Podcasts about six party talks

In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, Dr. Victor Cha joins us to discuss his major takeaways from the June 2024 Putin-Kim summit and the significance of North Korea and Russia's new mutual defense clause for the international community. Dr. Cha dissects how North Korea's relationships with Russia and China have evolved over time and notes that the new defense clause gives North Korea an opportunity to leverage its closer relationship with Russia to its advantage vis-a-vis North Korea-China relations. Dr. Cha explains the global and regional implications of the mutual defense agreement. Finally, Dr. Cha discusses his recommendations for how the United States, South Korea, and other and allies and partners should address this growing relationship.  *This podcast was recorded prior to the 2024 NATO DC Summit.  Dr. Victor Cha is a Senior Vice President for Asia and holds the CSIS Korea Chair. He is professor of government and holds the D.S. Song-KF Chair in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service (SFS) at Georgetown University. In July 2019, he was appointed vice dean for faculty and graduate affairs in SFS. While working for the White House between 2004-2007, Dr. Cha was the director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council. 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. He is the author of five books, including the award-winning Alignment Despite Antagonism: The United States-Korea-Japan Security Triangle. 

Michael speaks with Sydney Seiler, one of the country's top experts on North Korea and Korea Chair at CSIS. Sydney served as the U.S. Special Envoy for Six Party Talks, where he led negotiations with North Korea. He also held key positions at the National Intelligence Council, ODNI, CIA, and NSA. Sydney discusses North Korea's recent treaty with Russia and its growing provocations on the Korean Peninsula.

In this special extended episode of The Korea Pro Podcast, co-hosts Jeongmin and John are joined by Dr. Victor Cha, the senior vice president for Asia and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS). Dr. Cha discusses the findings of his new report on South Korean elites' fragile opposition to nuclearization and shares his insights on the current debate surrounding the issue. The conversation delves into the differences between South Korea's public and strategic elites' perceptions of a nuclear South Korea, the factors that could tip the scale in favor of nuclearization and the motivations and limitations of the study. Jeongmin and John also explore the potential impact of Donald Trump's potential return to the U.S. presidency on the allies' joint defense and the top risks facing the U.S.-ROK alliance going forward. Dr. Victor Cha, who has served on the National Security Council and as the U.S. deputy head of delegation at the Six-Party Talks, also shares his thoughts on how unpredictable U.S. politics has become — an added variable for South Korea in navigating security and alliance issues.  About the podcast: The Korea Pro Podcast is a weekly 15-minute conversation hosted by Editorial Director Jeongmin Kim (@jeongminnkim) and Editor John Lee (@koreanforeigner), diving deep into the most pressing stories shaping South Korea — and dissecting the most complicated ones for professionals monitoring ROK politics, diplomacy, culture, society and technology. Uploaded every Friday. This episode was recorded on May 10, 2024.  Audio edited by Joe Smith

