Nolan Barkhouse began his assignment as Consul / Principal Officer of the U.S. Consulate in Busan on August 1, 2022. Prior to completing two years of Korean language studies in Seoul, Nolan led Public Diplomacy outreach at the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane, Laos, served as Eagleburger Fellow at Procter & Gamble’s Washington office, and served as Spokesman and Press Secretary at U.S. Embassy Beijing. In the past, he has also served at U.S. Embassy Baghdad, Consulate General Guangzhou, and as Staff Assistant in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in Washington, DC. Nolan is a two-time recipient of the State Department’s Superior Honor Award and has been recognized numerous times with individual and group Meritorious Honor Awards.
Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Nolan graduated with a BA in Political Science and International Studies from Texas A&M University and worked for a small technology consulting company in North Texas. Nolan is married with one daughter, and he speaks Korean and Mandarin.
Robert E. Kelly is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at the Pusan National University in South Korea. His PhD is from Ohio State University. His interests focus on security in Northeast Asia, especially the Koreas, and US foreign policy. He has published in academic journals such as the European Journal of International Relations, the International Studies Review, and the Pacific Review, as well as popular outlets such as Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, and the New York Review of Books.