt the easiest commute this morning. For those of you that i follow us and paying attention today on social media we like to point out that we have greater a hashtag for todays conference and that is hashtag isctrilat. For those of you not following on instream and twitter that at so my name is Alexander Evans and i will be your master of ceremonies for todays event and i currently work as the research and Program Coordinator at the center for east Asian Studies within Johns Hopkins. The preps perhaps more portly r todays event i am a lump of the 63rd japan america student conference back in 2011. I think in a lot of ways it was that experience i really continued to motivate me to study japan at the got a path that it am in the career today because of that experience. Particularly given that it was right after the march 11 triple disaster him an opportunity when japan was not open to many students to be able to go in and have persontoperson exchange was something that it may sound corny but it changed my life. So before we get sore today we will have a couple of introductory marks funds first like to introduce miss linda butcher, executive director of isc. Prior to this role she served as director of Media Relations and Public Affairs at the Korea Economic Institute of america and a legislative researcher for the congressional session at the embassy of the republic of korea in washington, d. C. She is written and spoken topics of technology, security, gender and the environment. So we look for to have her. Welcome to todays event. Him [applause] thank you, alex, for the very kind introduction, and thank you all for joining us on this very cold morning. You being here is a testament to your support of the next Generation Leaders who continue to strengthen relations each whingers u. S. Japan and korea. On behalf of International Student conferences would like to express our deep gratitude to supporters to make this years week long form possible. To u. S. Department of state and u. S. Embassy embassy and tokyo, u. S. Japan foundation, Korea Foundation, Japan Foundation concern for Global Partnership and Sasakawa Peace foundation. Because of these supporters i was able to fly and 21 of our distinguished executive Committee Members for this japan america student conference and the conference for this time and muchneeded program. It has truly been and are working with you all and look for to continue to gather to empower and support our student leaders. In the course of this week the Committee Members met with key experts, government officials, media and the public who are looking to them to continue building relations to problem solve and to continue their search for the truth. Common question that was asked of them was how would you handle the situation, or what is your background on trilateral relationship that you feel you can continue moving forward in this . And although its only the fourth day of 2018 2018 theres of discussion about u. S. Is relations about what is going on is a lot of discussion about what will happen and beyond. But as i continue to observe our student leaders interacting with these experts and these officials i really felt at peace, i felt that these are people take into account the relationship between the three countries, the relationships that will last a lifetime and theyll continue to strengthen the relationship no matter however we may move forward. Those are watching, we are not profit based in washington, d. C. Whose main goal are to prepare and support the future generation of u. S. Japankorea. Japan america student conference was great in 19 did for the relations between japan and america were in decline. The two countries would go to war, student from american japan worked together to serve as a bridge of understanding and friendship across the pacific. Now 83 years later its Mission Continues the justice in the city today as when it was founded. In 2008 isc launched a second conference. Although relations have been strong for decades, it was founded in a Timely Alliance was facing several challenges and the need for improved cultural understanding of people to people diplomacy was vital between the two countries. Now ten years later cast has evolved to identify as a future leader will continue serving as bridges and ambassadors to their countries. So why are these conferences and this symposium so important . This this is a major question id last year. As we hear again and again use relations with japan and korea are stronger than ever and the americans strongest allies. But allies are not only built by government. The foundation is the people. It would be unwise for us to not only think shortterm but to begin to pass the torch and begin preparing next generation of u. S. Asiapacific leaders. So when looking at this years conference and this symposium we work with our student leaders to make sure were discussing topics of interest to them as we continue in their field. And as i i look at them i see whatever challenges our three countries may face we have passed chapters about lifelong friendships that were present or any obstacles if you believe on a damn rosy compay shall recommend you take a look at the history of our conferences and how it shapes the worldviews of our alumni. We continue to carry conferences and symposiums to provide opportunities for students to gain leadership skills and to expose people to outside cultures in order to gain mutual understanding, friendship and trust between the three countries. Thank you. [applause] thank you. We know that theres a lot of effort that goes into organizing Symposium Forum and life and enjoyable discussions will be in no small part to your great effort. Next it is my great honor to introduce ambassador James Zumwalt will give the final opening remarks are to begin chief executive officer of Sasakawa Peace foundation usa in february 2017. Before that brings a serve as the ambassador to the public of senegal and the republic of guinea. From 2015 to january 2017. He was responsible for policy toward japan and korea as Deputy Assistant secretary in the beer of east Asian Affairs within u. S. Department of state. And when the great east japan earthquake and tsunami struck japan in 2011 ambassador zumwalt will serve as a deputy chief of mission a u. S. Embassy tokyo. He also has a 36 Year Foreign Service careers spanning across the globe, and so it is our great pleasure to have them hie today. [applause] good morning, everyone. I wanted to start by thanking you all for coming today braving the snow and cold. It just shows how important i think we all feel it is to talk about u. S. Japankorea relations. So its wonderful to see you all today. I, too, wanted to take linda butcher because i know such a conference is not easy to put on. Its really important that it requires a lot of effort, and so i want to thank you linda and i see for all the work youve done in assembling such an august group of students who can come and talk together. Briefly on Sasakawa Peace foundation, we are also a nonprofit based in washington, d. C. And our mission is to strengthen usjapan relations through education and research through programs such as this one. And were delighted to be one of the cohosts of the fifth Trilateral Forum with the International Student conferences. This is the third time were supporting this initiative to bring together korean, japanese and American University student leaders. I briefly wanted to talk about trilateral relationship between japan, korea and the United States and several of my predecessors up here talked about u. S. Alliances with japan and korea, but from our perspective and the United States its really important to cdfi structure in east asia and how we dont have too bilateral alliances. We really have a web of contacts and a web of relationships because of something would that be possible, for example, for the United States to meet our defense obligations to the republic of korea without access to u. S. Bases in japan its because of our alliance with japan. So from the perspective of the United States, these are not two separate alliances. Its really one network of obligations and of responsibility that we face together. But also i think its natural for the United States, japan and korea to Work Together and think together because we have so many shared values. The three countries, our democracy. We believe in human rights, in rule of law, and perhaps most important with a shared love of these. We also have many shared interests, certainly the republic of korea, japan and the United States all want to see a stable and peaceful order in northeast asia and in the region. We really want to see a growing Economic Prosperity around the world. I last assignment before retiring from the state department i was u. S. Ambassador to senegal and guineabissau and we worked very closely with our friends from the japanese and korean governments. Because we have a lot of shared interests there. For example, United States had a very large peace corps present in senegal with 250 volunteers but the two next largest country sending volunteers to senegal were korea and japan, the volunteers were throughout the country many of the same things that American Peace corps volunteers were doing. As i travel to senegal i really enjoyed meeting with young koreans and young japanese who were sacrificing to use otherwise to go volunteer overseas to try make the world a better place to it was really gratified to see that but it also reinforced to the other three countries share common values and how young people in japan, korea and the United States really see themselves as global citizens want to make contributions outside their own countries. So i think its really important for us i i know we look good conversations today and you already having some good conversations but its important for us to acknowledge while we may have differences, our commonalities are more important than our differences and theres tremendous potential for partnership as we Work Together to advance our common interests around the world. So programs like this one where youre going to be discussing some important issues like digital diplomacy and challenges in the workplace, i hope will only create a foundation for Even Stronger trilateral relations going forward. I look forward to hearing your conversations and your remarks today and i want to thank you all for inviting me and give me the chance to talk. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you, ambassador zumwalt, thank you again to the Sasakawa Peace foundation usa for the support of todays event. I would now like to ask all the speakers for the first panel to head to the stage. So this first panel today will focus on digital diplomacy. While i think in a lot of ways digital diplomacy is changing, take a look at say the upper level of government, we certainly have a new revolution and political rhetoric on service such as twitter but i think it also expands much more than just from that high level. I hope with the panel to think what the panel will talk about today is looking at how this change in technology and connection impacts access on a persontoperson level. Obviously before one of the great barriers to Communication Exchange was the distance between all of these countries involved in todays trilateral summit. But as we kind of decrease this in the means of new Technological Advancement and services, that really pays a new way to gingerly interact not just with those around us meeting but around the world. And so while they are finalizing the prep id like to introduce the moderator for todays first panel, Wallis Stanfield is a a graduate student in the Public Administration and Public Policy program at Auburn University. As an american delegate of the globalization and Economic Development roundtable during the 68th japanamerican student conference in 2016, she became interested in trade policy and Economic Development and will continue to pursue these throughout her graduate korea. As a student should set several years working in universal level philanthropy and development both our University Wide giving and targeted constituency support. She is currently an intern for use department of states virtual Student Program were supervised Research Support for womens Economic Empowerment to Global Entrepreneurship program. We look forward to the panel which she will eat. Thank you. So thank you, ambassador zumwalt and linda for those remarks. And thank you as well. To begin the panel on digital diplomacy im going to introduce myself and my five panels and then allow first the student panelists and that our guest analysts to each talk about their own expenses and perspective about digital diplomacy in the 21st century. After that will open up the floor to questions and discussion. When we open up the phone to questions and answers id like to ask the audience members please wait to be called on and will bring you a microphone and then we ask a question please state your name and your affiliation before the question. Thank you thank you so much. Again my name is Wallis Stanfield and im at Auburn University faculty serve as an intro for the department of state and i was also the ctiic japanamerican student conference american delegate and i can say that i i wouldnt don the path today without that experience side like to thank isc for that. Our student panelists are rebecca anderson, she is is the chair of the 11th koreaamerica student conference, American Executive Committee. She completed her undergraduate studies at Johns Hopkins university and is currently a use scholar pursuing masters degree at Yonsei University graduate school of International Studies insoles help the greater are the student panelists is ayano sasaki. Shes a sophomore at trento study law. Im not going to deduce our professional, the professionals