Recorded October 4, 2023 Signed on Oct. 1, 1953, in the wake of the armistice, the U.S.-South Korea alliance has matured into a dynamic partnership, deterring conflict and fostering cooperation with respect to trade, technology and people-to-people ties. This expert panel reflected on the legacy and future of the alliance. This program was jointly hosted by The Korea Society, the Korea Defense Veterans Association and the Korea-Pacific Program at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. About the Speakers: Thomas J. Byrne joined The Korea Society as its President in August of 2015 following a distinguished career that included Senior Vice President of Moody's Investor Services and Senior Economist of the Asia Department at the Institute of International Finance. Byrne has an M.A. degree in International Relations with an emphasis on economics from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Before doing graduate work at SAIS, he served in South Korea for three years as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. His commentary on Korean affairs has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Financial Times among others. Stephen Haggard is the Lawrence and Sallye Krause Distinguished Professor and director of the Korea-Pacific Program at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. He teaches courses on the international relations of the Asia-Pacific at GPS covering political economy as well as security issues. He has done extensive research on North Korea in particular. In addition, he has a long-standing interest in transitions to and from democratic rule and the current phenomenon of democratic backsliding. His recent research on South Korea addresses the issue of political polarization, including with respect to foreign policy. Allison Hooker is a foreign policy and national security specialist with 20 years of experience in the U.S. Government working on Asia. She served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asia, where she led the coordination and implementation of U.S. policy toward the Indo-Pacific region. Prior to that, Hooker served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Korean Peninsula, where she staffed the U.S.-DPRK Summits in Singapore, Hanoi, and the DMZ. Prior to her service at the White House, Hooker was a senior analyst for North Korea in the Department of State and staffed the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear program. She received a Masters' of Arts Degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and has been a research fellow at Osaka University and Keio University, where she focused on Japan-Korea relations, and Japan-China relations, respectively. Youngwan Kim is a career diplomat who joined the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Korea in 1993. He worked at various Ministries of the Korean Government, including Foreign Ministry, Unification Ministry, and Office for Government Policy Coordination, Prime Minister's Office. Prior to his current post as Consul General in LA, he served as Director-General for National Security and Foreign Policy at the Prime Minister's office. He also worked as Director-General for Planning and Management of the Foreign Ministry. His most recent foreign post was a Member of the Panel of Experts, UN Security Council Sanctions Committee at the United Nations headquarter. His foreign posts also include Washington D.C., New York, Beijing and Baghdad. Munseob Lee is an economist who concentrates his research efforts on macroeconomics, growth and development, firm dynamics, and Korea. He has investigated the factors that determine the growth of firms, with a particular focus on how government purchases can promote long-term growth of small businesses. Additionally, he examined the disproportionate effect of inflation, revealing that low-income households and black families are the most affected by rising prices in the United States. Lee, who is an Associate Director in GPS's Korea-Pacific Program, teaches courses including Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Macroeconomics of Development and The Korean Economy. In 2019, General Curtis “Mike” Scaparrotti completed a distinguished 41-year career in the U.S. Army as the Commander, U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, NATO. Prior to that he served as the Commander of U.S. Forces Korea / United Nations Command / Combined Forces Command in Seoul from 2013 to 2016. Other prominent postings in his highly-decorated career include Director of the Joint Staff, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force, the Deputy Commander of U.S. Forces – Afghanistan, the Commanding General of I Corps and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and the Commanding General of the 82nd Airborne Division. Additionally, over the years, General Scaparrotti served in key leadership positions at the tactical, operational, and strategic level. He has commanded forces during Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Support Hope (Zaire/Rwanda), Joint Endeavor (Bosnia-Herzegovina), and Assured Response (Liberia). General Scaparrotti holds a Master's degree in Administrative Education from the University of South Carolina. In addition to his work with The Cohen Group, General Scaparrotti sits on the boards iof the Atlantic Council and Patriot Foundation, and is a Senior Fellow at the National Defense University. Yoo Myung-hee served at the Ministries of Trade, Industry and Energy and Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea for nearly three decades before becoming Korea's first female trade minister (2019-2021). In a variety of roles she designed and implemented Korea's trade policy and negotiation strategies and led numerous bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations as Korea's chief negotiator, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and Korea's free trade agreements with the United States and ASEAN. As trade minister, she contributed to international initiatives to ensure supply chain resilience and to address digital trade policy. She received her BA and MPA from Seoul National University and JD from Vanderbilt University Law School and currently teaches at the Graduate School of International Studies of Seoul National University. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1745-the-u-s-republic-of-korea-alliance-at-70-legacy-and-future

Frank Aum, Senior Expert, at the U.S. Institute of Peace discusses his views on King's release. And Joe Detrani, former U.S. Special Envoy to the Six Party Talks with North Korea, talks about what's going on inside North Korea's government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Frank Aum, Senior Expert, at the U.S. Institute of Peace discusses his views on King's release. And Joe Detrani, former U.S. Special Envoy to the Six Party Talks with North Korea, talks about what's going on inside North Korea's government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Richard Lawless - a former CIA operations officer - discusses his book "Hunting Nukes" which chronicles Lawless's half-century quest to seek out and expose undeclared nuclear weapons activities by countries of the highest concern to the US government. In particular. Lawless reveals the successful takedown of the South Korean strategic weapons program in the mid-1970s. He describes in detail the CIA's operation that detected, penetrated, defined, and eventually blocked that country's covert effort. Lawless also recounts his duties during the 2002-2008 talks with the rogue North Korean regime—the so-called “Six Party Talks." Recorded 1 Jun 2023. Interviewer: Jim Hughes, AFIO President and former CIA Operations Officer. 

