Club Dinner: North Korea’s Nuclear Threat: Illusions vs Realities

North Korea is considered to be one of the world’s most pressing geo-political risks. On April 15 the North Korean regime unveiled new types of ballistic missiles during a lavish military parade commemorating the birth of Kim Il-sung. Since then, North Korea has successfully tested each of them – the most recent being an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launched on July 4. The Pentagon is expecting more ICBM tests in the near future. Dr. John Park discussed the lingering illusions and dominant realities that make the North Korean nuclear crisis one of the most complex challenges for the international community. He examined why the core countries – the U.S., China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia – view the threat differently and how they are responding in addressing the threat.

Dr. John Park is an Asia security analyst at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he serves as Director of the Korea Working Group and Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy. He was the 2012–2013 Stanton Nuclear Security Junior Faculty Fellow at MIT’s Security Studies Program. He previously directed a project on preparing for sudden instability in North Korea at the Harvard Kennedy School and Northeast Asia Track 1.5 projects at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, DC. Prior to that, he worked at Goldman Sachs (specializing in U.S. military privatization financing projects) and The Boston Consulting Group (specializing in financial services projects in the Asia-Pacific region).