Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world
"Responding to the North Korea Threat" with Gary Samore, Park In-Kook, Jia Qingguo, Victor Cha, Ha Young-Sun, and Yao Yunzhu
9.00 – 9.30 am Welcome Remarks
9.30 – 11:30 am Expert Panel
Responding to the North Korea Threat
Moderator:
Presenters:
Gary Samore is Executive Director for Research at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In December 2015, Dr. Samore was appointed as a member of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) under Secretary Ernest Moniz and served until January 2017. He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and member of the advisory board for United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a non-profit organization that seeks to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
He served for four years as President Obama’s White House Coordinator for Arms Control and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), including as U.S. Sherpa for the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC and the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, Korea. From 2006 to 2009, Dr. Samore was Vice President for Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York, where he held the Maurice R. Greenberg chair and directed the David Rockefeller Studies Program. Before joining CFR, Dr. Samore was vice president for global security and sustainability at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in Chicago, and from 2001 to 2005, he was Director of Studies and Senior Fellow for Nonproliferation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London. At IISS, he produced three “strategic dossiers” on Iran (2005), North Korea (2004), and Iraq (2002), which are considered authoritative and exemplary assessments of nuclear, biological, chemical, and missile programs in those countries.
Dr. Samore was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Nonproliferation and Export controls during the Clinton Administration. Before the National Security Council, Dr. Samore worked on nonproliferation issues at the State Department. In 1995, he received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service for his role in negotiating the 1994 North Korea nuclear agreement. Prior to the State Department, he worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Rand Corporation.
Dr. Samore was a National Science Foundation Fellow at Harvard University, where he received his MA and PhD in government in 1984. While at Harvard, he was a pre-doctoral fellow at what was then the Harvard Center for Science and International Affairs, later to become the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
Victor Cha joined CSIS in May 2009 as a senior adviser and the inaugural holder of the Korea Chair. He is also director of Asian studies and holds the D.S. Song-KF Chair in the Department of Government and School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. From 2004 to 2007, he served as director for Asian affairs at the White House on the National Security Council (NSC), where he was responsible primarily for Japan, the Korean peninsula, Australia/New Zealand, and Pacific Island nation affairs. Dr. Cha was also the deputy head of delegation for the United States at the Six-Party Talks in Beijing and received two Outstanding Service Commendations during his tenure at the NSC. He is the award-winning author of Alignment Despite Antagonism: The United States-Korea-Japan Security Triangle (Stanford University Press, 1999), winner of the 2000 Ohira Book Prize; Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies, with Dave Kang (Columbia University Press, 2004); Beyond the Final Score: The Politics of Sport in Asia (Columbia University Press, 2009); and The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future (Ecco, 2012), selected by Foreign Affairs magazine as a 2012 “Best Book on Asia and the Pacific.” His newest book is Powerplay: Origins of the American Alliance System in Asia (Princeton University Press, 2016). He has written articles on international relations and East Asia in journals including Foreign Affairs, International Security, Political Science Quarterly, Survival, International Studies Quarterly, and Asian Survey.
Dr. Cha is a former John M. Olin National Security Fellow at Harvard University, a two-time Fulbright Scholar, and a Hoover National Fellow, CISAC Fellow, and William J. Perry Fellow at Stanford University. He holds Georgetown University’s Dean’s Teaching Award for 2010 and the Distinguished Research Award for 2011. He serves as an independent consultant and has testified before Congress on Asian security issues. He has been a guest analyst for various media, including CNN, ABC Nightline, NBC Today Show, CBS Morning Show, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, BBC, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and National Public Radio. He has a cameo role (as himself) in the action film Red Dawn (Contrafilm, MGM, Vincent Newman Entertainment, 2012). Dr. Cha holds a B.A., an M.I.A., and a Ph.D. from Columbia University, as well as an M.A. from Oxford University.
Prior to taking his current undertaking as President of Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies, Park In-Kook served as Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations (2008 – 2011) on top of his ambassadorial career in Geneva and Kuwait. Mr. Park joined the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1978 and served in the United States, Brussels (Korean Mission to the EU), and Saudi Arabia as a career diplomat. Working in the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Park served as Director of the United Nations Division II, the Disarmament and Nuclear Energy Division, the Deputy Minister for Policy Planning and International Organizations (2006) and Deputy Foreign Minister for multilateral and global issues in 2007. He also served as Secretary to the President of the Republic of Korea for International Security (2002 - 2003).