In this episode of the State Secrets Podcast Brad speaks with Cipher Brief Expert Ambassador Joe Detrani. Ambassador Joseph DeTrani is the former Special envoy for Six Party Talks with North Korea, as well as former CIA director of East Asia Operations. He also served as the Associate Director of National Intelligence and Mission Manager for North Korea and the Director of the National Counter Proliferation Center, while also serving as a Special Adviser to the Director of National Intelligence. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a trip to Beijing, the first in 5 years for a Secretary of State, and while reactions to the trip were muted, the visit seemed to represent a small step forward in restoring dialogue between Washington and Beijing. Ambassador DeTrani is who we turn to for a level set perspective on what's happening in Asia and how we should be thinking about the US-China relationship.  Here's our conversation.

Ambassador Joe DeTrani has spent much of his career centered on China. He is not only a former Special Envoy for Six Party Talks with North Korea, he is also a former director of East Asia Operations at the CIA. In this episode, Cipher Brief COO Brad Christian sits down with Ambassador DeTrani to discuss senior leadership changes in Beijing and a potential phone call between Xi and US President Joe Biden.

In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, we are joined by Dr. Victor Cha to discuss the changing dynamics on the Korean Peninsula and the relationship between China and North Korea. He explains that despite outward appearances, the China-DPRK relationship is deeply fraught and not as close as it may seem. Dr. Cha reveals that between a strict Covid-19 lockdown and the sanctions imposed between 2016-2017, North Korea's dependence on China has fallen and Beijing may now lack adequate tools to place pressure on Pyongyang. Lastly, Dr. Cha challenges the notion that the United States and China share goals for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. Rather, he contends, the two share common ground in wanting to prevent conflict on the peninsula. Dr. Victor Cha is a Senior Vice President for Asia and holds the CSIS Korea Chair. He is professor of government and holds the D.S. Song-KF Chair in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service (SFS) at Georgetown University. In July 2019, he was appointed vice dean for faculty and graduate affairs in SFS. While working for the White House between 2004-2007, Dr. Cha was the director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council. 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. He is the author of five books, including the award-winning Alignment Despite Antagonism: The United States-Korea-Japan Security Triangle.

China's Communist Party is deep into preparations for its 20th party Congress that begins October 16th in Beijing, where expert observers are expecting President Xi Jinping to be confirmed for an unprecedented third five-year term. Xi is also expected to announce his new leadership team that will execute on the party's agenda.  And it's safe to say that near or at the top of that Agenda is the issue of Taiwan. For context: When it comes to US policy, Washington's official stance is that Taiwan is in fact, part of China and that if reunification occurs, it must be through a peaceful reunification.  Beijing, meanwhile, sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be reunified, and has not rule out use of force to do so.   Washington is bolstering Taiwanese defenses in the event that Beijing grows impatient and makes the strategic decision to reunify the island by force. So, diplomatically, the US recognizes one Chinese government yet Washington treats Taiwan like an independent nation when it comes to diplomatic engagement and military support.  That's the reason why China took such offense to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's recent visit to Taipei. Today's guest agrees that the U.S.' One China Policy presents a complicated engagement strategy.  How did we get here?  And what is the likelihood that the world's two most powerful nations could come to blows over Taiwan? Ambassador Joe DeTrani has focued much of his career on China.  He is not only a former Special Envoy for Six Party Talks with North Korea, he is also a former director of East Asia Operations at the CIA. In this episode, Cipher Brief COO Brad Christian sits down with Ambassador DeTrani to unpack the US' One China Policy.

