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Agenda Agenda
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Feb23Thu
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Korea Foundation Junior Scholars Research Reports4:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Korea Foundation Junior Scholars Ria Chae and Chaeryung Lee will present the results of their research conducted at the Woodrow Wilson Center from July 2011 through February 2012.
Chae will present on “The Axe Murder Incident of 1976: A Case Study in North-South Korean Competition.” Two American officers supervising a tree-trimming operation were killed by North Korean soldiers in the Joint Security Area between North and South Korea on August 18, 1976. The U.S. reacted with a strong display of military force, after which Kim Il Sung, in an unprecedented move, issued an formal apology. A new war on the Korean Peninsula was narrowly avoided. While most scholars studying this so-called “Axe Murder Incident” tend to focus on the details of the incident and the American military response, this presentation will attempt to put the event in the broader framework of the competition between North and South Korea during the mid-1970s and the two countries’ relations with the US in the context of the changing Cold War system. Using documents from the archive of the North Korea International Documentation Project, material from the 2011 Critical Oral History Conference, and eyewitness accounts, Chae reconstructs the events preceding and following the incident to demonstrate what North Korea may have tried to achieve through the attack and how the incident was utilized by South Korea. In the end, Pyongyang may not have been the the absolute loser in this game.
Lee will present on “The Routinization of Kim Il Sung’s Charismatic Authority and Kim Jong Il’s Rise to Power.” Although North Korea is nominally a “democratic republic,” the constitution explicitly states that Kim Il Sung’s law prevails over all. Nearly two-decades have passed since the death of Kim Il Sung, and yet his power remains undiminished. This presentation will chart the growth of Kim Il Sung’s power from the late 1960s, when his authority was systematically and successfully consolidated. After assessing the routinization of Kim Il Sung’s charismatic authority, the presentation will consider how Kim’s power affected the rise of his son, Kim Jong Il.
Joining Chae and Lee on the panel as commenter will be Ryoo Kihljae, Professor at the University of North Korean Studies and former Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
NKIDP Project Coordinator James F. Person will chair the panel.
4:00 PMKorea Foundation Junior Scholars Research Reports -
George Shultz, Sam Nunn, William Perry: The Nuclear Chessboard, 20126:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Three distinguished statesmen discuss their vision for international security in these precarious times. Secretaries Shultz and Perry and Senator Nunn will assess the current state of nuclear threats, including Iran’s drive to build a bomb, the North Korean nuclear weapons program, and future prospects for limiting the spread of nuclear materials and eventually eliminating nuclear weapons.
George Shultz, Former U.S Secretary of State under President Reagan
William Perry, Former U.S. Secretary of Defense under President Clinton
Sam Nunn, Former U.S. Senator, Georgia (1972-96), Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative
Philip Taubman, Consulting Professor, Stanford University Center for International Security and Cooperation; Former New York Times Washington Bureau Chief; Author, The Partnership: Five Cold Warriors and Their Quest to Ban the Bomb – ModeratorLocation: SF Commonwealth Club Office
Time: 5:15 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program
Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students (with valid ID). Premium (includes seating in first few rows): $45 standard, $30 members6:00 PMGeorge Shultz, Sam Nunn, William Perry: The Nuclear Chessboard, 2012
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Feb24Fri
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Prospects for Rason Special Economic Zone12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
Please join KEI in its second Academic Paper Series seminar of 2012, where Andray Abrahamian, Executive Director of Choson Exchange, will discuss his analysis of the new developments in Rason and prospects for economic reform through this SEZ under the new leadership of Kim Jong-un.
Policies toward Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are often used as evidence of North Korea’s efforts to reform economically. Kim Jong-il’s trips to China and Russia along with China’s increasing interest in developing its northeastern provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang have put renewed focus on the Rason SEZ. A new road and new investment laws provide some hope that positive changes are occurring, but a history of economic policy relapses, big questions over the profitability of the SEZ, and the capability of reforms taking hold North Korea make the prospect for the Rason SEZ’s success uncertain.
Seating is limited. RSVPs are required.
RSVP: http://www.keia.org/page/rsvp
12:00 PMProspects for Rason Special Economic Zone
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Feb29Wed
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Behind the Deadlock: The U.S., the PRC, the UK, and the Issue of POWs during the Korean War12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
Who should be responsible for the deadlock of the truce talks on the repatriation of the POWs during the Korean War? What were the motivations underlying the principle of non-forcible repatriation of the U.S.? What actually influenced the PRC to accept the truce? What were the roles of other powers besides the U.S., the PRC and the USSR? Youzhen Xu, ECNU-WWICS Cold War Studies Initiative Scholar from Wuhan University will discuss these issues based on a multilateral-interaction perspective and a multi-archival study of the roles of the U. S., the PRC and the UK, in particular, in the formation and resolution of the deadlock over the issue of the POWs during the Korean War armistice negotiations. Not only will she explore policies, focusing on their underlying considerations and thinking, but also the interaction of different policies within bloc and inter blocs, especially the British effort to break the deadlock in such context.
Joining Youzhen on the panel is Wilson Center Fellow Yafeng Xia.
James F. Person, project coordinator for the Wilson Center’s North Korea International Documentation Project will chair the event.
