MEDIA ADVISORY: Authority on North Korean nuclear issues

Contact: Phil Hearn

A veteran career diplomat and expert on North Korean nuclear issues will be the July 13 featured speaker at Jackson's Executive Lecture Forum.

Dr. Sung Lack Wi's address to the capital city's ongoing world affairs program will take place during a luncheon that begins at 11:45 a.m. in the atrium at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson. His topic will be "North Korean Nuclear Issues."

From its inception some two decades ago, the lecture forum has been organized by the Janos Radvanyi Chair in International Security Studies at Mississippi State University.

Wi currently is the minister for political affairs and deputy chief of mission at the embassy of the Republic of Korea. Most recently, he was senior policy coordinator at the National Security Council in Seoul, where he served in coordinating policies between Korea and the United States.

A career diplomat with more than 26 years in the Foreign Service, Wi has assumed many other important posts directly relating to North American affairs. His assignments have included postings as director-general for the North American Affairs Bureau, and special assistant to the foreign minister. In the six-party talks on North Korean nuclear issues, he served as deputy head of delegation of the ROK.

Wi completed undergraduate and graduate courses in international relations from Seoul National University, and received a doctorate from the Institute of International Economics and Political Sciences of Moscow. He published a book on Russian domestic and foreign policy titled, "Russia Report."

As is traditional, Executive Lecture Forums are not public events, but are open to all interested members of the news media. To ensure adequate seating, print and broadcast reporters planning to attend are asked to telephone the Radvanyi Center in advance at 662-325-8406.