on a panel. Julie chung has been the direct of the office of Japanese Affairs since august of last you think shes a crew member of the senior Foreign Service at the rank of minister counselor and assert in a variety of positions including the deputy chief of mission in cambodia, Economic Council in thailand, chief of staff for transition and baghdad court, Navy Civilian military foreign assistance, and economic officer in tokyo, court Navy Programs of the green energy felt that organization for the crew desk and washington just name a few. She received her bachelors and Political Science from university of san diego and masters from columbia university. Our next panelist is karl friedhoff, he currently serves as a as a fellow Public Opinion and foreignpolicy Chicago Council on global affairs. He served as foundation u. S. Korea nexis, and is a member of the foundations trilateral working group. Karl has come was present based in seoul where his Program Officer officer in Public Opinion studies program at the institute for policy studies. He received his bachelors degree in Political Science and his masters degree. Our last professional panelist is shanti shoji five present cofounder of kizuna across cultures. Before coparenting kizuna across cultures in 2011 she worked in japan for the Japan Exchange of Teaching Program as a Program Manager for the International Exchange foundation tokyo. She has served as a Cultural Affairs coordinator at Japan Information Cultural Center with embassy of japan in the United States. She received her bachelors degree in japanese and International Studies the universe of oregon at her masters degree in the National Work queue medications from the American University school of international service. Id like to let rebecca begin and if she could, can you tell us about your viewpoint of government actors exercising digital diplomacy . Not only in korea and the United States in japan as well but across the globe to cause any was we can improve the coordination and cooperation . Well, first of all id like to, i would just like to thank isc so much the opportunity its a surreal moment to be setting up your amongst such distinguished speakers who are much far more qualified to speak on the subject that i am, but when we talk about digital diplomacy, talking about new approaches, to changing International Policy agendas, this is the world that we as student leaders, i think its very relevant that were part of the discussion and im happy to be here today. So even though im not south korean, i am a representative of the korea american student conference, i will do my best to come speak for a south korean perspective and to do it justice in the discussion today. So going back to just about digital diplomacy in todays governance, in terms of where south korea is out today, this country, its very much seen as a very advanced, so i think moving forward south korea nation is a uniquely positioned to take advantage of these new approaches to diplomacy. I think theres a lot of area just to move forward. Weve definitely seen in the past few years more effort towards abyss. You know, i for one am very appreciative of the fact that i can take a 40 minute subway ride and be connected to free wifi the entire time, in terms of things like internet, speed and connectivity, smart phone, these are things south korea is a leader in. So i think that moving forward it will be very interesting to see how south korea really takes that and incorporates it to approaches to reach out to the rest of the world. I think that at the current moment we have president moon jaein who ran a very Successful Social Media Campaign to the election process the revenue minister of Foreign Affairs who has background at the u. N. Picks up is a very highlevel officials who are positioned to take korea into the next stage. And moving forward, this new kind of error of where digital diplomacy is not just novel it will become a norm. I think i have a few actually suggestions for how south korea can make some changes moving forward, just for my own perspective again, by no means an expert but i think it would be very pertinent for the government, you know, beyond south korea, its very important to clearly defined objectives for digital diplomacy. Its not just about jumping on a bandwagon. Its about really taking advantage of these Natural Resources that are already there. I think it will really help south korea fully realize its globalize potential. Another area i i would personay like to see, i i would like toe an expansion of english social Media Presence and also really dedicated staff across all platforms. We have twitter, always twitter, facebook, youtube, unit, the list goes on and on. I think the red been some inroads made, korea is doing very, very well, facebook. Theres a new actually a Korea Foundation initiative in a restaurant guidebook app. Korea, and update weights in english so i very much appreciate that. But i think this could be a very moving forward and we could see have some more growth in. In my last point i would like to drive home is that it may be a bit as a young person speaking on this band but i do think when we talk about digital diplomacy, there is young 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. We have different way of viewing how these things can be use we are very familiar with it. So i would like to see for south korea taking advantage of the generation gap, you know, putting more trust in younger people. I think this will be, its just based on kind of the Higher Society it has but theres a certain amount of risk taking and trust that have to come along with digital diplomacy. So i think moving forward, jenna, south koreas positioned to be a leader in this field and im excited to see who the votd to think this can also be very pertinent to the discussion trilateral relations. Fantastic thank you. I agree, digital diplomacy increasing engagement with public, i think its a great platform to get more people engaged in Public Administration and politics and things like that. Are there any ways you think the Public Sector actors can engage with the public digitally besides current popular social media platforms . Is a still a validly and people to people diplomacy . Yeah, about this, since a came from japan, like i want to share about Something Like about japanese issue. Then like [inaudible] so, for example, like they made their social media policy, and so basing of those kind of policy they have for example, twitter and youtube or instagram [inaudible] apple in japan, too. So like if our government, your friends you can get a message from the government directly. So, for example, right now like last september that seems abduction problem. We have abduction problem between japan and north korea. Our government sends message and images digitally so we can get information directly from our government now. So like im convinced, can be used for our country, but like i guess like now in japan, like were just hearing information among japanese people, the people are interested in diplomat issues. So like, from my perspective i some like, i guess like we can improve Something Like, for example, like [inaudible] what they want to tell people, like do you know, all over the world or promote things like transparency by using diplomacy and also like if they can collaborate, like if people to people diplomacy, we do digital diplomacy. Like, for example, like i, there some diplomatic problem like between last summer, and asked, it was supported by the wit and also like foundation. They asked, there was some picture about the problem, they asked us, like to use us, using the hashtag like demonstrate 2017 or youth exchange, or Something Like that. Ap and we can make the promise more, like, to people. I guess the cultural diplomacy, still have their own value. So, yeah, my position is to collaborate, collaboration between diplomacy and cultural diplomacy and political diplomacy. Fantastic. Thank you. Thats a collaboration thats definitely important in kind of thinking the two methods together, especially going into the 21st century with all the technology that we seem to have today. Julia, i had a he id like to ask you, how can we as public administrators, regarding government representatives, and even how can we create and maintain relationships of integrity ap transparency in our communications with the public, whether its crosscultural communication or things like that . Is it possible to do this through Digital Media or does that still come across as impersonal or where can we go with this, do you think . First i want to say thank you for the organizers for organizing this and agenda laid out. Were talking about shared values here and that this personally piques my interest, born in seoul, but working on japan issues for department of state, thank you for inviting me today. Im talking more about the state departments view of diplomacy how we utilize it and adapted the to the changing environment of communications. Communications in the 20th century, diplomacy as we know it, as governments communicating to other governments. Theres no communicating to the public directly, what changed all that, radio. A huge expansion of radio, the popularity of radio, people could communicate directly. Now, fast forward and were not only focusing on the messaging of radio, but also people to people ties and programs, like the program which some of you have been involved with in the pass and fast forward to after september 11th after those attack, secretary colin powell established a task force on ediplomacy and Condoleezza Rice transformation on diplomacy. She told the georgetown crowd of 2008. This requires a modernization with the state department. We need to trust our people to manage greater risk. We need to get them the best to liberate them from embassies and offices and we can be anytime, anywhere and through the initiative. Innovation and independent thinking. So, this really spurred a lot of programs at the state department and jared cohen, at the time 24 years old, came into the state department as secretary rice ace staff on ediplomacy initiatives and i had the privilege of meeting him when i was based in baghdad, iraq to see how they could engage young audiences. And a senior advicer for innovation took it to the next level. How do we use social media to reach large numbers of people that we otherwise couldnt. We did things like text message with minors so that hiv minorities could know when they had to go for checkups. How to develop public works in the most remote and rural countries in africa and elsewhere, so we were leapfrogging from a cash culture to mobile banking and all of those were supporting our diplomatic initiatives. How do we do that when its the state department and the u. S. Governments reputation risk averse and all of these changes in diplomacy and those are happening very rapidly. So, when we looked at the Obama Administration, that was really the First Administration that utilized facebook and twitter in that expansive way and we saw that for the last president ial campaign and of course, now under President Trump, the use of twitter as a way of direct messaging. Just for comparison in in 2013, the state department had 29 million visitors to the main website www. State. Gov. In 2017 thats 48. 5 million page views, over 28 on mobile devices. So we can all attest, mobile devices are the way we connect, we learn, we live, we date, we shop, and thats the way that diplomacy must adapt to using that, to deliver our messages. And recently during President Trumps visit to asia, because of the 24hour news cycle, were not just depending on media outlets, but twitter and facebook, and so we really worked hard to connect the messages, the images, from the white house, the state department and others to get our message across on the president s theme during that visit. As we look at social media challenges to come, and how were using it to strategically. One example is how we want to increase u. S. Japan student exchanges, and to be able to stop by 2020 to double that amount. And so one of the things were using is social media analytics, a tour that we did not have in previous years, so we can look at targeted groups of college students, 17 to 25 years old. And respond to their specific concerns, and then address those issues specifically. And we also use diplomacy digital diplomacy what it means to the average american. If we look at state. Gov, how each state in the United States contributes to how the state department can contribute to the States Development and economic growth. And so when you have this marketplace of free exchange, of course, there are challenges, because anybody can post anything at anytime and we have false information and information thats not true and thats one of the challenges, as diplomates that we have to address and encounter right away. And in my own career, ive seen digital diplomacy play a part of the tool, two examples, when i was in hanoi, vietnam, in 2000 what year was that, 19 no, 2004, we had our first web chat, live web chat with our mentor at the time. Michael marine, that was unheard of at the time. In vietnam, the censors are very strong, what we can interview, what programs we can organize, what cultural, even cultural music programs were allowed to be performed and this live web chat, we didnt have any previews or censorship where the ambassador could talk to the general audiences in vietnam was lifechanging. I think it was how we start today use digital diplomacy there. And cambodia. Its a Poor Development country with the gdp per capita of 1200 and 60 million people, but twothirds of the population is underage of 30. So, very ripe for digital diplomacy. And this is where the cambodians access information mainly through social media, thats where they seek news and other entertainment and information, from social media, and then. Tv and radio. Utilizing that, the Embassy Facebook which started off with a thousand the first year, within a few years jumped incredibly to other 1. 