BtH: The United States, China and the Two Koreas
The Beyond the Headlines, or BtH, series at the Fredrick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University continued on October 3, 2017 with conversation on the current tension on the Korean peninsula following missile tests by North Korea and comments made by United States President Donald Trump that North Korean aggression will be met with “fire and fury.” The event was co-hosted by the the Center for the Study of Asia, an affiliated regional center of the Pardee School.
The panel discussion featured Sung-Yoon Lee, Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies at the Fletcher School for Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Robert S. Ross, Professor of Political Science at Boston College, and Gary Samore, Executive Director for Research at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The discussion was moderated by Thomas Berger, Professor of International Relations at the Pardee School.
The panel highlighted how the People’s Republic of China, while distancing itself from North Korea, has called for a negotiated settlement based upon mutual compromise and a suspension of hostile actions by all parties.
Following the panel discussion, there was a question and answer session with students and faculty in attendance that covered possibilities including North Korea giving up its weapons, the United States and international community coming to terms with a nuclear-armed North Korea, and a potential military conflict.