Philip Yun

Philip W. Yun is a scholar, lawyer, nonprofit and private sector executive, and former United States government official. From 1994 to 2001, he was a senior policy advisor at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the United States Department of State under President Bill Clinton. Yun specializes in international security policy and foreign affairs, particularly East Asia and North Korea. His writings have been published in the Los Angeles Times, The National Interest, U.S. News & World Report, and The Hill. As of 2019 Yun is the co-president and co-CEO of Commonwealth Club World Affairs. In 1987, Yun began practicing law, working as a foreign legal consultant at the firm of Shin & Kim in Seoul, Korea. He also practiced at the firms of Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro in San Francisco and Garvey Schubert & Barer in Seattle. He later served as a national staffer on the 1988 presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis, and on the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton.

Clinton Administration Following the election of Bill Clinton to the US presidency, Yun became a presidential appointee at the US Department of State, serving as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. During this time, he also worked as a senior advisor to two US Coordinators for North Korea Policy, former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry and former Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. Yun accompanied both to North Korea in 1999. From 1999 to 2001, Yun was a member of a government working group that managed US policy and negotiations with North Korea under President Clinton. Yun was a member of the US delegation that traveled to North Korea with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in October 2000.

Private industry, academia, and non-profit After leaving government, Yun became vice president at H&Q Asia Pacific, a private equity firm, in 2001. In 2004, Yun joined the Asia–Pacific Research Center at Stanford University as the first Pantech Scholar in Korean Studies, where his research focused on the economic and political future of Northeast Asia. In 2005, he became vice president of The Asia Foundation, serving in this capacity until 2011. As of 2019 he is the Co-President and Co-CEO of Commonwealth Club World Affairs alongside Gloria Duffy.

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