Ambassador Chris Hill discusses growing up in the foreign service, service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon, and formative experiences working with Secretary Eagleburger and Amb. Holbrooke. Ambassador Hill also discusses leading Six-Party talks with N. Korea, his ambassadorship in Iraq, and the importance of diversity in today's Foreign Service. Interview excerpted from the forthcoming book: Modern American Diplomacy: A Field Guide to Success in The Foreign Service. For those interested in exploring a career in the Foreign Service, please visit Careers.State.Gov. To find out more about this episode's guest or to dig further into the history and practice of U.S. diplomacy, visit ADST.org or 25YearApprenticeship.com. Special thanks to the Una Chapman Cox Foundation as well as the American Academy of Diplomacy.

A retired US Diplomat says North Korea has a long history of exploiting humanitarian aid. Earlier this week members of the New Zealand-DPRK Friendship Society had their homes raided by police after they made a donation to the North Korea Red Cross Society. They were told the money was used to buy PPE but retired US Diplomant, Ford Hart, says there is no real way to verify where money is spent in the totalitarian state. Hart was a Special Envoy for the Six Party Talks which aimed to find a peaceful resolution to the North Korea nuclear weapons programme. He speaks to Corin Dann.

America's Place in the World *Chair: Professor Thomas Schwartz, Distinguished Professor of History, Vanderbilt University *General John Allen, President, Brookings; former Commander NATO International Security Assistance Force, Afghanistan (Confirmed) *Dr. Jessica Tuchman Matthews, Ph.D., Distinguished Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She served as Carnegie’s president for 18 years. (Confirmed) Thomas Schwartz Thomas Alan Schwartz is a historian of the foreign relations of the United States, with related interests in American politics, the history of international relations, Modern European history, and biography. His most recent book is Henry Kissinger and American Power: A Political Biography (Hill and Wang, 2020). The book has received considerable notice and acclaim. Harvard’s University’s Charles Maier has written: "Thomas Schwartz's superbly researched political biography reveals the brilliance, self-serving ego, and vulnerability of America's most remarkable diplomat in the twentieth century, even as it provides a history of U.S. engagement in global politics as it moved beyond bipolarity." John Allen John Rutherford Allen assumed the presidency of the Brookings Institution in November 2017, having most recently served as chair of security and strategy and a distinguished fellow in the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings. Allen is a retired U.S. Marine Corps four-star general and former commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and U.S. Forces in Afghanistan. He is the co-author of the book "Turning Point: Policymaking in the Era of Artificial Intelligence" alongside co-author Darrell M. West (Brookings Press, 2020)” Allen served in two senior diplomatic roles following his retirement from the Marine Corps. First, for 15 months as senior advisor to the secretary of defense on Middle East Security, during which he led the security dialogue for the Israeli/Palestinian peace process. President Barack Obama then appointed Allen as special presidential envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, a position he held for 15 months. Allen’s diplomatic efforts grew the coalition to 65 members, effectively halting the expansion of ISIL. During his nearly four-decade military career, Allen served in a variety of command and staff positions in the Marine Corps and the Joint Force. He commanded 150,000 U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan from July 2011 to February 2013. Allen is the first Marine to command a theater of war. During his tenure as ISAF commander, he recovered the 33,000 U.S. surge forces, moved the Afghan National Security Forces into the lead for combat operations, and pivoted NATO forces from being a conventional combat force into an advisory command. Allen also participated in the Six Party Talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and played a major role in organizing the relief effort during the South Asian tsunami from 2004 to 2005. Allen was the Marine Corps fellow to the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the first Marine officer to serve as a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, where today he is a permanent member. Jessica Tuchman Matthews Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a distinguished fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She served as Carnegie’s president for 18 years. Before her appointment in 1997, her career included posts in both the executive and legislative branches of government, in management and research in the nonprofit arena, and in journalism and science policy. She was director of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Washington program and a senior fellow from 1994 to 1997. While there she published her seminal 1997 Foreign Affairs article, “Power Shift,” chosen by the editors as one of the most influential in the journal’s seventy-five years. She holds a PhD in molecular biology from the California Institute of Technology and graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe College.

