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Premier Wen's Pyongyang Visit: What are the Implications for U.S. North Korea Policy?
October 14, 2009 | Public Event
The significance of the economic and commercial accords signed by China and North Korea on the 60th anniversary of bilateral ties has largely been overlooked. The U.S. Institute of Peace and the Korea Economic Institute recently convened a discussion of the impact of Premier Wen's visit to Pyongyang on U.S. North Korea policy. Watch a video of the event here.
North Korea, Inc.: Gaining Insights into North Korean Regime Stability from Recent Commercial Activities
May 2009 | Working Paper
Based on interviews with recent North Korean defectors who previously worked in the North Korean state trading companies affiliated with the army, ruling party and cabinet, this report is the inaugural research product of the Institute's joint research project with the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU).
The Real Bridge to Nowhere: China's Foiled North Korea Policy
May 2009 | Working Paper
This report examines the complexities of Chinese-Norht Korean relations, taking into account the perspective of China's border areas, a vital aspect of China's relationship with the Korean peninsula that is often overlooked.
The 2009 'New DPRK Revolutionary Upsurge'-A Blast from the Past or a New Path?
February 10, 2009 | Public Event
A public event co-sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' North Korea International Documentation Project: This event has already taken place.
The Korea Working Group (KWG) brings together the leading Korea watchers from the government and think tank communities to discuss pressing policy issues in the political, security, social, and economic fields. The chair of the KWG is Ambassador Richard Solomon, President of the U.S. Institute of Peace. The director is John S. Park, a Northeast Asia specialist in the Institute’s Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention.
The Institute’s KWG was re-launched in early 2007 at a time of renewed diplomatic activity focused on denuclearizing North Korea. Originally initiated by former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry in the late 1990s during the Perry Process, the KWG provided a non-partisan forum where Perry and his team could consult with North Korea experts in Washington, D.C. as the Clinton administration worked to revive its North Korea policy.
The KWG continues to bring together the leading North Korea watchers from the government and think tank communities to discuss key policy issues in the political, security, social, and economic fields. By convening these regular meetings, the Institute has been able to provide an important channel for analysts and policymakers from the United States and Asia who are working on different facets of North Korea policy to share differing perspectives on pressing issues.
Under the Six-Party Talks’ February 13, 2007 Agreement on Initial Implementation of Actions, five core working groups were established to lay out the coordinated steps required to effect the comprehensive denuclearization of North Korea. The KWG addresses the challenges facing Washington’s North Korea policy as they relate to these working groups. Of particular focus are the working groups on denuclearization, energy and economic assistance, peace and security mechanism, and U.S.-DPRK diplomatic normalization. The Institute has convened closed KWG sessions on each of these topics with Deputy Secretary John Negroponte, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill (chief U.S. negotiator to the Six-Party Talks), Dr. Victor Cha (former Director of Asian Affairs on the National Security Council and deputy chief U.S. negotiator to the Six-Party Talks.), David Albright (a leading North Korean nuclear expert on the disablement process), Dr. David Asher (an architect of North Korean financial sanctions), and a U.S. delegation that conducted meetings in Beijing and the Sino-North Korean border region on Chinese perspectives on internal developments in North Korea.