Mr. Park had taken on other “ambassadorial roles” as President or Chair of a number of important international organizations, including President of the Geneva Conference on Disarmament (2004), Chairman of the 2nd Committee of the UN General Assembly (Finance, Economy, Development and Environment, 2009 – 2010). He also served as Co-Chair of Preparatory Committee for the UN conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20 UN Environment Summit, 2012).
He served as a visiting professor at the Graduate School of International Studies at Seoul National University (2012-2014) and Korea University (2016-2017). He also serves as the co-chairman of the board of Asia Research Centers of major Chinese Universities including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Renmin University of China, and Zhejiang University. He was a council member of World Economic Forum in 2012.
Mr. Park In-kook holds a bachelor’s degree from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature (1975) and a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Law (1980) at Seoul National University.
Jia Qingguo is Professor and Associate Dean of the School of International Studies of Peking University. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1988. He has taught in University of Vermont, Cornell University, University of California at San Diego, University of Sydney in Australia as well as Peking University. He was a research fellow at the Brookings Institution between 1985 and 1986, a visiting professor at the University of Vienna in 1997 and a fellow at the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution in 2001 and 2002. He is Vice President of the Chinese American Studies Association. He is also a member of Standing Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the China Democratic League. He is serving on the editorial board of several international academic journals. He has published extensively on U.S.-China relations, relations between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, Chinese foreign policy and Chinese politics.
Young-Sun Ha is Chairman of the board of trustees at the East Asia Institute. He is also a professor emeritus of the department of political science and international relations at Seoul National University. Currently, Dr. Ha is serving as a member of the Presidential Committee for Unification Preparation. He was the Co-chairman of Korea-Japan Joint Research Project for New Era, the Director of the Center for International Studies and American Studies Institute at Seoul National University, the President of the Korea Peace Studies Association, and a research fellow at the Center for International Studies at Princeton University, and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Stockholm. He received his B.A. and M.A. from Seoul National University, and holds a Ph.D. in international politics from the University of Washington. His recent books and edited volumes include: Korean Peninsula among Big Powers 1972 vs 2014 (2015) Trustpolitik 2.0 on the Korean Peninsula: Complex Policy of Deterrence, Engagement, and Trust(2014), Toward 2020: Ten Agendas for South Korea’s Foreign Policy (2013), A New Era for Korea-Japan Relations: Seven Tasks for Bilateral Cooperation (2013),Young-Sun Ha on International Politics: A Collection of Columns from 1991 to 2011 (2012), The History of Social Science Concepts in Modern Korea I & II (2009 /2012), Complex World Politics: Strategies, Principles, and a New Order (2012), Young Pioneers in Korean History (2011), The Future of North Korea 2032: The Strategy of Coevolution for the Advancement (2010), The Emergence of Complex Alliances in the 21st Century (2010), and A New Era of Complex Networks in Korea-Japan Relations (2010).
Dr. Yao Yunzhu is a major general of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China, the director emeritus of the Center on China-American Defense Relations, and member of the Academic Committee of National Think Tank Program, the Academy of Military Science (AMS). She joined the PLA in 1970, served in the PLA as an enlisted, a staff officer, an instructor, a researcher, deputy director and director of a research office, and director of a research center.
She holds a Master’s of Arts from the PLA’s Foreign Languages Institute, a Ph.D. in Military Science from the Academy of Military Science. She had been a visiting scholar at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University from 1995 to 1996, an Eisenhower Fellow in 1999 and a visiting fellow at Harvard University from 2009 to 2010.
She has published books, translated books, articles and papers on international military and security issues, US military affairs, nuclear weapon policy and arms control, Asia-Pacific security issues such as cross-Taiwan Strait relations, the DPRK nuclear issue and maritime security. Her works include Post-war American Deterrence: Theories and Policies, On Asia-Pacific Security Strategy (author of chapters), and 20th Century Strategic Legacy and the World through Chinese Scholars (author of chapters).
She was elected a member of the 10th National People’s Congress of the PRC in 2002, and a member of the 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress in 2007.
