On July 2, 2013, Dr. Koh Hyun Wook, Chief of NARS, met with visiting Congressional Research Service (CRS) Asian affairs specialist Dr. Mark Manyin.

During their meeting, Dr. Koh officially invited CRS to the 4th NARS International Seminar, which will be held on November 1st of this year. The Director of CRS has been nominated as one of the upcoming seminar's keynote speakers. The director's anticipated participation shall symbolize the seminar's expansion to include advanced democracies such as the United States.

The meeting was followed by a subject-matter experts' roundtable discussion that covered topics such as the South Korean government's Korean Peninsula trustpolitik, inter-Korean policy of the United States, and South Korean and US positions on reforming Japan's pacifist constitution, inter alia. Expert insight and analysis was provided by all the roundtable discussants.

* Dr. Mark Manyin is an Asian affairs expert working in the Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division of the CRS. He has specialized in Korean peninsula issues since 2006. His recent CRS reports cover topics such as foreign assistance to North Korea, the Korea-US free trade agreement, and US-Vietnam relations, among others