US Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Sung Kim, convened a town hall meeting with Yonsei students in Baekyang Hall on Monday, May 20. Ambassador Kim discussed the importance of bilateral relations between South Korea and the United States, and he fielded a number of questions from Yonsei students related to North Korea’s nuclear arms program, relations between Japan and Korea, as well as why he left his job as a Los Angeles County prosecutor to become a diplomat. Moderating the event was the US Embassy’s Minister-Counselor for Public Affairs, Brent Byers. Hosted by the Yonsei Leadership Institute, the town hall was entitled “60 Years of Partnership and Shared Prosperity,” marking the six full decades of bilateral relations between the United States and South Korea. Ambassador Kim noted that Yonsei, more than other Korean universities, probably has “the deepest and the oldest ties with the United States,” invoking the university’s two American founders, Horace Allen and Horace Underwood. He also commended Yonsei for becoming “a premier university in the Asia-Pacific region” and for its efforts to become “much more international.” The need for maintaining strong ties between Koreans and Americans dominated Ambassador Kim’s prepared remarks. He outlined the three most important elements of bilateral relations between the two nations: the military and security alliance, economic partnership, and global cooperation on “a whole host of issues confronting the global community, such as counterterrorism, climate change, and energy.” However, the ambassador also stressed the importance of individual, person-to-person relationships, as, in his words, they “provide the foundation for our overall relations, including security, economic partnership and global cooperation.” He described the interpersonal relationships between American and Korean officials as “very impressive.” During the Q&A session that followed, several students wondered whether Ambassador Kim’s identity as a Korean-American presented any conflicts of interest with respect to his capacity as America’s highest-ranking diplomat in South Korea. Ambassador Kim flatly denied that there were any such conflicts of interest, stating that his “main goal is to advance US interests on the Korean peninsula and beyond. There is no ambiguity about that.” He noted, though, that between South Korea and the US there is a “huge convergence of interests.” The ambassador also touched upon Korea’s health care system (and what the US could learn from it), ways to increase cultural exchanges between the two countries, America’s stance on President Park Geun-hye’s “Trustpolitik” policy towards North Korea, and the rise of China. As for what the future holds for South Korea and the US, Ambassador Kim was quite upbeat. “I’m optimistic,” he said. “The next 60 years will be just as successful—much more successful—than what we achieved in the past 60 years.”