3 million followers. A country where 4 million are using the internet and we have captured the audience of 1. 3 million facebook users and thats where we can relay the information about whats going on in the world, president ial announcements, and speeches, and statements and human rights situations in cambodia. Again, without any censorship or any interference and where people could comment on the facebook page, some were negative, but many were positive and it allowed, really, democrats, Democratic Free speech to flourish and people could see we have a forum where we accept criticism and praise and one for all. And thats two of the ways that ive seen how the state department has used digital diplomacy to empower, connect to people and to listen. And i think that would be a tool, a huge range of tools, digital diplomacy would continue to revolutionize and well continue to adapt to and it will begin to be a source of approaching diplomacy between the United States and other countries. And so, with your experience abroad, with facebook, you know, or Something Like that, like the best digital diplomacy tool that seemed to work best for your organization at the time or live web chat, does that seem like the best way to do that . And do you think that technology improved diplomatic relations, especially overseas for our government and i think so, yes. It provides an avenue for people to connect to people where they otherwise wouldnt. If you look at twitter followings of President Trump or Prime Minister modi or the pope, you have average everyday citizens it feel like they can connect to those people and i cant tell you how many time ive met them on twitter and month them months or years later in person and makes you feel closer to that person and what they stand for, and what theyve said in the past. So, i know that twitter and social media and facebook have its challenges as well and we cant rely on it purely. The people to people, facetoface exchanges are important, but its a tool for diplomacy. Fantastic. And on what i just mentioned, im going to turn now to ask carl, do you think is there a best digital platform to use for diplomacy, maybe what we discuss mentioned or a best strategy approach, how we absorb and use information that we receive digitally in diplomatic ways and how can we relay that to others as well and you know, before that applies domestically or you know, across communications. About the job is twitter. A person is new on facebook and the professional side is trending towards twitter. But, as i think about it, something always comes to mind. I think theres been a lot of positively, and a different take, you know, people who are in Public Opinions dont often think highly of social media because we havent seen the effects of social media campaigns on elections. So, everyone has this idea that, yes, theres a big effect if youre out there on social media, you have twitter campaigns. As far as affecting the vote, thats not exactly shown, thats in a number of countries where it hasnt carried over. What i think about it lot, if you seen the movie, 2001 a space odyssey, getting a lot of blank looks, maybe a little too old for this crowd. In the beginning theres a scene, dawn of man, and has a bone in his hand and hes laying around and starts to hit things and quickly starts to break thing and realizes that this bone can be a tool, and as hes doing it, hes smashing things and envisioning all of the things that he can hunt, all the food he can have and so, then its kind of this going to unlock the power of civilization. In the next scene he has a bone in his hand and a rival tribe comes and he murders someone with it and that to me is basically what twitter is. [laughter] it has the power to bring people together to unlock things to share ideas, but get on there and within one minute, someone gets murdered. Like, the any kind of conversation naturally trends towards comparison to hitler, and you see that all the time on twitter, thats what happens. And to go back to the elements that julie brought up, d digital diplomacy is going to be with us, but Human Element is incredibly important. As you mentioned you have that context for the person. You know, all of these social tools are really what you make of them. And too often, i think, they get away from us, and take us into a very bad direction. You know, not to follow up, this is probably not a great followup, to say it takes us in a bad direction, but the president tweets, when we do polling on this at the Chicago Council and not only our polling, but the other, the public does not want the president to tweet. Thats clear, thats democrats, republicans, even when we divide the republicans into core Trump Supporters and nontrump republicans, basically minorities of even them say the president should stop tweeting, its not seen as effective. Its not seen as furthering u. S. Strategic goals. And so, coming back to the Human Element, i think thats why these kinds of conferences are so important and especially at a young age, to meet people that are going to share some of the same interests and then, i think, youll find that over time, your lives will intertwine in and out of each other. It was mentioned how you meet someone on twitter and you follow them and months later, years later you meet them on person, the people here now, youll end up interacting with in very unusual ways. Ways that you never would have imagined in the future. Youll see them move up into new jobs and youll move into new jobs and come into contact. So this kind of thing is going to be the backbone of diplomacy of the future. Fantastic. And as you can see, how can we, you know, decide and what statements you made on digital platforms and digital diplomacy and tools and things like that. How can we kind of filter out what statements or concerns are legitimate concerns, for other nations . Where speak authoritatively and which may not. My approach is to listen to nothing. I have a very strong filter. So, anything that comes out through twitter, through facebook, i take with an incredible grain of salt, its all pr branding essentially. Of course, theyre trying to get their message out and thats when it it happens, but you have to be much more dedicated if youre trying to look at some of the problems, so you take this one piece of information from twitter and you have to go and do the background work and look at the analysts, look at experts. This idea that digital diplomacy, again, its going to be big and be there, and we have to be dedicated how we use it, whom we listen to, and making sure we do our Due Diligence to get a bigger picture. Absolutely, absolutely. And if you could maybe speak to this as well with your educational kind of program experiences, crosscultural and cross communication kind of experience as you can add onto that and see what your perspectives are on that as well. First of all, thank you so much to linda and everyone for having kac as we go by for short, the crosscultures here as part of this important discussion. Thank you so very much, linda. So, it was the tsunami in 2011 happened in japan and that was kind of impetus or what brought about our organization and our program. Im a former so the Japan Exchange Teaching Program, years back, and so myself and some other former jets and some of our japanese friends really wanted to do something for those in japan when the tsunami struck. We were all here in d. C. And basically we came up with an idea to connect students via the internet. We didnt have a lot of money and we wanted to do a project that would bring more than just what our donation could give. So, basically what weve created now and have been doing for five and a half years is our virtual cultural and Language Exchange called global classmates. So, we take a class of High School Students in the u. S. Studying japanese and a last of High School Students in japan studying english and we connected them via an eclassroom that we created for them. It looks a bit like facebook and its on a kind of a social, an educational website platform, so its monitored and secured and for six months, those students post messages to each other. So, due to the time difference, mostly its not like a website chat, its all just posting messages. And they talked about fun things that they like to talk about, like music or what food theyre eating or whats cool. And we do fun topics like whats on your bucket list, or if you could be anyone for a day, who would you be and why. So, students write in the u. S. They write in english and japanese. And in japan they write english and japanese and allowing them to study and the other side to learn from a native speaker of the language theyre studying so its very collaborative. Its been interesting to hear more from like, you know, the government, the policy sector and kind of Public Opinion and from the students as well. Weve kind of taken these tools and brought it down to the educational level and i think whats been hit upon as well thats important is that like you were saying, the Human Connection and everyone is saying the Human Connection is so important. And we dont see digital diplomacy as a digital versus in person, but rather, digital diplomacy is the pipeline to in person. Right . So, we all have had an experience in our life that somehow sparked interest in us, in a flame to really want to be curious about international things, to learn a language. Theres a program in japan and they do International Exchange programs for students in japan and they have a large amount much data about the students going on their programs. And the big thing they found is that everyone had that moment. You know, for one kid, it was the new International Student from the u. S. Who he fell for, and all of a sudden he wanted to speak english. Learn about her culture. For someone else, its the when they were in school, someone came and talked to them about another country. So, i think its really important that with digital diplomacy we kind of or the Digital Tools we think about creating kind of touch points for students, especially our youth, to somehow get interested in furthering and kind of opening up their world. So, i think all of these things are really important and i think as you were talking about, right now we work with the u. S. And japan and having south korea with all of their technological advances, i think having something thats in an educational way, into each school or each classroom would really help. And with our program, the majority is the six months of writing mention online, but we do have an exchange of video or, sorry, kind of Gift Exchange and also do a video competition, and we currently, as of this past summer, were very excited to add on a global classmate summit which, thank you so much for the foundation usa, the u. S. Embassy in tokyo and center for Global Partnership was free. Actually our global classmate Virtual Exchange is free so students, teachers pay nothing. The u. S. Embassy, u. S. Sometimes, u. S. Japan foundation are big funders. So i think having resources and funding is important to get the crute energized, but like with the summit, when we brought people in person, theyd already talked to each other for six months online, so its kind of this, you met in the twitter online sphere and you get to know each other and then when you meet each other, its like youve never met, but you have, so this is awkward, like, do we hug . What do we do . Our students only have eight nights together here in d. C. , but it was amazing how quickly they could really bond with each other and then learn and help each other. So, i think looking at digital diplomacy is a pipeline and away to allow our youth to gain those touching points and those opportunities despite the socioeconomic background or if they live in rural u. S. And they dont have access to international things. It allows for that. And i think thats about it for that. Thats fantastic and absolutely, i agree. And the culturals and isd and programs like this, its certainly a ways out. We can kind of innoculate and train young people to interact with other people through cultural and platforms to get more involved in politics, and International Engagement in that nature. I guess i would open up the panel, i have a question. Ive lost the question. How much of an impact is cultural diplomacy have in conflict mitigation, whether its through educationalcultural exchanges, and what ways can cultural diplomacy, is it insufficient by itself or how can we kind of supplement these strategies . Is it just by combining digital diplomacy with people to people diplomacy or any other methods . Your thoughts on that, anyone that would like to go. Id like to go. Please, go. These one an important piece i forgot to mention. The impact our Virtual Exchange has to go to that we do a robust exit survey, the teachers agree that they will do it so we have about 90 return rate. So, last year, we had over 1100 surveys from our students, and it shows that 90 of the students are now more motivated to communicate in a language theyre setting and theyre more motivating to steady abroad to look into the opportunities. Theyre more motivated to engage with international things. So online or these digital exchanges can be implemented correctly, they have a huge impact and like we showed with the summit, it just moves on to them wanting to do further things, so, i think, it has a big impact if its implemented correctly. And what youre talking about is essentially what is known as the contact theory. And in the academic literature, thats not proven. So, you know, if you come into contact with someone the theory