Former U.S. Army officer and National Security Council director Paul Haenle addresses North Korea's nuclear program in the Six Party Talks and China's military modernization with host James Green.

Dr. Victor Cha is the Director of the Asian Studies Program at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service and a Senior Advisor at the Center for Strategic Studies. Additionally, he holds the D.S. Song-Korea Foundation Chair in Asian Studies, and serves as the Vice Dean for Faculty and Graduate Affairs in the School of Foreign Service. From 2004-2007, Victor served at the White House as Director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council, where he was primarily responsible for Japan, the Korean peninsula, Australia/New Zealand and Pacific Island nation affairs. He was also the Deputy Head of Delegation for the United States at the Six-Party Talks in Beijing and received two Outstanding Service commendations. In addition to his myriad of accolades, awards and fellowships, he has written numerous articles and is the author of five books, including the award-winning Alignment Despite Antagonism: The United States-Korea-Japan Security Triangle. Table of Contents: 0:00 Intro 1:27: How did you get to Georgetown University? 3:07: Where were you headed before you became interested in International Relations? 4:50: Do you still find Economics useful in your field? 6:23 How has being in Washington offered opportunities which might otherwise not have been available? 7:13 Some colleagues have discussed how it gets noisy in Washington, how do you manage that? 9:38 How do you handle your competing priorities? 13:45 So are you an early riser and research in the morning? 12:19 How have you dealt with Teaching and Research and have you found ways of integrating those? 14:13 What did you learn in government that you didn't know before you started? 16:05 Did you feel the forces of uncertainty given the time constraints of policy decision making? 17:38 What is the most exciting thing you're working on right now? 21:16 Conclusion Main Theme: Corporate Technology by Scott Holmes Background: Horizon Soundscapes by RF Soundtracks

Ambassador Christopher R. Hill: *Chief Advisor to the Chancellor for Global Engagement, University of Denver *Dean, Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver *Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs *Ambassador to the Republic of Korea *Head, U.S. Delegation to Six Party Talks on North Korean Nuclear Weapons *U.S. Ambassador to Poland *U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia *Special Envoy to Kosovo Ambassador Christopher Hill is one of America’s most distinguished ambassadors who—in his career of service to his country—was sent to some of the most dangerous outposts of American diplomacy. From the wars in the Balkans to the brutality of North Korea to the endless war in Iraq, he will offer insight about the real life of an American diplomat negotiating with difficult partners. Based on his experiences, Ambassador Hill lays out a vision for the role of diplomacy in addressing national crises, and America’s role in global politics. Biography: ABOUT AMBASSADOR HILL Christopher R. Hill served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and as Ambassador to the Republic of Korea among other significant diplomatic posts as a career member of the Foreign Service. Ambassador Hill is currently the chief advisor to the chancellor for global engagement and professor of the practice in diplomacy at the University of Denver. Prior to this position, he was the dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University, a position he held from September 2010 to December 2017. On February 14, 2005, he was named as the head of the U.S. delegation to the Six-Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue. Previously he has served as U.S. ambassador to Poland (2000-04), ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia (1996-99) and special envoy to Kosovo (1998-99). He also served as special assistant to the president and senior director for southeast European affairs in the National Security Council. Earlier in his Foreign Service career, Ambassador Hill served tours in Belgrade, Warsaw, Seoul, and Tirana, and on the Department of State’s Policy Planning staff and in the department’s Operation Center. While on a fellowship with the American Political Science Association he served as staff member for Congressman Stephen Solarz working on Eastern European issues. He also served as the Department of State’s senior country officer for Poland. Ambassador Hill received the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award for his contributions as a member of the U.S. negotiating team in the Bosnia peace settlement, and was a recipient of the Robert S. Frasure Award for Peace Negotiations for his work on the Kosovo crisis. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Hill served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon. Ambassador Hill graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, with a BA in economics. He received a master’s degree from the Naval War College in 1994. He speaks Polish, Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian. Ambassador Hill is author of Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy: A Memoir, a monthly columnist for Project Syndicate, and a highly sought public speaker and voice in the media on international affairs.

