The North Korean Nuclear Crisis: Everything Has Changed

RAS LECTURE

Tuesday 16^th March, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.

Mesa-Manifesto 748 Julu Road, 巨鹿路748号梅萨餐厅

MIKE CHINOY

The North Korean Nuclear Crisis: Everything Has Changed

When George W. Bush became president of the United States, North Korea had enough weapons-grade plutonium for perhaps one or two nuclear devices. Its nuclear facility at Yongbyon was frozen and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was seeking to engage long-time adversaries – hosting South both Korea’s president and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Pyongyang, and inviting President Bill Clinton for a summit meeting.

A decade later, North Korea has become a full-fledged nuclear power, having staged two nuclear tests and numerous missile tests, and making clear its intention to maintain a nuclear capability for the foreseeable future.

With continuing tensions on the Korean peninsula, the crisis over the North’s nuclear program has reached a critical turning point, amid new questions about the country’s internal stability, current and future leadership, and the prospects for eventual denuclearization.

How did things reach this point? Is there any hope for a diplomatic solution? And what are the internal dynamics fueling Kim Jong Il’s nuclear ambitions.

Mike Chinoy, a Senior Fellow at the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California and former Beijing Bureau Chief and Senior Asia Correspondent for CNN, will discuss these questions in a talk on March 16. Chinoy is the author of the widely acclaimed book “Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis,” and has visited North Korea 14 times.

Entrance: RMB 30 (RAS members) and RMB 80 (non-members) those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend may contact us for exemption, prior to the RAS Lecture. Membership applications and membership renewals will be available at this event.

RSVP: to RAS Enquiry desk

enquiry@royalasiaticsociety.org.cn