is that youll grow a fondness for them, but the other opposite is that you can grow to hate them more and within the academic literature its shown both ways. Its very controversial. So the idea the more you interact with someone doesnt mean youll grow this fondness. Im sorry, i think that speaks to you its really how you engage and the type of people you engage with so, again, that Human Element of surrounding yourself with like minded people can be important even though that could run the risk of creating that bubble, but just, we shouldnt get ahead of ourselves when we assume that, just interacting with someone will automatically predispose you to liking them more. Im going to take the opposing view and ill say that anything helps. Diplomacy is not about an official and official, sitting around the table in a meeting room. Any other type of diplomatic interaction with people to people, culture to culture, student to student, we think that creates a mutual greater understanding. A quick example, something outside of my professional world. In 1990s, i dont know if everybody recalled. There were huge riots in los angeles after an africanamerican student was shot by a korean american grocer, it called, fueled intention tensions between the korean americans and the community in los angeles. At the time my father, as a korean american active Community Worker set up a program, exchanges between inner city africanamerican students and korean students and this continued for several years. And did it completely solve interracial tensions . No. But it did create a much greater understanding and appreciation of the various cultures that were dealing with. So, im a big believer in those kinds of interactions having a positive effect. And another question. In way ways can a civilian and Government Entities both cooperate and are we able to coordinate and how are they able to cooperate if anyone wants to tackle that one . I think from someone in the field. Were a nonprofit and weve you know, look for anyone who wants to fund us, so, the u. S. Embassy in tokyo was great. Theyre the ones that i went to the ambassadors office in august 2012, it must have been, and, okay, we had to pilot papers with maps and these are the schools well work it he said great, this is awesome. How can we support you. So, i think having just that energy within the government of willing to take risks that they talked about is important to kind of try Different Things. And you know, we work with theres private companies, and for example, also fund our program. So, i think theres organizations that can kind of bring those together, but definitely, i think, theres a lot to be said for and a great its not digital diplomacy, but coming together of private and public, can do a lot of good. And i have one last question on the messaging. What are some ways in which government administrations can maintain consistency throughout . Speaking about the increased traffic that is the state Department Website has received and individuals and messaging through their own digital platforms. How can we maintain consistency and how if we cant maintain consistency, how can they correct mistakes in their messaging and conflicting points of views. Tackle that as well. Well, i think hes correct when you say you cant base everything on one treatment and policies and strategies are not relayed through one tweet, but its a part of it, youre a government official, and tweet something and he follows up with a statement from the state department or white house and then we have a press conference and then we have an interview. So, its all part of a larger piece, i think, so the tweet becomes a part of that messaging, i think, to make that consistent. Id like to open up the questions to the public if anyone has some. Again, we are going to go around with microphones, so if hell go ahead and let you go in front of me. Im a recent graduate serving as the vice chair of and my question is, while technology has made information more acceptable, its also becoming incredibly easy to weaponize social media. As were learning about russias interfering in the 2016 election, its possible for foreign entis to run targeted misinformation campaigns across the board. And what impact does it have on these, and the means of mune communications to prevent attacks from foreign entities. Our state department colleague. No, i think as previously, as carl has explained as well, that false information is really widespread now, more faster than more than ever. And terrorist actors also use social media to recruit, so its not always a positive influence or the negative aspects of social media and twitter use as well. But i think despite it all. Despite the flaws its an overall positive tool. We should correct the errors and correct the messages. As carl said, do your homework. You have to have integrity in terms of seeking out information from a wide range of sources. Dont rely on one twitter feed or one news source. Divert to news outlets and sources for information. I think just to add, i think it also shows how important it is for us to get to know each other. It gives even more weight why digital diplomacy is so important and its accessible, its largely free, so, i just think we need to kind of better harness those tools and understand how to incorporate them into our Education Systems and use to allow us to further get to know each other. So when we hear things, we can say, is that really true or, rather than eat it all up. Another question from the audience . Do you have a question . Name is Leonard Campbell my question is for carl. One, i appreciated the 2001 reference, i have seen the movie. [laughter] i think its spot on. My question is about the use of twitter and your employing data on the president using it. I wonder if you find its more one of content versus medium, but if its actually the medium, what does that actually say about digital diplomacy. Well, happy i reached at least one person with that reference, thats success in on of itself. On the consent, and media. I think its consent. We had a list of do you view these approaches as effective ways to achieve u. S. Foreign policy goals, and the long list, i cant remember all of them, but the one that sticks out right at the end was twitter and we have done this on the advice of one of our Foreign Policy Advisory Board members who had come in and, yeah, so it was specifically content on that. Other things were seen as effective and i have to go back and review them and talk about that later if you like, but i dont think there are any problems with the medium, specifically just what is being put out there. And the next question, please. Hi, im jenna gibson with the economic institute. So when i was going to Journalism School five, ten years ago, everyone was really, really excited about all the things we could do with the internet, social media, a way for people to interact with the media, respond to the contents that theyre seeing. Now were seeing a lot of newspapers online shutting down their comment sections because its turned into a huge fight and theres no actual value to that, that theyre seeing. So im wondering from the diplomacy side, that was another thing that people were excited about, we can hear back from the audience that were trying to reach, its not just a oneway conversation. Im wondering if youre seeing a similar thing and if there is value to that conversation or if its just kind of what karl was saying, people ultimately ending up in fights and being trolls. I dont know if this will get at your underlying question, but one of the things, and this goes back to actually the question about limiting free speech and if we have to go into some of these things. But in korea they use a real name situation. So a lot of ways youre going to have content and log onto things and basically you have to go through a real name policy by entering in some. Numbers and you know, i think we are here in america, we tend to think very highly of free speech and protect it at all costs and thats great, but we need to look at other options and not all countries have the base free speech policies and they do fine. It doesnt prevent fights, there are a lot of these things going on, but theres some measure of accountability and i think thats what is missing essentially. I think its important to create the rules of the road and the facebook page, many of them like the Embassy Facebook. We have rules on users and if you oppose something that you deem is dangerous or inappropriate, we do remove them. So, i think that people are aware of that caveat. Having said that, i think that robust debate, again, whether its criticizing the u. S. Government or anything opposed or not, i think it is healthy and to see really, what people have on their minds in terms of a certain policy or viewpoint. I think that is useful in this day and age as well. Thanks. Next question. Hello, my name is roy lee and im on the committee. And my question is for actually the two student panelists that we have today. So i experienced a huge generation gap like rebecca mentioned, using social media compared to how my parents and grandparents use social media and how we consume information. I was criticized by my grandparents from always getting news from twitter a while back and now i can say im getting information directly from the president , so. [laughter] so my question is, how do you see, you know, how are we, as young generations, unique in using social media . What is the difference how we interact with it than the older generation and how is that affecting the future of social diplomacy and social media and how information will be consumed in the future . Well, yeah, no, i absolutely agree with that question there. I think thats kind of at the core of this entire discussion, is that digital diplomacy and young people go hand in hand. Going forward as we kind of take up the mantle, theres a lot to be discussed there. Actually, from my discussions with here, its kind of interesting to see how we consume Information Online has already kind of established this connection and this trust. And especially between south korea and japan, you know, especially with Popular Culture being very much portrayed through digital means. You know, theres a connection there, theres something to work off of so i think its very exciting moving forward with the new means that we have with how familiar we are with it, as we kind of grow up as these, you know, tools develop. How thats going to influence relations moving forward. I think like were my generation, our generation, were so flexible from our medias, but i think personally, like before going into korea i was exposed to information from media. So if im in japan were exposed to the information from media, maybe by our, you know, upper generation. So, yeah, we get a lot information about history, and especially history before i came over here, i was kind of biased by that media, maybe by our upper generations. So, after going into the korea through the program, i noted that this is the real korea. Its different from what i expected. So, i just, i just like the historicalal part or problems, diplomatic problems between japan and korea. But korea has cultural aspect, music, or like, you know, the food or everything, so, like i didnt i could not give get a whole picture from the media. Even if were flexible and get a lot of information, still we need like out in that country in real means, so, like, i understand kienlt of difficult to express like, still we need to like keep our attitude to know that in that country even if we are flexible and get a lot of information from sms. Thats my opinion. Another question . And in the center. One of the themes that has come across in the panel, its the importance of technology and media as a catalyst, whether for good or for bad and given the advanced point, was related. Not as close as some of the other questions. What does it mean in terms. Education systems in these three countries. If this is a catalyst and schools can be used for incredibly good deeds or incredibly bad. Each of the three countries how are they approaching educating citizens use of technology, are some doing better than others, some doing poorly. From the perspective of the students, where do you see the future going in regards to educating citizens how to use Digital Media . I have experience only with the u. S. Japan so i can only speak to that. But with our program, so, for example, this year were working with 31 high schools in each country, so, 62 high schools altogether, i think in the past six cycles weve had, weve work with at least 100 schools, high schools in each country. So, im gaining my response from that experience. The u. S. Is, from comparing the two, much more open to this Technology Idea and allowing students to use it and learn from it than japan is. The u. S. Is a lot of schools have google classroom, so theyre using that. In japan, i havent heard of anyone using google classroom or things like that. And it was also difficult to find a platform that would be able to be accessed through the japanese kind of firewall that they had. Youtube isnt available, facebook in both countries isnt available, skype isnt available. All of these tools arent available. So, i think the u. S. Has a lot of work to do as well in regards to that, but i think one really important thing is allowing youth to understand what the internet can do, both good and bad. We all know of bad things that have happened when people tweeted things they have, adults a lot of things that happened online that are really 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 it a bit so i think its really important that we teach our youth how to be digital citizens, almost, and do that safely, and do that well, and understand kind of how to read information, too, and take it