Past Event

A Mid-Term Report Card for Biden’s North Korea Policy

A mid-term assessment of Biden’s North Korea policy and steps moving forward.

Past Event in

February 21, 2023 from 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM (US Eastern)

February 22, 2023 from 12:30 - 2:00 AM (Seoul)

RSVP for the Event

  • February 21, 2023
  • 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM (US Eastern)
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Event Took Place

  • February 21, 2023
  • 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM (US Eastern)

Two years into the Biden administration, no progress has been made in stopping the growing WMD threat posed by North Korea. The Stimson Center will convene a panel of four experts—a former US negotiator, a long-time US intelligence analyst, a China expert and former Assistant Secretary of State, and the 38 North Director—to evaluate the administration’s policy and to discuss where we should go from here.

Featured Speakers

Robert Carlin, Nonresident Fellow, 38 North and Nonresident Scholar, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies

Robert Carlin has been following North Korea since 1974 from both in and out of government and has taken part in countless hours of negotiations and unofficial discussions with DPRK officials. He served as a senior policy advisor at the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) from 2002-2006, leading delegations to the North for negotiations and observing developments in the country outside of Pyongyang. Carlin has made more than 30 trips to the DPRK.

Susan Thornton, Visiting Lecturer in Law and Senior Fellow, Paul Tsai China Center

Susan A. Thornton is a retired senior U.S. diplomat with almost three decades of experience with the U.S. State Department in Eurasia and East Asia. She is currently a Senior Fellow and Visiting Lecturer in Law at the Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center. She is also the director of the Forum on Asia-Pacific Security at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Jenny Town, Senior Fellow, Stimson Center and Director, 38 North

Jenny Town is a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center and the Director of Stimson’s 38 North Program. Her expertise is in North Korea, US-DPRK relations, US-ROK alliance and Northeast Asia regional security. She was named one of Worth Magazine’s “Groundbreakers 2020: 50 Women Changing the World” and one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business in 2019 for her role in co-founding and managing the 38 North website, which provides policy and technical analysis on North Korea.

Robert Gallucci, Distinguished Professor, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service 

Robert L. Gallucci is a Distinguished Professor of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. As As Ambassador-at-Large and Special Envoy for the US Department of State, he dealt with the threats posed by the proliferation of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. He was chief US negotiator during the North Korean nuclear crisis of 1994. He has also served as Dean of the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service and president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Moderator

Joel Wit, Distinguished Fellow in Asian and Security Studies, Stimson Center 

Joel S. Wit is a Distinguished Fellow in Asian and Security Studies at the Stimson Center. Wit is an internationally recognized expert on Northeast Asia security issues. As a U.S. State Department official, he helped negotiate the 1994 US-DPRK Agreed Framework and was subsequently in charge of its implementation until he left government in 2002, holding countless talks with North Korean officials, including the military and nuclear establishments. 

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