Symposium: We Asked the World’s Top Experts What America’s North Korea Policy Would Look Like If Joe Biden Wins

August 18, 2020 Topic: Security Region: Asia Blog Brand: Korea Watch Tags: North Korea2020 ElectionJoe BidenDonald Trump

Symposium: We Asked the World’s Top Experts What America’s North Korea Policy Would Look Like If Joe Biden Wins

Over 40 top analysts and thinkers from across the globe share their insight on what a Biden victory in the upcoming election may mean for America's North Korea policy.

With less than three months to go until Election Day and a potential change of presidential administration, the Center for the National Interest’s Korean Studies team decided to ask dozens of the world’s top experts a simple question: If Joe Biden wins come November, what do you expect his North Korea policy to look like?

Below you will find links to each expert's analysis. Nearly every day for the next several days, we will update this page with new and different perspectives. Please check back frequently!

September 1:

Michael O'Hanlon: Senior Fellow and Director of Research in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, author of A Skeptic’s Case for Nuclear Disarmament, and author of the upcoming book The Art of War in an Age of Peace: A U.S. Grand Strategy of Resolute Restraint.

Steph Umbert: Director of Membership at the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC) and a Research Associate for Korean Studies at the Center for the National Interest (CFTNI).

Minseon Ku: PhD candidate in International Relations at Ohio State University.

August 31:

Sang Hyun Lee: Senior Research Fellow at the Sejong Institute, President of the Korea Nuclear Policy Society (KNPS), former Director-General for Policy Planning at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and former policy advisor for the Ministry of National Unification, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of National Defense.

Welton Chang: Chief Technology Officer at Human Rights First (HRF), former Senior Researcher at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and former intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and US Army.

Jennifer M. Lind (this is a joint piece, read here): Associate Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, Faculty Associate at Harvard University’s Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, and Associate Fellow at Chatham House and Daryl G. Press: Associate Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, Research Affiliate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT's) Security Studies Program, and Co-Author of The Myth of the Nuclear Revolution: Power Politics in the Atomic Age.

August 30:

Darcie Draudt: Advisor for Public policy at StratWays Group and PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins University's Department of Political Science.

Denny Roy: Senior Fellow at the East-West Center (EWC) and Co-Editor of The North Korea Crisis and Regional Responses.

Jia Qingguo: Professor and former Dean of Peking University’s School of International Studies and member of both the Standing Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee.

Mitchell Lerner: Professor of History, Director of the Institute for Korean Studies, and Associate Director of the East Asian Studies Center at Ohio State University.

Dr. Ramon Pacheco Pardo: KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Institute for European Studies of Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Reader in International Relations at King’s College London.

Robert R. King: Senior Advisor of the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), former Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues during the Obama administration, and holder of the Hungarian Knight’s Cross Order of Merit.

Patricia Schouker: DC-based energy and security analyst, Non-Resident Fellow at the Colorado School of Mines's Payne Institute for Public Policy, and Associate Member of Oxford University's New College.

Seong-ho Sheen: Professor of International Security and Director of the International Security Center at Seoul National University’s (SNU) Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) and Member on the policy advisory boards of the Ministry of Unification, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the National Assembly's Committee on Unification, Diplomacy, and Trade.

August 27:

Robert Gallucci: Professor at Georgetown University and former Dean of its Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, former Ambassador at Large leading the US negotiation efforts with North Korea which resulted in the 1994 Agreed Framework, and former US Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs.

August 26:

Charles K. Armstrong: Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies in the Social Sciences at Columbia University, former Acting Director of Columbia University’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute (WEAI), former Director of Columbia University’s Center for Korean Research, and author of A History of Modern East Asia, 1800–present.

Joshua Fitt: Researcher at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).

August 25:

Masakatsu Ota: Senior Editorial Writer at Kyodo News and Visiting Professor at Waseda University.

Jihyun Park: North Korean defector and human rights activist, Reporter with Radio Free Asia, Outreach Director at Connect: North Korea, Co-Director of Stepping Stones, and co-author of Deux Coréennes.

Eric Gomez: Director of Defense Policy Studies at the Cato Institute and Co-Author of America’s Nuclear Crossroads: A Forward-Looking Anthology.

Grażyna Strnad: Associate Professor in Adam Mickiewicz University’s Faculty of Political Science and Journalism and Vice President of the Polish Korean Society.

August 24:

Richard Javad Heydarian: Research Fellow at National Chengchi University and the author of The Indo-Pacific: Trump, China, and the New Struggle for Global Mastery.

Daniel R. DePetris: fellow at Defense Priorities.

Duyeon Kim: Senior Advisor for Northeast Asia and Nuclear Policy at the International Crisis Group, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), columnist for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and former Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of Non-Proliferation at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

Marco Milani: Assistant Professor at the Università di Bologna, Research Fellow at the University of Southern California Dornsife Korean Studies Institute, and Co-Editor of The Korean Paradox: Domestic Political Divide and Foreign Policy in South Korea.

Henry Sokolski: Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center and the author of Underestimated: Our Not So Peaceful Nuclear Future (2019).

August 21:

Jeenho Hahm: Doctor of International Affairs candidate at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Miyeon Oh: Director and Senior Fellow of the Asia Security Initiative in the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

Malcolm Davis: Senior Analyst in Defence Strategy and Capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).

August 20:

Timo Kivimäki: Professor of International Relations at the University of Bath.

Edward Goldring: Postdoctoral Fellow, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 

Yu Bin Kim: PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Missouri.

August 19:

Michael Cohen: Senior lecturer (assistant professor) at the National Security College of the Australian National University’s Crawford School of Public Policy. 

Hazel SmithProfessorial Research Associate at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Jihwan Hwang: Professor of International Relations at the University of Seoul and member of the Presidential Commission on Policy Planning.

August 18:

Joseph S. Nye, Jr.: University Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at, and former Dean of, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and author of Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump.

August 17:

Bruce W. Bennett & Soo Kim: Bruce is a Senior Defense Analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and a Professor at its Pardee RAND Graduate School; Soo is a Policy Analyst at the RAND Corporation.

Julia Masterson: Research Assistant at the Arms Control Association.

August 16:

Ted Galen Carpenter: Senior Fellow in Security Studies at the Cato Institute and a Contributing Editor at The National Interest (TNI).

Robert Kelly: Professor of International Relations at Pusan National University.

August 15:

Joseph R. DeTrani: former US Special Envoy for Negotiations with North Korea, former Associate Director of National Intelligence and Mission Manager for North Korea, former Director of the National Counter Proliferation Center (NCPC), and former Special Adviser to the Director of National Intelligence.

Wallace C. Gregson: Senior Director of the China and the Pacific Program at the Center for the National Interest (CFTNI), former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, former Commander of Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, former Commanding General of Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, and former Commander of Marine Corps Bases, Pacific.

August 14:

Peter Jennings: Executive Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), former Deputy Secretary for Strategy in the Defence Department, Senior Adviser for Strategic Policy to the Prime Minister, and former Chief of Staff to the Minister for Defence.