in and that its not all real. Is there another question . I am an Exchange Student from japan and then i currently studying Political Science at university and i really understand that these kind of digital diplomacy can promote students to connect with each other and we three countries enjoy high level of technology. But i want to think about serious situation that we three countries are in the imminent threat of north korea launching missiles and then i want to know how to how can we use this kind of digital diplomacy to deal with those kind of threats to our three countries . I have like that the digital diplomacy policy onto the north korea policy. Similar to what weve said before. Youre advising all three governments in terms of government to government to government, our statements and make sure that we are continuing on the maximum pressure campaign, making consistent press statements and public statements together and public sizing those. And i think when we have tri lateral meetings among our countries as well, make sure we have good press conferences and interviews so that we can relay that we have a united front on the issue and the ultimate goal of the nuclearization of the korean peninsula, that we could use digital diplomacy tool among the three governments. Okay, another question, yes. And from the student conference on japanese side. And my question is about economic i think that economic, people who have money can buy like more company and devices. And so i think how do you guys think about the situation i get, especially from the education perspective yes, i think 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 smartphones, they might not have laptops at home, they dont have ipads. School might be their only option, so, its important to have the schools connecteded, have devices available. Have classes that teach them different tools that are available. You know, theres like great Online Learning tools for learning languages that are free. Theres great translation devices or not devices, websites or down loadable things to put on your computer that are free and i just think having that knowledge is really important. And then, after you have the tools and the devices, then, also, incorporating programs like ours that can connect students or allow them to further know the world around them through the internet. So, i think its really important for governments as well to make sure that their schools are connected and otherwise, they will be left behind and it will be like not being able to read, i think, almost. And if you graduate from high school and you dont know how to search online, its going to be hard. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Hi, my name is nicole, thank you for coming out to speak to us today. Im currently at the recruitment chair on the executive committee of the japan american student conference and im just wondering, all of our countries are world powers, we have a big responsible when it comes to using Digital Technology and enacting digital diplomacy and i think that allowing politicians, especially the president to use twitter freely is, as you said, sometimes extremely unhelpful and sometimes extremely irresponsible as well. And so im wondering, if you think in your opinion that it would be a good idea for the government to enact would be restrictions on individuals, politicians, in social media and if that would be just or what the implications of that might be. So i seem to be the one probably 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 go in and say no one should be able to do that and take it away. I think its important that politicians especially at the local level, we tend to think nationally, but my suspicion that politicians at local levels can speak to their constituents. The president , he has a full american constituent, but how many of us really talk to him. But on the local level where you can talk to your politicians, i think thats important. I dont have any Background Research to back that up, but thats kind of how i feel it would play out. I agree with, you know, still being able to use kind of social media and digital diplomacy platform especially on local, local Election Officials and things like that, local and state government, thats probably one of the i think the best ways to reach out to constituents and the people in their state or their county or their jurisdictions to communicate information pan really information effectively. Are there any other questions from the audience . Yes, the gentleman in the back . Hi, good morning, thank you all for speaking. Im and could sul consultant here in d. C. Im curious what you think if theres a concensus at least in the United States theres a conversation going on about the greater responsibility for the private sector for Companies Like google, facebook, twitter to take a more proactive role to shape the conversations happening on their mediums. I wonder if theres a similar conversation happening in japan and korea. I think the conversation in korea right now 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. So, i think thats where the conversation is in korea right now. Okay. Next question. Hello, im currently serving on the American Executive Committee and my question revolves around Mental Health. Thats a question thats opened up in our country and thats positive, but something ive noticed recently at high school where weve had a lot of suicides and just by going to college, its really disturbing to me that social media has become the source where everyone turns where they want to avoid an awkward conversation or when they want to find more information and that is resulted in a disconnect between people to people and i think that moving on, its really important to bring back the positive aspects of just inperson communication because i think when people look at social media, theyre feeling something thats been screwed, and my question for you is in terms of Younger Generation looking at the government. How does social media affect the future of our Mental Health in our country . Thats a very big question. You know, i dont think its only social media that is driving this kind of, or exacerbates the Mental Health issues, its any kind of messaging that will separate people out and make they will feel more alone, which obviously social media helps to drive, but one of the examples in seoul theres a bridge thats become quite famous because people jump off of it into the river so as an effort to combat this, the local government put signs across there that were reading Something Like youre not alone, there is hope, and what happened was suicides increased, when they put that on there, so, anytime theres been this kind of messaging that takes people away from people, i think, its going to fuel that. Id actually like to add another, just kind of observation or example from my own experience, but very recently, a very popular member of a korean boy band committed suicide, i believe, and actually from what i saw was that the response to that on social media was very, you know, incredibly collaborative. You know, i had people messaging, classmates, if anyone wants to talk in here. And it was actually very, very good thing to see so i think that social media can be a place for people to come together to talk about these paushs, but yes, as you mentioned, its very important yeah, after the Program Going into korea, you know, i cannot talk korean language and like we can still and then when i go to korea i exstrange instagram address with friends and we can share our pictures and i didnt know what theyre doing or Something Like that, so i really kind of feel closer to her, closer to her, so, like, yeah, like social media, sometimes it make people lonely or feel lonely and also like separated from their group or Something Like that so, if we can can change that way of using, or so like connecting people to people, yeah. But, on that, its how you feel about humans overall. [laughte [laughter] another question. Im in charge of Korean Community in im studying at university in seoul, korea. And many koreans denied to use sms because they thought that its a waste of time or its hard to its hard to catch the trends because in korea theres faster changing trebdz. For example, fans or facebook, now instagram, and another reason for denying they are so yeah, they are adjusted to hear the fake news and the panels thoughts on thinking about the acknowledge the problem to promote the future to clarify your question, with all the tools out there and with the fake news, how do we go about kind of, whats the word, how do we go about understanding the tools that are available or [inaudible]. So, yeah, with what weve been doing, it hasnt the one, i guess, issue we see is, for example, our students connect on eclassroom that we provide for them. For six months. But then after that, we, you know, say, okay, you should connect with each other and you can talk on facebook or whatever. But in the u. S. , we found that in japan basically no one in high school is using facebook. Okay . In the u. S. , High School Students are using facebook, but far less than my generation. The best commonalty they have is twitter. And in japan theyre using line and no one knows what line is. Theres an issue where do we connect . I had a friend yesterday who said texting apps was the bain of my existence and did a screen shot of his phone and he had like five different texting apps and five messages, six, seven, because we all use like, my friends in japan i talk with them via lines. My friends around the world i use whatsapp and one iphone chat and facebook chat. I think after times things kind of go by the wayside because we all tend to move with one thing or several things, but i dont really have a way of how we could go about, i just think it naturally kind of happens and its an explosion of apps and Different Things we can use, but i think, for example, us we found something the online tool were using is free. We found something free that works at both schools and ran with it and using it in a way thats not meant to be used, but we dont have money to create Something Else right now. So thats another thing, find something that works for you and use that one and 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. I think what well see in the future is twitter has a blue check mark for accounts and i think well see its all through check marks and everyone has to be verified and that way you know youre dealing with the person that they say they are. We see this all the time in public polling, social desirability. Ab if you sit down with someone let me back up. If you sit down with someone theyre more likely to express opinions they think are socially acceptable. The further and further they get away from people the more opinions come out. If youre sitting with someone their opinions will are closer to what they think is socially acceptable. Call them on the phone, less so, but its there. When you totally remove the Human Element then all of these other opinions come out like weve seen, like julie mentioned and theres some value in knowing what people are actually thinking, even if theyve been hiding for a long time, but i think eventually well see some kind of fully verified and seeing it merge where people can communicate with the people that are verified and hopefully bring some civility back to the online discourse. Okay. A question okay. Next question, the woman right here, you. And theres a microphone behind you. Thank you. Im paige cunningham. Area that shanti has spoken about and will bit more into the Public Policy realm. Such as sort of like track to dialogs and conversation. I am interested in this trilateral discussion and the mechanics of it, and did all of you take advantage of and utilize any of these various digital platforms available prior to this panel . It seemed like it could be an opportunity to start a conversation and the dialogue on a variety of topics, and then collaborate or bring together people facetoface for further conversation that could sort of advance whatever the issue is being discussed. Im curious about the mechanics of not just this panel but how the conversation with your different conferences have worked . If you havent done have you considered it . Is there a place where utilizing some of these different platforms to advance some of the other policy issues that we are facing . I think actually its a prime example of this. We participate in our coast together. Over the course of an entire year we are connecting facebook through gmail, google, planning together, collaborating, planning a lot. Then we get to come together and meet in person but it really do think, at the youth level we are utilizing these Digital Tools. In our own way where acting as digital diplomats. So thank you for the question. I think thats kind of where were at. I would agree with that. Kind of having that experience, being accepted or attending the conference six months in the future but already laying the foundations of friendship down like months before the social media, google hangout, skype, things like that and get it has that thing where you meet, do we how did . I feel like i know you really well but weve never actually met. Thats exactly one way weve kind of done that. In terms of you have exchanges in google hangout and beatings online, then how do you take it to the next level. Again, institutionalize that. Youre thinking about the coming year for both organizations. One example, i was wondering whether this event would want because of the stove. I checked twitter and the twitter accounts and said yes, its still on, please, this morning. That was her helpful in terms of how to go through your everyday planning and branding, the branding of the Trilateral Forum, i think that something thats definitely worth taking