Jessica Lee is a Senior Research Fellow in the East Asia Program at the Quincy Institute. Previously, Jessica led the Council of Korean Americans (CKA), a national nonprofit organization of Korean American leaders, working with a national board, membership, and staff to advance the voice and influence of the Korean American community through collaboration and leadership development. Prior to CKA, Jessica was a Resident Fellow at the Pacific Forum CSIS in Honolulu, where she published articles on security and economic relations in East Asia. She was previously a senior manager at The Asia Group, LLC, a strategy and capital advisory firm, as well as its first chief philanthropy officer. Prior to The Asia Group, Jessica served as a staff member in the House of Representatives for six years, first as a professional staff member handling the Asia region for the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and as a senior legislative assistant on foreign policy and trade issues for a member of Congress on the Ways and Means Committee. Jessica received a B.A. in Political Science from Wellesley College and a M.A. in East Asian Studies from Harvard University. Jessica is fluent in Korean.
The anti-Asian rhetoric emerging from the COVID-19 crisis not only infringes on the rights and security of those of Asian decent, it also creates an atmosphere of fear and mistrust within the U.S. national security apparatus.
Restarting diplomacy with North Korea not only reduces the threat of war, but it can also help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
U.S. and international sanctions have crushed North Korea’s health care system, making it harder to deal with the coronavirus.
We are at this point primarily because the Trump administration refused to be specific about what it was willing to offer Kim.