Ambassador Joe Detrani is the former U.S. Special Envoy for the Six Party Talks with North Korea. He tells Target USA that Kim Jong Un’s decision to launch a short-range ballistic missile over the weekend was dangerous and shortsighted. It could signal the end any meaningful chance to achieve denuclearization on the Korean peninsula.

With a second U.S.-North Korea summit just a week away and growing speculation among experts that the meeting will lead to a major agreement between the two countries, it's more important than ever that observers study the past. Ambassador Joseph R. DeTrani was the Special Envoy for Six Party Talks from 2003 to 2006 and the U.S. Representative to the Korea Energy Development Organization (KEDO), as well as former CIA director of East Asia Operations. About the podcast: The “North Korea News Podcast” is a weekly podcast hosted exclusively by NK News, covering all things DPRK: from news to extended interview with leading experts and analysts in the field and insight from our very own journalists. Featured image: Kevin Lim/THE STRAITS TIMES

On June 12th President Donald Trump and Kim Jung-un will sit down for a historic summit at Sentosa Island in Singapore. The summit follows a year of rapid change on the Korean peninsula as North Korea accelerated the development of its nuclear weapons program. Just days before the summit, Paul Haenle sat down with Ambassador Chris Hill, the Chief Negotiator for the Six Party Talks during the Bush Administration, to analyze the objectives of the United States, North Korea, China, South Korea, and other regional players heading into the summit, providing insights on the potential successes and pitfalls of the meeting.

Victor Cha, a top Korea expert who was an Asia director in the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration and deputy head of the U.S. delegation at the Six-Party Talks in Beijing, talks about President Trump’s letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un canceling the June 12 summit in Singapore and where bilateral talks might go from here. Download transcript here. 

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell interviews former Ambassador Joseph DeTrani, who served as Special Envoy for Six Party Talks with North Korea. Their conversation covers the escalating strikes and varied regional interests behind the upcoming U.S.-North Korea summit, what Kim Jong Un may be thinking - and willing to concede - and what President Trump must achieve in the leaders' historic and highly-anticipated meeting. Morell and DeTrani also discuss what the United States' withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement means for forthcoming negotiations with North Korea.

This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Leszek Buszynski. They speak about the history of North Korea's nuclear program and the collapse of the 1994 Agreed Framework; all leading into the events of the Six Party Talks. This is an in-depth look at the various actors, domestic influences, evolving positions, and importantly the failures of these tense multilateral negotiations. Leszek Buszynski has been a Visiting Fellow at the Strategic & Defence Studies Centre, a Professor of International Relations at the International University of Japan, and the Director of the Research Institute of Asian Development. He is currently a Professor at the Australian National University's College of Asia and the Pacific, and is the author of ‘Negotiating with North Korea: The Six Party Talks and the Nuclear Issue'   Donate at Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/jedleahenry Website – http://www.jedleahenry.org Libsyn – http://korea-now-podcast.libsyn.com Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qg6g1KyHaRXi193XqF6GA Twitter – https://twitter.com/jedleahenry Academia.edu – http://university.academia.edu/JedLeaHenry Research Gate – https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jed_Lea-Henry  

This week we have a special episode of Intelligence Matters with Michael Morell, in which, The Cipher Brief expert Ambassador Joseph DeTrani weighs in on mounting tensions between the United States and North Korea. The exchange of fiery rhetoric between U.S. President Donald Trump and members of the North Korean regime raises the question, is this war of words a precursor to armed conflict, escalating the crisis to a tipping point. Trump has publicly rebuked his predecessors for leaving him what he described "a mess," and intensified warnings to North Korea making clear that a military option would be 'devastating' to them. Kim Jong-Un's regime have said that Trump's continued statements amount to a "declaration of war" and threaten to shoot down U.S. warplanes in international airspace. Ambassador DeTrani, who is one of our nation's leading experts on issues related to North Korea, China and nuclear nonproliferation talks to former Acting Director of the CIA Michael Morell about what drove North Korea to develop a nuclear program, how we got to where we are today, the alarming advancements the North Korean regime has made in creating miniaturized nuclear warheads and offers thoughts on what the best path forward is for the United States. Ambassador DeTrani was President of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, a professional Think Tank. Previously, he was the Special envoy for Six Party Talks with North Korea and the U.S. Representative to the Korea Energy Development Organization (KEDO). He was an Associate Director of National Intelligence and Mission Manager for North Korea and the Director of National Counter Proliferation Center, while serving as a Special Adviser to the Director of National Intelligence. He served over two decades with the Central Intelligence Agency as a member of the Senior Intelligence Service. He is currently on the Board of Managers at Sandia National Laboratories.