a closer look at. Another question from the audience. The gentleman in the back here. Tv producer. Seems like theres a danger of the World Wide Web being split up into regional webs for various reasons. Do you think thats a real possibility . If so, what do you think you all could do to prevent that from happening and keep the World Wide Web worldwide . I dont, i cant really talk about that. I think thats a bit beyond the scope of my work. I think in general english has been the language of choice for the internet. So i think whether the different regional aspects are growing or not, i think thats why we promote english learning and a lot of our cultural exchanges and educational programs. Southerly binds a lot of the regions together. That will continue to be the trend, in my view. Another question. Go ahead. I just want to follow up. Please do. Speaking of it to the point, locally with what just happened in terms of the fcc and the Net Neutrality repeal i think its interesting concept because now we almost for a while we seen the internet as a public sphere and the public product. Personally ask i believe it should be. It should be this his tool thas there for public use but now Net Neutrality repeals now moving into an age when we get almost privatize these lines of communication. I think that sort of really, really interesting. Not necessarily in the best way. Again i think it goes back to the question terms of the economic gap and now we are seeing people now charge high prices leader access highspeed internet. I think that really compartmentalize his our ability to mitigate with each other. Because now again if you want to stay communicated at the highest rates have to pay the highest for it. Its really interesting that this is happening at least in the United States i dont know how it is in japan or south korea in terms of these kinds of rules but i think its really interesting to see how these things are being shaped not only by the users but my actual policies and also corporations. To that point i feel like we are seeing a compartmentalization almost at least within the United States i think that might be where were headed if these that due to the guidelines are not put back in place. I would also say we can you think of this as policy driven that well see these went remember people in Different Countries like things designed to giveaways and that also is what try some of this regionalization rita go to a korean website its the scientifically even the way the content is laid up, how wide it can be. All of those things better. You have a tiered system. One were able to access in like google but also they will continue to have others and those be laid out in very different ways. This tiered system will continue to exist some not that worried about seeing websites break up into different regions. I think thats almost natural. Is there any of the question or comment . My name is bridget. I work at the department of state in the office of the diplomacy and 20 thank you for mentioning how gentle diplomacy is embraced by the state department and you mentioned alex and derek. The virtual student Foreign Service. Where at 35 agencies so we ready to be called the Virtual Student Federal Service and or moderator is a current virtual state department. I would ask you a question. How do you think students involved in work with the government contributes to digital diplomacy and where do you see that going . Its obvious obviously i thy good idea. If the students want to get experience in the Public Sector, they want to try to Networking Opportunities with different individuals across the board in all these different departments or Public Sector departments i should say. I think thats a really great thing. It does knex only people. I was adding beating yesterday talking to one of our coordinators, interns, and she said theres about 1200 or so interns issue which really is their spread across a different departments doing different types of research for their government representatives, for Foreign Service officers, individuals like that. I have nothing but positive things to say about it, and like will connect, google, skype, use different Digital Media platforms to Kennedy Research or provide research to again ss owes, government representatives for them to then go and compiled information or put it in such a way to where they can distill it in the location whether its domestically or internationally. Thats a fantastic program. Going into 2018 and beyond i think its important for sure with the rise of technology and how we are approaching digital diplomacy to kind of keep that up and it just ensure that a high quality level of communications being used by state actors, nonstate actors, by the student interns, interesting to see how that goes. Thats my view on it and my experience. Another question . The gentleman over here, yes. Going back to what karl said about his projection for kind of verified system where, for the internet. I wonder how that would, how you view that as i guess negatively impacting the usefulness of this forum looks essential to get diplomacy as being a twoway thing rather than a one way, hey, were telling you what we think or what we want you to think but essentially if youre rejecting that, you are losing the honesty which was very helpful for predicting things like brexit poison trumps election. Maybe he could to that and possibly also i wasnt nestled speaking about the internet as as a whoe but just one social networking service, like just on that what people can go on and to eliminate all the trolls, eliminate people are trying to start trouble who just want to argue. In terms oha value as was pointed out getting real opinion and anderson exactly where we are as a country. A lot of the racism that is come out, these are things we knew were there but were always under kind of the radar and now suddenly it is bubbled out into full view. That has been right now not positive but it is making us deal with as a country picky venture i think there will be something good that comes out of it. Anytime youre talking about real name system, verifying system it can be problematic because inevitably that social desirability bias will tend to suppress what people are really thinking. All the risks are there, the amazing great tools in digital policy. We have to accept the bad along with the good. When i was in bangkok we had several trolls trolling our ambassador, and some of the tweets really got to a pilot level and we had utilize, contact local government and have the Police Security services investigate. But these are things i went to live with and adapt you. Again, still believe in that activity. As you said its got to be a call and response. They cant be just a oneway communication. Whatever risks and challenges there are yet to find ways to adapt to that. I think we have time for one more question, if there are any more in the audience. On. Im serving as a chair for japan. My question would be, like, how do you organize the information . Theres too much information on twitter, youtube and its really hard to organize myself, like its really chaotic and information goes fast and its cheap going on and moving and theres like all the information flows and flows and flows. So how does like people, like news or watch news or organize your like in your brain, do you have any tools for using that . Im just curious how do people organize information . So for me, number one is to accept the fact that you cant read everything. Youre just going to miss a lot of stuff. Thats how its going to be. But even though i make in not the most skeptical people appear, i love twitter. Twitter is great. If you use for the right people. As much as a know there are all these other things that go on on twitter i really see any of that. I have a very cheery at a list of people i know who are going to put together good news outlets, going to provide cometary. For me its a great way to stay in touch with what people are thinking outside of what theyre writing. What they write in their own running cometary, things are just breaking for the have a chance to write it down, its a really great outlet. I think he just had to be careful about who you are following and a ruthless about cutting people. They might be a friends but if theyre not providing some that content, just cut them and connect with them in person. Thats a great note to kind of wrap everything up. I think i was about the end of the time for a digital diplomacy panel, to thank all of our speakers again, ayano, karl, rebecca, information and discussion and the questions, is really wonderful like to give them a round of applause. [applause] so were going to take about a 15 minute break to get coffee, stretch your legs and that our next panel will begin at 10 30. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] this look at future relations between the United States and japan and south korea will continue in about 15 minutes. The next panel will deal with workplace challenges in each country and the governments lack of support for working families, also gender equality and issues related to extended working hours. The student conference hosted by the International Student conference and the Sasakawa Peace foundation. We should let you know at 11 would be breaking away from this conference entirely to bring you live coverage of the u. S. Senate. While this break is underway we will show you now a discussion on Infrastructure Spending involving congress and the Trump Administration from this mornings washington journal. Now is eugene of transport topics, see congressional reporter, talking about the Trump Administration plan for them for such. Good morning. What do we do about this proposal or plan . We know several things. We know that the white house wants to unveil it before the state of the union. Secretary chao has two events scheduled this month, the Detroit Auto Show and the consumer electronic conference in las vegas is unsure yet which venue they will pick, different venue to unveil it. Also as the 200 billion that are going to be from direct federal spending we know that from the white house infrastructure advisory, that theyre going to ask for money from assisting federal accounts and when you reach 200 big dollars margin that would incentivize 800 billion in private sector funds. Now, thats a different debate whether or not you can even reach that mark over ten years also 25 billion will be allocated for rural projects because its difficult to get p3 towing facility to be profitable alone rural highways. Then youre going to have a real push on the part of the wires and the administration to streamline environmental permitting for construction projects, these big Infrastructure Projects, and take, the aim is to take it from ten years down to two years. Critical, extremely difficult. This is something that is extremely necessary for this major projects. The environmental permitting, et cetera. Then another thing that we know is that, two other things, the administration, the white house once to call on states to commit more of the transportation investment so not only raising their fuel taxes but come up with other funding mechanisms to offset the cost of infrastructure project, and they want to encourage tolling and that will be somewhat controversial because not a lot of drivers like to pay tolls. Host thats a laundry list of things they want to accomplish. How much cooperation with the white house get from those key leaders in congress that represent the various committees that deal with his . Guest its going to be extremely difficult to get cooperation on the part of members of congress especially the transportation leaders. Mainly because this is an Election Year and not a lot of the transportation authorizes, every member of congress, the want to avoid a tough vote this year especially right before the elections. If you something, if the white house actually presents a gas tax increase and puts it on the table, its going to be a tough call for members of congress to vote on whether not to increase taxes and go back to their constituents and argue in favor of that. Also, world districts, some of phone of the top transformation leaders on capitol hill, send it to john thune, hes on the commerce committee, the chairman. Senator barrasso of wyoming is the chairman of the epw, the Highway Committee in the senate, and then you have congressman bill shuster recently announced hes not going to seek reelection. He is some rural western pennsylvania. These members of Congress Know accurately that p3 tolling dont work in the district. They are going to call for other funding mechanisms. And then democrats, whether not if youre democrat you want to work with the white house and your republican to achieve yet another legislative victory for donald trump, President Trump, do you now work with a white house that once to proceed on a privatizing effort of major Infrastructure Projects . Or is that contrary to a lot of the democrats. The democrats want to see more of a federal. And then lastly, within the House Republicans you are going to have moderate republicans in the Freedom Caucus just clash over whether the role that the federal government should have in federal transportation. Host Eugene Mulero as you can talk about these various efforts come when it comes Infrastructure Spending, i would be the topic of our program today. Dont ask questions about the political backandforth going on its so from here you said they may and felt something before the to and unity. Talk about the timeline. What are we looking at . Guest the timeline for the unveiling . Host are always working on this bill. Guest okay. What my sources are telling is youre going to present it before stated unity. President trump is really going to how it during a state of the address. Hes already alluded to