In early June 2017, Asian Affairs Center staff members Amanda Carr, Sang Kim and Seungkwon You, and MU professors Paul Ladehoff and Brian Houston visited South Korea.

The delegation visited the National Assembly of Korea and met the leaders of the MU Korean Alumni Association, and Ladehoff presented a seminar at the national assembly. Ladehoff, Houston and Carr also had an opportunity to visit some historical sites in Seoul, including old palaces and residential areas with former undergraduate program participants who were kindly willing to guide them.

Additionally, the delegation visited a few partner universities, including Kyunghee University in Seoul and Kyungpook National University in Daegu. Houston and Ladehoff were the key presenters at the form on disaster management at Daegu-Gyeongbuk Research Instute on June 13. The group also visited the Korean Hydro and Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. headquarters in Gyeongju. In previous years, MU professors gave lectures on conflict management to five groups of KHNP officials in Missouri. This was the first time for Ladehoff and Houston to visit South Korea, and they had a fun reunion with some of the KHNP trainees during the visit.

Finally, the group attended an Asian Affairs Center Korea Alumni Association networking event in Busan with more than 30 former scholars in attendance. In addition the group was able to meet former visiting graduate students from Pusan National University. The group was very fortunate to be able to see the old and the new Korea, and turbulent moments of democracy and conflicts over core social, economic and political issues.