At A Glance:

Alex Wong is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. His research spans US national security policy and foreign affairs, with a particular focus on strategy in the Indo-Pacific region and the future of the Korean Peninsula.

Biography

Alex Wong is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. His research spans US national security policy and foreign affairs, with a particular focus on US strategy in the Indo-Pacific region and the future of the Korean Peninsula.

Mr. Wong is chairman of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a bipartisan panel appointed by Congress to examine the national security implications of the trade and economic relationship with China.

Mr. Wong most recently served in the executive branch as the deputy special representative for North Korea and the deputy assistant secretary for North Korea at the Department of State. In that position, he was the number two negotiator in denuclearization talks with North Korea and led the formulation and implementation of US diplomatic and technical policy across multiple executive branch agencies. He also guided the US-led international pressure campaign on North Korea, including sanctions policy, counterproliferation, diplomatic isolation, and combatting illicit DPRK cyber activity.

Prior to assuming his North Korea duties, Mr. Wong led the State Department’s efforts to implement the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy as the deputy assistant secretary for regional and security affairs in the State Department’s East Asia bureau. He promoted an economics-driven set of policies and programs to forge bilateral, multilateral, and private-sector partnerships to strategically expand high-standard infrastructure investment, diversify trade relationships and energy flows, and improve investment climates across South Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific.

In 2020, Mr. Wong was nominated and unanimously approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be the US ambassador for special political affairs at the United Nations, a position in which he would have represented the United States on all matters before the UN Security Council.

Prior to his most recent stint at the State Department, Mr. Wong was the foreign policy advisor and general counsel to Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). He was the senator’s chief advisor on issues related to national security, international relations, and law enforcement. Mr. Wong was also the foreign and legal policy director for the Romney-Ryan 2012 presidential campaign, leading the development of foreign, defense, intelligence, and law enforcement policy and closely advising the nominees on these matters. Mr. Wong previously served as Iraq rule of law advisor for the State Department at the height of the military surge strategy. He designed and implemented the department’s efforts to reconstruct and modernize Iraq’s judicial branch, anticorruption agencies, and criminal code.

Mr. Wong is a licensed attorney. He spent years counseling Fortune 100 clients on international trade and governmental investigations matters at a Washington, DC-based international firm. He began his legal career as a clerk for the honorable Janice Rogers Brown of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Mr. Wong received his JD with high honors from Harvard Law School where he was the managing editor of the Harvard Law Review and an editor of the Harvard International Law Journal. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in English literature and French.

Events
17
September 2021
Past Event
Virtual Event | Kim Jong Un and the Northeast Asian Arms Race
Featured Speakers:
Jean H. Lee
Ankit Panda
Alex Wong
Patrick M. Cronin
17
September 2021
Past Event
Virtual Event | Kim Jong Un and the Northeast Asian Arms Race

Please be advised: This event will premiere on this page at 12:00 p.m. EDT, Friday, September 17. Register for the event here.

Featured Speakers:
Jean H. Lee
Ankit Panda
Alex Wong
Patrick M. Cronin
25
March 2021
Past Event
Virtual Event | North Korean Threat Perception and the US-South Korea Alliance: Implications for Policy and Diplomacy (Part 2 of 2)
Featured Speakers:
Ambassador Yung-woo Chun
Ambassador Joseph Yun
Duyeon Kim
Alex Wong
Dr. Patrick M. Cronin
25
March 2021
Past Event
Virtual Event | North Korean Threat Perception and the US-South Korea Alliance: Implications for Policy and Diplomacy (Part 2 of 2)

Please be advised: This event will premiere LIVE on this page at 12:00 p.m. EDT, Thursday, March 25.

Join Hudson Institute Senior Fellows Dr. Patrick

Featured Speakers:
Ambassador Yung-woo Chun
Ambassador Joseph Yun
Duyeon Kim
Alex Wong
Dr. Patrick M. Cronin
26
February 2020
Past Event
Prospects for a Stable Transformation of the Korean Peninsula
Featured Speakers:
Patrick Cronin
Dr. Jina Kim
Dr. Patricia Kim
Bruce Klingner
Dr. Seong-hyon Lee
Alex Wong
26
February 2020
Past Event
Prospects for a Stable Transformation of the Korean Peninsula

Join Hudson Institute for a conversation with U.S. Deputy Special Representative for North Korea Alex Wong on the North Korea nuclear negotiations. Wo

Featured Speakers:
Patrick Cronin
Dr. Jina Kim
Dr. Patricia Kim
Bruce Klingner
Dr. Seong-hyon Lee
Alex Wong
Seaman standing lookout watch on the bridge wing of the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76) as the ship conducts routine Taiwan Strait transit. (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Donavan K. Patubo via DVIDS)
Caption
Seaman standing lookout watch on the bridge wing of the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76) as the ship conducts routine Taiwan Strait transit. (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Donavan K. Patubo via DVIDS)
alex_wong
alex_wong
Senior Fellow
Commentary
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