Nongovernmental engagement between Europe and North Korea, or Track II engagement, has played an important part in facilitating dialogue with North Korea, especially during difficult periods of official diplomacy. European countries such as Sweden, Norway, and Finland have notably taken a lead in investing in these efforts, which have helped to create space and flexibility […]
Track2Asia Director Glyn Ford participates in a debate with Benjamin R. Young (assistant professor of homeland security and emergency preparedness at Virginia Commonwealth University), Jean Do (assistant professor in the Institute of Humanities for Unification at Konkuk University) and Joshua Stanton (founder of the blog OneFreeKorea) on what Pyongyang really means by “final victory” and […]
Track2Asia Director Glyn Ford shares his insights about North Korea’s rationale behind its approaches to economic reform and modernization, energy and manpower shortages, and the development of a nuclear deterrent, and how understanding these motivations are key to resolving the current stand-off between Washington and Pyongyang. College of Social Sciences, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
Tokyo has long insisted on resolving the abduction issue first, but the public increasingly prioritizes denuclearization. Earlier this month, after a collapse in his poll ratings, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced he would stand down as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Given the LDP’s majority in parliament, the winner of the […]
Over several decades, negotiations with North Korea have gone through various ups and downs. After a promising period three years ago, the talks to reach an agreement on denuclearization and a peace arrangement on the Korean peninsula have been deadlocked since the latest abortive attempt at the 2019 US-DPRK summit in Hanoi. However, such a […]
The joint statement issued by several nations’ foreign ministers at the G7 meeting in London this week is a huge step backwards for North Korea policy, reminiscent of George W. Bush’s “axis of evil” rhetoric from the early 2000s. Unless quickly walked back and qualified, this statement effectively kills any chance of engagement with Pyongyang. The G7 countries […]
The seeds of this year’s crisis on the Peninsula were sown in 2019 when Kim’s surprisingly magnanimous offer in his 2019 New Year’s Address was disdainfully spurned in Hanoi by Donald Trump. It’s not clear whether it was knowing rejected or whether Washington just missed the sheep in wolf’s clothing. The problem is the New Year’s Address […]
Kim’s death will be when it’s convenient. The North Korean system is a well-oiled machine capable of running for weeks or months without his hands on the tiller of state, so a matter of days is unproblematic. It will barely be noticed. As we’ve seen in the previous two transitions there is a distinct lacuna […]
It’s that time of year again. Pyongyang’s version of “The State of the Union” is in early draft as time ticks down towards Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s Address. Everything suggests a sharp U-turn for the worse. Pyongyang’s posse of foreign policy experts have been rounded up to bash Washington, Kim Jong Un has made […]
Track2Asia Director Glyn Ford talks with Prof Faisal Devji (University of Oxford) about the February 2019 summit in Vietnam between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. Ford outlines how North Korean denuclearisation can only happen with serious security guarantees, and finds it unlikely any time in the near future, especially in light of the fate […]
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