RSVP via: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/rsvp?eid=22310&pid=100
12:30 PMBehind the Deadlock: The U.S., the PRC, the UK, and the Issue of POWs during the Korean War
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Mar1Thu
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North Korea and Nuclear Weapons: The Never-Ending Saga12:15 PM – 1:30 PM
Featuring Jonathan Pollack, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
Jonathan D. Pollack is a Senior Fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center in the Foreign Policy Program of the Brookings Institution. Prior to joining Brookings in December 2010, he was Professor of Asian and Pacific Studies and Chairman of the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College, where he is now a Professor Emeritus. He is also a Research Associate in the National Asia Research Program of the National Bureau of Asian Research and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He was previously affiliated with the Rand Corporation, where he served in a wide array of research and senior management capacities. In addition, he has taught at Brandeis University, the Rand Graduate School of Policy Studies, UCLA, and the Naval War College. His principal research interests include Chinese national security strategy; U.S.-China relations; U.S. strategy in Asia and the Pacific; Korean politics and foreign policy; and East Asian international politics. His publications include: Strategic Surprise? U.S.-China Relations in the Early 21st Century (2004); Korea-The East Asian Pivot (2006), and Asia Eyes America: Regional Perspectives on U.S. Asia-Pacific Strategy in the 21st Century (2007). His latest study, No Exit: North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, and International Security, was published in May 2011 by Routledge for the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
The CISSM Forum is a weekly policy forum held on Thursdays, from 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm in room 1203 Van Munching Hall, College Park, Maryland. The CISSM Forum is open to the public (no RSVPs required) and is supported by the Yamamoto-Scheffelin Endowment for Policy Research. CISSM also sponsors special events on campus and in downtown Washington, D.C.
12:15 PMNorth Korea and Nuclear Weapons: The Never-Ending Saga
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Mar8Thu
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Knowing North Korea: Humanitarian Insights9:15 AM – 11:30 AM
The Korea Society continues its Knowing North Korea series covering economy and investment; nuclear and other security issues; refugees; NGOs and humanitarian affairs; energy, agriculture, and infrastructure development; and the roles of the international community. This 2012 installment begins with lessons in humanitarian affairs and suggestions for more constructive international involvement by Stanford University Pantech Fellow Katharina Zellweger, who has visited North Korea more than fifty times.
Tickets: http://www.koreasociety.org/policy/policy/knowing_north_korea_humanitarian_insights.html#tickets
9:15 AMKnowing North Korea: Humanitarian Insights -
Vital Venture: Economic Engagement of North Korea and the Kaesong Industrial Complex12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
The 800-acre Kaesong Industrial Complex, located just miles from the DMZ, is now the barometer for economic cooperation between North and South Korea. In the past decade, North Korea has increasingly relied on Chinese assistance and investment, thereby diminishing South Korean economic leverage. Due to North Korea’s need for sponsorship, it is plausible to conclude that “as Kaesong goes, so goes the future of North Korea.”
At a launch event hosted by the Korea Economic Institute on March 8, from 12:00-1:30 p.m., the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) will release Vital Venture: Economic Engagement of North Korea and the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a new report authored by Patrick M. Cronin, CNAS Senior Advisor and Senior Director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program. In the report, Cronin provides insight into the dynamics at Kaesong and strongly argues for using political transition on both sides of the DMZ to engage, probe and reassess approaches to North Korea. Incorporating extensive interactions with South Korean government officials and scholars, Vital Venture analyzes North Korean adaptation and survival strategies, investigates the history of Kaesong and its status after the Sunshine Policy as well as its significant implications for U.S. policy. Ambassador Jack Pritchard will provide commentary on this thought provoking paper.
A light lunch will be served. Copies of the paper will be available at the event.
RSVPs are required. Space is Limited.
To RSVP, please respond to this email or please click here.12:00 PMVital Venture: Economic Engagement of North Korea and the Kaesong Industrial Complex
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Mar9Fri
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Unified Tuberculosis Control on the Korean Peninsula: Promise and Perils4:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Speaker/Performer: Stephen W. Linton, Chairman, Eugene Bell Foundation Sponsor: Center for Korean Studies (CKS)
Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, North Korea’s most serious public health challenge, provides unprecedented opportunities for constructive engagement on the Korean peninsula. Koreans from North and South have worked quietly for years to develop an efficient, transparent and effective strategy to diagnose and treat this deadly disease. A joint South-North program to treat MDR-TB would be the first step toward a unified program for infectious disease control.
Dr. Stephen Linton founded the Eugene Bell Foundation in 1995 to provide developmental assistance to North Korea. He will discuss his foundation’s work over the years coordinating the delivery of TB medication, diagnostic equipment, and supplies to 1/3 of the North Korean population.
Target audience: All Audiences
Open to audience: All Audiences
4:00 PMUnified Tuberculosis Control on the Korean Peninsula: Promise and Perils
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Mar14Wed
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Images of the Hidden City: Life and Art in Pyongyang, North Korea7:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Artist and Art Professor BG Muhn visited Pyongyang, North Korea on a recent research trip. He will talk about his observations of the people on the streets of Pyongyang during the celebration of their National Foundation Day as well as his encounters with schoolchildren, and he will show video clips from a rare interview of a Buddhist monk at the Sungbulsa Temple, an emotionally meaningful site for South Koreans.
Muhn will also discuss North Korean contemporary art by presenting numerous slides of rare images. North Korean art is the last existing and still vigorously ongoing representation of Socialist Realism in the world.
The talk is cosponsored by the Department of Art and Art History, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and Asian Studies Program-School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.
7:30 PMImages of the Hidden City: Life and Art in Pyongyang, North Korea
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