this in december, been with New York Times interview he said he really wants to make 2018 the infrastructure year. Once you have, we are expecting to the legislative principles of this plan. Apparently what the white house is indicating it might be a 70 page document. They are going to make that available and now its up to members of congress. I will most likely originate in the house. Congressman bill shuster the chairman of the transportation committee, the chairman of the highway subcommittee sam graves, republican of missouri, they are going to be most likely unveil legislation, have Committee Bring it up the leadership, gt it up for a vote on the floor. On the same time the senate is going to look at what the house is doing and come up with a plan and were expecting sometime by the spring for these markups to commence. At the same time, the timeline is going to be really if the because congress has a lot of other things on the docket. You have government spending, the debt ceiling, Childrens Health insurance, hurricane Disaster Relief aid. So thats the ideal best case anew. Thats what im hearing from members of congress and their staffers, but thats all subject to change. Host if i missed it and look at this funding formula of 200 billion from the white house, and then adding 800 billion to that, that means im going to pretty much change the way i approached the federal government when it comes to money for Infrastructure Projects . Guest for some states. If your estate that raise your fuel taxes already, let say you are new jersey or new hampshire, you already doing that part of what the white house wants you to do your now, as part of what we know so far from this white house plan, though states have to dedicate additional funding for projects that they would like to modernize or just maintain, upkeep. So you have to scramble for funds which these states struggle to come up with any way, just so they can appeal to the white house and at the white house, in and agree to partner with them and dedicate some funding. One avenue that many states, what i can think of is oklahoma, what theyre doing is they are seeking this federal transportation grants. Traditionally, they have been the tiger grants which began during the Obama Administration, and now these grants, they had been renamed in front grants under secretary elaine chao. So through these grants you continue to seek additional monies. Then you have, your governor, state legislatures had to come up with more money to repair you know, these critical projects which, many of which are actually to enhance capacity a longer freight corridors. So states that raise the gas tax have to scramble to come up with more money, and the states that have graced their gas taxes will be encouraged to do so, which is, you know, casey of the american civil interest pointed out more than half of the states have raised the gas taxes. Those were not easy votes. You can point out and say these were republican states and not members of the legislature didnt lose their seats for taking that toppled. At the same time are you going to take a similar vote, go back to this date, your constituents again and tell them we need to raise fuel taxes again . New jersey has not done so since the mid80s. Where do you find the money . The governors, all of them are starting to have their state of the state addresses. They are calling on the federal government to step up and play major role in this. Theres going to be an expectation of pushback from governors when this Transportation Plan comes out, lets take some calls. This is Eugene Mulero. Our first call for he is from elizabeth new jersey, independent line. Bill, you are on with our guest. Go ahead. Caller thank you, thank yo. Once we start this Infrastructure Spending, the number one priority has to be the new york city metropolitan area. The subways, new Jersey Transit, Long Island Railroad and metro north are a complete mess. We wouldve had a nice, new tom opening sometime this year for, under the hudson rail tunnel for new Jersey Transit which governor christie killed almost as soon as he got in office. But the nuke metropolitan area has to be the number one priority for Infrastructure Spending. Host okay, thanks. Guest thats a very valid point. Elizabeth, new jersey, is right next to Newark Airport and you have both senator some new jersey, menendez and cory booker, theyve been sounding the alarm that this new jersey, the tristate area of connecticut and new york is a huge economic, come at the newly elected governor of new jersey phil murphy called new jersey . Guest this date train system a National Disgrace due to delays, or service, et cetera. So new jersey has consistently as for federal funding to upgrade the . Guest . Then you have proponents of amtrak called for more money for amtrak, goes to new jersey over to penn station in new york. So thats an extremely valid point. We controlled expect this year members, democrats representing urban districts calling for more money for . Guest projects. Host belleview florida daniel is online for democrats. Caller yes, good morning. Pertaining to our socalled stimulus for infrastructure, i cant help but go back to the 800 billion plus, more likely 1 trillion that obama confiscated from the american taxpayer. There was never accounted for dime of it that im aware of your as much as i love donald trump, i just anticipate the same kind of just , we got you. Are there parallels between this white house and focus under president obama with the stimulus spending . Guest not necessarily. The stimulus, that was money made available. Some of that money was made available to states so states could come in, apply, seek those funds. Also part of the whole incident in their under obama, the u. S. Dot created the tiger grants and these were funds that were part of the stimulus package and that were first shovel ready projects. Now, while they were readily available for states there was an application process that was a permitting process. Some states did get it, of the states were seeking those funds, but that money was there to be sought. What we are to see from the white house, this President Trumps white house is quite different. Its a more calm instead of having title funds, have 20 of the part, you know, federal, federal direct money from the federal accounts in order to incentivize 800 billion of private sector money. When President Trump talks about this trillion dollars over ten years, what now were learning is he was saying 200 billion with the aim of 800. 800. So they are quite different, you create a pool of money and the whiteness is okay, we will chip in this match as well, as part of it as well . Guest and the state seeks partners with investors, bankers, other companies, and they will team up to rebuild a bridge, a tunnel. So that is what we are expecting to the goal. Also want to point out that this is quite a shift from the Current System. The Current System relies on the Highway Trust Fund collecting fuel taxes in order to help states they for the maintenance projects. The problem that weve seen is the Highway Trust Fund cannot meet all its obligations so there has been some injections of federal funds to prop up the Highway Trust Fund in order ors were to meet these obligations. So what we heard from the white house, the research advisor, is that the want of a cultural change. They want to take the federal and minimize it and enhance the state role and have states partner with the investors. That is something that while weve seen is Public Partnerships before, Laguardia Airport be a a famous example f that, nevertheless, this will be to really, really enhance it and spread it around the country. Host this is free from los angeles, california, republican line. Caller in case anyone has noticed the guy didnt answer the last question. And thats my point, too. Where is all the tax money thats been spent by the government, federal, state, local all these years . I live in california. We increase our taxes . 13 gasoline tax to build more roads. What are you doing with the tax money you are taking in now . Where is it going . You just mentioned your Highway Trust Fund. Why isnt that taking care of this . Because a government rated the Highway Trust Fund for its own little pet project so they could buy more votes to get elected. This is ridiculous. We will spend more money on quoteunquote infrastructure. Its going to go to environment the groups, and by middle and taxi but go to court and stop it, okay, okay. Well stop at the end that our guest respond trejo i really enjoyed the passion behind the caller in l. A. L. A. Voted to come up with a whole pool of money to repair the highways. I dont know the exact number but it was a referendum and residents of l a r taking it upon themselves to really repair and reduce congestion in their city. The Highway Trust Fund the way it is set up net is 80 for highways, 20 for . Guest . You can argue whether you need to change that, make it 100 for highways. Thats a debate that members of congress are going to have this year. If they do, in fact, pick up this transportation bill. The stimulus was not money that wasnt there, the coffers, you have states come up, take the money and leave. They had to apply for them. There was a lengthy application process. Part of this was to create these incentives for states to determine which were the projects of major significance, at the same time what the Obama Administration also did is they created these, they called it the build america a committee, a coalition within the dot to help states come up and access those funds. You can debate whether or not the stimulus works. These Infrastructure Projects are extremely expensive. So states, you know, while yet some repairs to some of the major bridges, the same time you still have to come up and go through the whole permitting process. Host could a case be made with this new fundamentalism that the administration wants to put out there it would be for big projects, a big highway, a big bridge rather than smaller projects that may not see the light of day . Guest yeah, thats what the expectation, that this is going to be your major bridges that are structurally deficient. This will be for your . Guest corridors that need a lot of injection of money such as the d. C. Metro system. Thats one example pick your previous caller over in newark city, so this will be for your big blockbuster projects. The administration, part of what we know so far is it want to focus on these transformative, the column transformative projects. Not sure exactly what thats going to entail but what im hearing from people is that they want to have these mega regional projects, a la the hoover dam, you know, the projects that would really either facilitate the whole freight or have major impact on peoples khmers. Host lets hear from rich, democrats line. Caller hello. Eugene. Host go ahead. Caller eugene, listen, im from massachusetts and i dont know how old you are but governor wells built the big dig and it was false segment, like donald trump its like false news, fake news. So on the submit i spoke to a person that was on that and they say a lot of people are going to be killed. In spending, i dont know what the definition is because everybody has a different reaction to that word. Please tell me how you feel about the definition of infrastructure nobody is lying in the United States. Guest so ill get to the definition of infrastructure, is what the caller asked. Also, before that, you know, the big dig was a very controversial project in massachusetts. There was a lot of cost overruns and thats been deemed the poster child of how to not advance a major infrastructure project. Now, to his other question, his question and infrastructure, infrastructure, i dont mean to be simple about it but your major bridges, everything, roadways, tunnels host we tend to think roads and bridges but guest electrical grid. Another thing about the preview of the white house infrastructure plan is that they also want to include veterans hospitals as part of this. So its kind of going outside the realm of the traditional transportation purview. Host and even broadband gets in. Guest exactly. Thats a more to address the needs over in the rural districts. So infrastructure is pretty much take information with you as you leave and pass along the good word. Speaking from personal experience it is a onceinalifetime opportunity for both undergraduate and graduate students who may be interested. As we get back up what i like to take this opportunity to once again thank our sponsors for todays event, Sasakawa Peace foundation ucs was the Korea Foundation, particularly given that task has been a much younger time in its lifetime. I know the cree foundation has been its ability in helping get this off the ground watching it and promoting it and we are appreciative of their support here today as well. So the next panel will focus on the challenges of the workplace pick specifically looking at how these three countries are facing both demographic trends as well as striking and workplace balance of what strategies are best amongst these countries have they can either Work Together or lessons from one to the other. I do like to introduce the moderate for the second panel. Florence joined the Foreign Service in 2011 answer that the u. S. Missions in mexico and italy. She is carly domestically assigned to the pair of conflict stabilization conversation pick she studied economics and Political Science at howard and Earlham College and pride to Government Services she spends time on the german polish border as a fulbright scholar. She is an alumna of the first koreaamerica student conference over excited to have her lead this panel today. Thank thank you, alex for thd introduction, thank you as well to isc for the invitation to moderate this panel