The US and North Korea are on the brink of conflict. But what does North Korea really want? Is the country aiming for a new deal with the international community? And what about President Trump? Ambassador Christopher Robert Hill is a former career diplomat, a four-time ambassador, nominated by three presidents, whose last post was as Ambassador to Iraq. Prior to Iraq, Hill was also the head of the US delegation to the Six Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue. Introduction by Director of NUPI, Ulf Sverdrup.

South Korea maintains a complex relationship with the United States. While many South Koreans remain grateful for their liberation from Japanese rule in 1945 and consider proximity with the United States a proven catalyst for security and prosperity, others believe the U.S. often behaves as a condescending hegemon, and that its military presence is preventing Korean reunification from ever taking place. As a result, South Korea is a country where several anti-American demonstrations took place but where at the same time, U.S. ambassador Mark Lippert received outpours of support when he was assaulted by a knife-wielding man in March 2015. To make sense of this dichotomy, we had the pleasure of hosting for this episode David Straub, the author of the recently published book: Anti-Americanism in Democratizing South Korea (Brookings Institution Press), which focuses on anti-American protests between 1999 and 2002.. David Straub is the associate director of the Korea Program at Stanford University’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. He retired in 2006 from his role as a U.S. senior diplomat after a 30-year career focused on Northeast Asia. He worked over 12 years on Korean affairs, first arriving in Seoul in 1979. Among various distinguished postings, Mr. Straub served as head of the political section at the U.S. embassy in Seoul from 1999 to 2002 during popular protests against the United States, and he played a key working-level role in the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear program as the State Department's Korea country desk director from 2002 to 2004. He also served eight years at the U.S. embassy in Japan and received his final assignment as Japan country desk director in Washington from 2004 to 2006. David Straub taught U.S.-Korean relations at Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies in 2006 and at Seoul National University’s Graduate School of International Studies in 2007. He has published a number of papers on U.S.-Korean relations and is fluent in both Korean and Japanese - as well as German.

In the early 2000s, North Korea became increasingly isolated internationally, acquiring nuclear weapons technology while diplomatic channels such as the Six Party Talks came to a halt. During the two presidential terms of George W. Bush, Washington’s policy towards Pyongyang focused on demonization and confrontation rather than engagement – famously placing North Korea on the so-called “Axis of Evil” – and was repeatedly criticized by experts and policymakers alike. Yet the question remains whether the United States deserve the blame – and whether this criticism might paint a one-sided image. To learn more about the American views and policy towards North Korea during the Bush years, we had the honor of talking to Victor D. Cha who was in the White House at the time. He worked as Director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council between 2004 and 2007 and also served as Deputy Head of Delegation for the United States at the Six Party Talks in Beijing. For this episode, we talked about his time in the Bush administration and his views on the current situation surrounding North Korea. Professor Victor D. Cha is director of Asian Studies and holds the D.S. Song Chair in Government and International Affairs at Georgetown University. He has published articles in numerous academic journals, including International Security and Foreign Affairs, and is a frequent contributor to various media such as CNN, the New York Times and Time. His most recent book, The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future was selected by Foreign Affairs as a best book of 2012 on the Asia-Pacific. Professor Cha holds a PhD in Political Science from Columbia University, and Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University and in Philosophy, Politics, and Economy (PPE) from the University of Oxford