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Ex-President Moon Jae-in to head to U.S. for first overseas engagements since leaving office

Published: 05 Mar. 2026, 13:22 Updated: 05 Mar. 2026, 17:15

Former President Moon Jae-in delivers remarks at a book launch event at Pai Chai University in Daejeon on Jan. 17. [YONHAP]

Former President Moon Jae-in will travel to Los Angeles on Thursday on a trip hosted by U.S. think tanks, marking his first public engagements overseas since leaving office in 2022.

The trip comes at the invitation of the RAND Corporation and the Pacific Century Institute.

Moon will deliver a keynote speech and join a roundtable discussion with international relations experts, including RAND Vice President Nancy Staudt, on Friday. The discussion will focus on the international order and inter-Korean relations.

Moon, who served as Korea's president from 2017 to 2022, is credited for the 2018 Panmunjom Declaration signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to ease military tensions between the two Koreas.

His itinerary also includes a visit to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and a tour of the SS Lane Victory, a cargo ship used to transport troops and evacuate civilians from North to South Korea during the Korean War (1950-53).

Rep. Youn Kun-young of the liberal Democratic Party, who served as senior presidential secretary for state affairs at the Blue House during the Moon administration, said the invitation will coincide with the publication of the English edition of Moon’s diplomatic and security memoir.

“With this invitation, the English edition of former President Moon’s diplomatic and security memoir ‘From the Periphery to the Center,’ written after he left office, will be published,” Youn said.

“The English version will first be provided to universities, research institutions and libraries in the United States," he added.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM EUN-BIN [[email protected]]