on the challenges in the workplace, and thank you as well to Sasakawa Peace foundation usa for organizing this event. I want to Say Something first off to the students who are joining us here today from the executive committee for the japan america koreaamerica student conference is. I know that it is a very challenging path and challenging task that you set for yourself. And i just want to urge you to keep going and to keep the faith. Faith. It will be worth it. Learning how to work as part of a multilingual, Multicultural Team separated by time and space, different time zones, different continents and oceans between you, and learning how to stay motivated and keep and hold each other to account, developing those sorts of skills have been very valuable to me in my personal and professional life, and im sure that you will discover the rich rewards they will pay in the future. So hang in there, keep going. I know that it will be worth it so i i just want to send that message to you, having been in your shoes several years ago. I know very well the frustrations and the rewards that are on your path. So this panel on challenges in the workplace, we have four distinguished speakers with us to come going to introduce the speakers and then well have some initial contributions from the speakers on the topic at hand. Followed by several rounds of questions. Entering the question around i would particularly encourage our participants here today especially our students who have traveled so far to be with us as was our other supporters to contribute questions and contributions to the topic. Im hoping to make this as participatory as possible with the speakers come with our distinguished panelists. However, when you make your contribution i may cut you off so make them very concise. So allow me to introduce our speakers. So to my far left we have erika ito who is serving on the Japanese Executive Committee for the 70th japan america student conference. She is currently a sophomore student at tokuku University School of medicine. Her interest in Foreign Affairs is strong and she hopes to have a constructive and fruitful discussion about what students can do to nurture relationships between the three countries, korea, japan and the u. S. She believe that this trilateral symposium is a chance to learn about the delicate situation from threepoint of view, and hopes to gain a a deep understanding and knowledge about everyones values and thoughts. And to my love, my immediate left, i have jiyoung park who is the vice chair of the 11th koreaamerica student conference korean executive committee. She is double majoring in english, literature and linguistics and Business Administration at the Ewha Womans University. She is interested in how korea and the global world influence each other and develop ties in a sophisticated manner. Furthermore, shes also interested in relations between korea, the u. S. And japan. And to my far right we have Brigid Schulte who is the director of the Better Life Lab and the Good Life Initiative at new america. She writes for the Washington Post, slate, time. Com, the guardian among other publications. Prior to her current position she worked as a staff writer for the Washington Post where she won a a number of reporting and writing awards and was part of the team that won the 2008 pulitzer prize. She is also the author of the New York Times bestselling book overwhelmed, how to work, love and play when no one has the time. Very timely contribution to we look forward to your thoughts. Her voice helped spark a National Conversation about overwork, burnout, productivity, business, gender roles and the consequences of outdated policies and cultural attitudes, and the way forward on those issues. And finally to my immediate left we have frank ahrens, the Vice President of dgr where he creates and distributes content across traditional and digital platforms. He oversaw the limitation of Communication Strategies for international and corporate clients and designed corporate training seminars for industryleading companies to help them bridge the east eastt culture gap for both u. S. Businesses entering the korean market, and korean businesses operating in the u. S. Before coming to be gr, he led hunting motors general public communications, sigh, general Public Relations efforts from the Company Headquarters in seoul as Vice President of Global Corporate communications. He is the author of the book seoul man a memoir of cars, culture, crisis and unexpected polarity inside a korean corporate titan. The story of his three years as the only american at monday motor headquarters in seoul south korea. Monday. Frank present work for 18 years as an editor and reporter at the Washington Post. All right. So now were going to go around and i will ask the speakers to make initial comments on the topic at hand. So in case that you forgotten the topic, were speaking about challenges in the workplace, the oecd found the economic and virtually challenges facing the u. S. , japan and korea are closely linked to each countries policies towards working families, gender equality and working hours. As the next generation of u. S. And asiapacific leaders planned their careers, what are the challenges and how can we improve quality of life in the workplace. All right, so im going to turn over to our first contributor, ms. Erika ito. First of all, i really appreciate to speak in front of you. My name is erika ito i am currently a sophomore student at tokuku University School of medicine majoring in medical therapy. Also i am serving japanese site executive [inaudible] as medical student ive always been interested in and thinking about my future as a professional medical doctor. Im curious about the ways of bouncing my life and my work, and im still searching for a better answers for my career and my life so that is the biggest reason why i am here today. Before talking about my opinions and expectations for the future, i would like to mention two points about the situation in japan that has some connection with worldclass balance. My first point is about the connection of world trade. Modern time has been [inaudible] the are many but according to research, i found out the decision of having the second birth has a lot to do with husbands about of time contributing to the household work. Other japanese governments are trying very hard to increase the low fertility rate. They are having very difficult times. And i think that this reflects the specific characteristics of japanese working situation. I heard that some mail workers at university in japan have to undergo a very hard and tough [inaudible] the amount of time they spend in office is sometimes, the amount of time the evaluation for the commitment to their company, and then that will have strong connection with emotion in their future. So because of this its very difficult for mail workers to contribute to household jobs. So that it will end up in increased responsibility of the wife inhouse and also low fertility rate, and work class imbalance. My second point is about the usage of parental policy in japan. Although japanese government offers a very generous condition about the parental policy, the usage rate is still very low. Workers can create the jump after they have the first birth of their child. I learned from some studies that the key word here is agenda in the company. What i mean here is if the company had agenda equal plan, then the usage rate [inaudible] on the other it if the company doesnt have gender equal planning, then the usage rate of gender equal, no, parental labor will be low. I will talk about things that i would love to see in the future. First thing is about the environmental change and the changes in peoples perspective of gender. I think education to youngsters is sort of middle school students, its very important. But education itself is too simple for an answer. I think they also need to think about a culture of responsibility, leadership and strong relationships, for example. And my last point is about building a grassroots communications. With Close Friends or family. I believe that there are many people who share the same experience of having difficulties to balance work and life. So making and creating a challenge for them to share their own experiences, their own difficulties, to share their values would be very helpful for them to see their life for the way they should proceed. Also, mentorships would be very effective. Mentors would have the same kind of experience, same kind of difficulties in the past, and they will be a very, there advice would be very concrete so that the mentees will learn and know how to manage the situation and know how to live and how to solve the problems they are having now. Thats all. Thank you. [applause] thank you, erika, for that contribution. And now i look to jiyoung for your contribution on this topic. First of all, im so, like, excited to thank you because like warm fur, and introduction of buying. And also as you guys know im in school, Ewha Womans University in korea. One thing i want to share with you guys, like it is the identity of mine. That is not just because they taught me a lot of values but because ewha taught me how can i my words as a woman. In that sense i am so honored to be here with you guys pick and also for giving me an opportunity to share my thoughts with you guys, too. So before we move into agenda i would like to talk about, like, the last year, december 26, or president moon declared which is which is National Popularity crisis, which is a low birthrate in ancient society. At this time i was really happy because he declared that the new idea beyond conventional thought is so thats why i agree, like to agendas to share with you guys. First one is job sustainability, and the second one is [inaudible] as the worklife balance, continuity is really hard to solve problems not only for korea but also everywhere. If i have to talk about korea its because im korean, i am a korean student and also going to get a job in korea. So according to college, Korea National office, 46. 3 of men experience korea [inaudible] and then along that they answer that more than 55 women enter, that was because they have to take care of the children, and also giving birth. So its really hard to solve this problem, but personally i really believe it is important to support women to get a job and ensure their job sustainability and the opportunity. But at the same time because it is really important because in work, for example, in workplace we need to show [inaudible] but using parental leave for going back to our home [inaudible] as it she doesnt have devotion that much. On the other hand, if she goes back to her house that are very few jobs, responsible is to take care of their children and family, too. So in this situation a lot of the men are choosing between career and, work careers and family. So of course she also can get [inaudible] but if she wanted to do that, then she has to sacrifice yourself a lot. So for solving this problem, but we have to make sure so far in our Prior Administration there was a similar policy as well also. But most likely it is implemented by huge corporations are probably institution also. I gently would like to say if you want to make policy, then it should be implemented at all level of preparation regardless of size and industry. And furthermore, there is another thing that we have to keep in mind is, as we do make policy, but not just policy, but also we have to share the responsibility. We have to think about the household and raising children and think about our future population or all relations between all of us. Its not only for the woman, i mean moms, but also for the dads and men but it does not mean it is only because parents promised it is we have to share these problems, government preparations at our Industry Leaders and all the family members also. And plus in making policy id like to suggest another really important sector, which is perception as well. Personally i really believe that we should all agree a lot of women space in workplace needed to address in the mindset of us. We call in three return of superman, and i was, its really popular and as follows, the Program Follows families especially has been and fathers. And it makes fathers to go back to their home and they might take care of the children and do their household without mom one or two days. I was really impressed because it was a really good example how these programs can influence a lot as a majort a a major to chs thoughts or peoples perceptions. So, like, as the future leader, as a korean i know that our koreans society is changing at a better way, for the Better Future. But at the same time i do believe if you really want to make Better Future asians, then we have to share our own responsibility, and also have to engage in that responsibility, too. So that is all that i want to share with you guys, and i will appreciate all the thoughts you guys might have. Thank you for listening. [applause] we are going to leave this event to take you to live coverage of the u. S. Senate. We will have entire event later on our Program Schedules and you can watch it online later today at our website cspan. Org. As i said the austin is about to gaveling to start the day. Debate is expected of the judicial nomination of walter count, no votes are planned for the day or for the rest of the week because of weather conditions on the east coast. And now to live coverage of the u. S. Senate here on cspan2. The senate will come to order. The chaplain will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Eternal god, the king of glory, your never failing providence sustains us. Today, inspire our lawmakers with the music of your wisdom that they may bring hope, joy, and unity to our nation and world. Remind our senators that even in