Scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the U.S. a more responsible global partner.
North Korea

Pacific Freeze: Call to Action

by , | Feb 9, 2009

With multiple crises affecting our world – global economy, climate change, resource depletion – we must urgently redirect the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on preparing for war. The United States, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, and North Korea spent about $970 billion in 2008 on the military. That figure, alarmingly, is on the rise. For about one-tenth of this near-trillion dollar amount – about $90 billion a year – we can achieve more genuine security by eliminating global starvation and malnutrition, educating every child on earth, making clean water and sanitation accessible for all, and reversing the global spread of AIDS and malaria.

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Stealth Crisis

by | Sep 9, 2008

When pundits talk about the U.S. elections and foreign policy, they focus on Iraq and Iran. But the third member of the infamous “axis of evil” may prove to be just as influential.

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Beyond Ping-Pong Diplomacy

Beyond Ping-Pong Diplomacy

by , | Jul 30, 2008

You may wonder why the second week of October 2007 was proclaimed “National Tae Kwon Do Week” in Cedar Rapids Iowa.  Here’s one good reason: That week, in the middle of a Cedar Rapids auditorium, eight people crouched shoulder to shoulder to form a human hurdle, like the row of cars that a stuntman jumps with his motorcycle. Another person stood at the far end of this human chain, holding up a small pine board. With only a short running start, his teammate leapt over all eight people and broke the board with his feet before landing.

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Korean Bases of Concern

by , | Mar 31, 2008

Last month the New York Philharmonic grabbed the world’s attention by performing Dvorak’s New World Symphony in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. The Philharmonic may well have chosen Dvorak’s piece as an overture for a new world of peace. With negotiations over security issues in Northeast Asia making some progress, the United States and North Korea have been inching closer.

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Hardliners Target Dtente with North Korea

by , , | Feb 8, 2008

The Bush administration’s approach to North Korea was once quite consistent with its overall foreign policy. There was name-calling, a preference for regime change, and an emphasis on military solutions. Not surprisingly, then, the relationship between the United States and North Korea, like so many other tense stand-offs, deteriorated over the last seven years. The United States accused the third member of the “axis of evil” of money-laundering, missile sales, and a secret program for the production of nuclear material. For its part, North Korea responded tit for tat at the rhetorical level. And, in October 2006, it upped the ante by exploding a nuclear device. If the United States were not tied up in other military conflicts, and eyeing Iran to boot, a war in Northeast Asia might have been higher on the administration’s to-do list.

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The Paradox of East Asian Peace

by , | Dec 12, 2007

At the center of East Asia lies the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the Korean peninsula. The DMZ has been called the most dangerous place on earth. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers face one another across this divide. And yet, the DMZ is also the lifeline between North and South Korea. It connects the two countries by way of the Kaesong Industrial Complex. Electricity, transportation, and communications lines connect the two sides across this dangerous rift. Perhaps most paradoxically, the DMZ itself is a quiet, largely undisturbed zone that is home to perhaps the greatest biological diversity on the peninsula. Unification is, of course, a life-and-death issue for Koreans. It is therefore fitting that the DMZ is a life-and-death zone.

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