Thomas Byrne
Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs
Personal Details
Thomas J. Byrne joined The Korea Society as its President in August of 2015. He comes to the Society from Moody's Investor Services, where he was Senior Vice President, Regional Manager, spokesperson, and director of analysis for the Sovereign Risk Group in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions. Byrne joined Moody's in late-1996, and directly worked on Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea in the prelude to and aftermath of the Asia financial crisis. He also was the lead analyst for government of Japan's rating, and was first foreigner to testify before Diet’s Fiscal and Financial Committee, defending Moody’s rating actions in June 2002. Byrne co-directed the first revision of Moody’s sovereign rating methodology, “Sovereign Bond Ratings” published in September 2013. Previously, Byrne was the Senior Economist of the Asia Department at the Institute of International Finance in Washington, D.C.; one of his notable experiences at the IIF was participating on the Nigeria Economic Subcommittee of the Bank Advisory Committee for debt restructuring in 1986. Byrne has an MA degree in International Relations, class of 1983, with an emphasis on Economics from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Before his graduate work, he served in South Korea for three years as a US Peace Corps volunteer, working in rural areas in the government’s tuberculosis control program.
Education
- MA in International Relations, The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
In The Media
Thomas Byrne sees no signs of reform from Pyongyang despite the crisis.
Tom Byrne, President of The Korea Society, writes about South Korea’s military expenditures and saying the US request SK spend more on defense “is reasonable. But the ask should be fair and transparent.”