September 21st, 2012

Understanding the evolution of China's modern military strategy

CISAC Faculty Member John Lewis and Researcher Xue Litai published an article in the September/October 2012 issue of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists which examines the complex history of China's defense strategy. The two China scholars outline the forces that have shaped Beijing's conventional and nuclear military posture.

• » Making China's Nuclear War Plan

July 18th, 2012

A look back at the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization

KEDO’s profile on the North Korean landscape was unmistakable, its impact on Pyongyang profound. Yet real knowledge and understanding about the organization in public and official circles in South Korea, Japan, and the United States was terribly thin at the beginning, and remains so to this day. As a result, the lessons learned from KEDO's decade-long experience working with the North Koreans have been largely misunderstood. Read more »

February 29th, 2012

Stanford’s Straub, Hecker explain North Korea’s plan to halt nuclear program

In an agreement with Washington, Pyongyang will allow nuclear inspectors into North Korea and also receive much-needed nutritional assistance to the impoverished country. David Straub and Siegfried Hecker discuss Pyongyang’s moratorium on nuclear testing. Read more »

January 6th, 2012

North Korea watchers look at Pyongyang's nuclear trajectory

In the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Niko Milonopoulos, Siegfried Hecker and Robert Carlin use detailed overhead imagery to assess Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program -- and examine how Kim Jong-un's rise may influence it. In a separate piece, written before Kim Jong-il's death, Hecker and Carlin review the developments in North Korea in 2011.

• » North Korea from 30,000 feet
• » North Korea in 2011: Countdown to Kim il-Sung's centenary

October 11th, 2011

New Beginnings group releases annual U.S.-Korea recommendations to Obama administration

U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to Washington, DC on October 13, and the two leaders traveled together to Detroit the following day to urge early approval of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) by both legislatures. On the eve of the visit, the New Beginnings policy study group released its annual report of recommendations on U.S.-Korea relations to the Obama administration. With U.S.-South Korean relations stronger than ever and with presidential elections scheduled in both countries late next year, the New Beginnings policy experts urged a steady course and a focus on implementation of current policies rather than new initiatives in the alliance or toward North Korea.

• » “New Beginnings” in the U.S.-ROK Alliance: Recommendations to the Obama Administration (October 2011)

March 23rd, 2010

John Lewis honored for promoting peace on the Korean peninsula

The National Association of Korean Americans (NAKA) honored CISAC co-founder John Lewis March 23 for his longterm efforts to support peace and reconciliation in Northeast Asia. Read more »

March 17th, 2010

The Six-Party Talks: Outlining a true restart

CISAC's Robert Carlin, John Lewis argue in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that the U.S. needs a 'serious reality check' when it comes to dealing with North Korea Read more »