RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Richard C. Bush III, May 26, 2009, The Daily Beast
As North Korea continues to challenge the international community with its nuclear ambitions, Richard Bush examines Kim Jong Il's reasoning behind the nuclear test. Bush argues that North Korea's latest provocation is an attempt to frame de-nuclearization negotiations on the most favorable terms by putting the Obama administration on the defensive. Read More
PAST EVENT
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Washington, DC
On November 10, the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at Brookings hosted co-authors Kongdan Oh and Ralph Hassig for a discussion of their new book The Hidden People of North Korea: Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom. Drawing on decades of scholarship and experience, the speakers discussed aspects of life in North Korea and the ways in which the outside world can reach everyday North Koreans so that they can make decisions based on truth rather than propaganda. Read More
PAST EVENT
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
2:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Washington, DC
On October 27, the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies hosted a presentation by Kim Kwangjin of his report on North Korean succession and human rights issues. Mr. Kim defected from North Korea in 2003, and was previously manager of North Korea’s Northeast Asia Bank in Singapore and representative of the Korea National Insurance Corporation. This discussion also featured Roberta Cohen of Brookings and Bruce Klingner of the Heritage Foundation. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Sun-won Park, October 13, 2009, The Brookings Institution
After months of provocations by North Korea, conditions are now developing that should allow the U.S. Special Envoy, Stephen Bosworth, to visit Pyongyang. In this paper, Brookings Visiting Fellow Sun-won Park calls for a "Bosworth Process," a plan to achieve not only denuclearization of the Korean peninsula but also to bring North Korea into the international community in a far-sighted and peaceful way. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Wonhyuk Lim, August 24, 2009, The Brookings Institution
The Korean peninsula served as the battleground for an internationalized civil war from 1950-1953. Over a half-century later, the peninsula is still divided and the Korean question remains unresolved. In this CNAPS visiting fellow working paper, Wonhyuk Lim writes that placing Korean unification within the broader context of regional integration in Asia may be an effective geopolitical strategy for the Korean nation.
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PAST EVENT
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
Washington, DC
Former President Bill Clinton traveled to Pyongyang for a surprise meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Tuesday, and secured the release of two American reporters detained since March. This visit came at a tense time following North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile tests in the past months. Brookings expert Richard Bush and Politico's Fred Barbash took questions on the North Korea nuclear problem in this week’s edition of the Scouting Report. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Martin S. Indyk, August 05, 2009, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports
Martin Indyk joined Andrea Mitchell to discuss the inauguration of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to a second term as president of Iran. Indyk and Mitchell also spoke about former President Bill Clinton’s trip to North Korea, in which he secured a pardon for two U.S. journalists being held by the government. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Dennis Wilder, August 04, 2009, PBS' NewsHour
Following a surprise meeting with former President Bill Clinton, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il pardoned two jailed American journalists. Dennis Wilder joined other experts on PBS' NewsHour to examine the implications of the meeting. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Roberta Cohen, July 31, 2009, The Washington Post
The now-defunct six-party talks in which the U.S., South Korea, Japan, Russia, and China participated focused almost exclusively on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. But, as Roberta Cohen argues, with a struggle for succession underway in Pyongyang and some of the country's internal controls reportedly beginning to erode, it's the time to rethink the near-exclusion of human rights from the U.S.-North Korean dialogue. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Roberta Cohen, July 23, 2009, Council on Foreign Relations
The U.S. government's policies toward North Korea in recent years have drawn criticism for focusing primarily on denuclearization, while neglecting human rights issues, even as the country's human rights situation remains dire. Roberta Cohen says arguments against including human rights in discussions with North Korea are flawed and recommends integrating human rights as part of an overall U.S. policy toward North Korea. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Michael E. O'Hanlon and Stephen J. Solarz , June 24, 2009, USA Today
Michael O'Hanlon and Stephen Solarz write that with China’s lead—and U.S. support—Pyongyang could be brought to its knees and given the choice of watching its economy collapse or giving up nuclear weapons. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Richard C. Bush III, June 17, 2009, House Subcommittees on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment and on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade
In testimony before Congress on June 17, senior fellow and CNAPS director Richard Bush described how North Korea’s recent nuclear and missile tests have transformed the challenge faced by the international system. Dr. Bush testified that it is now clear that North Korea bases its security on nuclear weapons, and the hope that it will abandon the nuclear option has disappeared. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Dennis Wilder, June 16, 2009, PBS' NewsHour
Dennis Wilder joined Gwen Ifill to discuss President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak meeting about recent provocations in the latest round of the ongoing diplomatic standoff with North Korea. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Michael E. O'Hanlon, June 09, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Iraq and Afghanistan continue to pre-occupy U.S. military planners. But North Korea, with its growing nuclear arsenal, would become America's paramount security challenge if the state were to collapse. Michael O’Hanlon writes that the United States and other nations must begin detailed and coordinated planning for stabilization in the event of collapse of the North Korean state. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Dennis Wilder, June 04, 2009, Financial Times
In recent months, North Korea has unabashedly plowed forward with the development of its nuclear program, an action that threatens to erode regional stability in Northeast Asia. Dennis Wilder examines the role of China in reducing the North Korean threat and explores the causes, pointing to necessary limits of China’s calculated caution toward North Korea. Read More