February 28th, 2011

Siegfried Hecker: What I found in North Korea

Siegfried Hecker discusses his recent trip to North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear facility with Physics Today.

• » Physics Today: "Visiting North Korea: Q&A with Siegfried Hecker"

January 4th, 2011

Redefining denuclearization in North Korea

Siegfried Hecker: When my Stanford University colleagues and I were taken to the construction site of a small, experimental light water reactor (LWR) and to a new centrifuge facility in North Korea on November 12, it marked my seventh visit to North Korea and my fourth to the Yongbyon nuclear complex. I was not surprised that Pyongyang finally admitted to having a uranium enrichment program; however, I was stunned by the size and sophistication of the 2,000 centrifuges in the cascade hall visible from the ultra-modern second-floor control room. Read more »

December 10th, 2010

Siegfried Hecker: What the U.S. should do about North Korea

CISAC scholars made international news in November after North Korean scientists revealed to them that they had started construction on a small light-water reactor and completed a new uranium enrichment facility. The revelation dramatically changes the security calculus in Northeast Asia. In a Foreign Affairs article, Siegfried Hecker argues that denuclearization remains the goal. But that will take time. Now Washington should pursue a policy that begins with what he calls "the three no's -- no more bombs, no better bombs, and no exports -- in return for one yes: Washington's willingness to seriously address North Korea's fundamental insecurity." In a piece in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Hecker said "this approach may just be enough to get Beijing to take a much more aggressive stance to help shut down Pyongyang's nuclear import and export networks."

• » Foreign Affairs: "What I Found in North Korea"
• » Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: "Redefining denuclearization in North Korea"

November 30th, 2010

Review U.S. policy toward North Korea

"Review U.S. Policy Toward North Korea" by Robert Carlin and John Lewis.

• » Washington Post: "Review U.S. Policy Toward North Korea"

November 19th, 2010

CISAC team discovers new North Korean uranium enrichment facility

CISAC's Siegfried Hecker, Robert Carlin, and John Lewis recently returned from North Korea, where it was revealed to them that Pyongyang was working on a new light-water reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear center, as well as a small, ultra-modern, industrial-scale uranium enrichment facility. "How the United States and its partners respond to these developments may help to shape whether Pyongyang will rely more on the bomb or begin a shift toward nuclear electricity," Hecker wrote in a report on their findings.

• » North Korea's Yongbyon Nuclear Complex: A presentation by Siegfried S. Hecker at the Korea Economic Institute
  
• » North Korea's Yongbyon Nuclear Complex: A Report by Siegfried S. Hecker
• » Robert Carlin and John W. Lewis in the Washington Post: "Review U.S. Policy Toward North Korea" (Nov. 22, 2010)

November 16th, 2010

A push for nonproliferation

William Perry, the former secretary of defense and the co-director of the Preventive Defense Project at CISAC, joined Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, and Sam Nunn to speak with Stanford students about the need for nuclear-armed countries to reduce their nuclear inventories. "As nations like Iran and Pakistan and North Korea get nuclear bombs," Perry said, "then the probability increases that one or more of those bombs will fall into the hands of a terror group." Read more »

November 3rd, 2010

John Lewis on keeping 'the genie in the bottle'

With a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and anticipation building in Beijing for a change in leadership in 2012, domestic politics in both countries are playing a major role in the bilateral relationship. On the eve of his own milestone, his 80th birthday, John Lewis, one of the world's foremost China scholars and the director of CISAC's Project on Peace and Cooperation in the Asian-Pacific Region, discussed the direction of the U.S.-China relationship, the importance of dialogue between the two powers, and the potentially rocky road ahead. Read more »