asia East is a 501c3 nonprofit
Bringing important, relevant and timely topics from South East Asia to the forefront of political discussion.
directors
John BurtonJohn Burton is an award-winning journalist with 40 years’ experience working in Washington, D.C. and overseas. For over twenty years he worked for the Financial Times, where he was a foreign correspondent based in Seoul, Singapore and Stockholm. He is currently a columnist for the Korea Times and a contributing editor at Nikkei Asian Review. Burton is a three-times recipient of the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) awards, the most prestigious award for English-language journalism in Asia. He has also worked as a public relations consultant for major corporate and NGO clients based in Korea, the U.S. and Europe, producing op-eds, speeches, press releases and marketing material.
John Burton in The Korean Times > John Burton on C-Span > |
Stephen CostelloStephen Costello is Non-resident Visiting Scholar at the Korea Institute of George Washington University. He is a policy analyst and writer, businessman and political consultant who has worked on Korean Peninsular and Northeast Asian issues for over three decades.
Costello has been immersed in South Korean politics and foreign policy since 1990. He is a columnist with The Korea Times in Seoul. He was a non-resident Visiting Researcher at the Gyeonggi Research Institute in Uijeongbu, Korea during 2020-2021. Costello directed the Korea Program at the Atlantic Council of the US from 1999 to 2004, and was director of the Kim Dae Jung Peace Foundation/USA. He was a political consultant and policy advisor to overseas political party foundations and other public officials and has advised ministers and staff at the Foreign and Unification ministries in Seoul and the State Department in Washington. Beyond South Korea, Costello’s focus includes the Korean Peninsula, Northeast Asia, and the US interests in the region. Two current projects are "The Next Agreement with North Korea," and "The Korea-Japan Bridge/Tunnel: Economic, Political, Engineering and Strategic Dimensions." Stephen Costello in The Korean Times > Stephen Costello on East Asia Forum> Stephen Costello on C-Span > GW Institute for Korean Studies > |
john merrillDr. John Merrill is the former chief of the Northeast Asia Division in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Merrill has taught at the Foreign Service Institute, Johns Hopkins School of
Advanced International Studies, Georgetown University, the George Washington University, and Lafayette College. For many years, he chaired seminars on North Korean Foreign Policy for mid-career Intelligence Community analysts/managers. Merrill is the author of Korea: The Peninsular Origins of the War and The Cheju-do Rebellion (in Japanese). His most recent pieces include “Inside the White House: The Future of US-DPRK Policy,” Korea Observer, Winter 2016 and op-eds for Nikkei Asian Review. Merrill has a Ph.D. from the University of Delaware, an M.A. from Harvard University, and a B.A. from Boston University. John Merrill on The Korean Times > John Merrill on C-Span > GW Institute for Korean Studies > |
PAUL TYSONPaul Tyson is a retired Foreign Service Officer. He served in Germany, the Sinai and Gaza with the MFO, Saudi Arabia, the United Nations in New York, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.
During his career he worked on Asian economic and energy issues. After retiring, he spent 15 months in Iraq as an advisor to the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity working on anti-corruption issues. Later he worked in Washington for the Iraq-Afghanistan Joint Transition Planning Group. He also worked on Somali Piracy and arms smuggling into Gaza and did extensive work on State Department Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests. Paul Tyson on The Korea Times > Strat3 LLC > |