Title: North Korea through Chinese Eyes
Speaker：Jonathan Pollack，Senior Fellow and Director of John Thornton China Center, Brookings Institution
Commentators: Yang Xiyu, Research Fellow of China Institute of International Studies
Wang Dong, Professor of International Relations, Peking University
Moderator：Meng Bo，Associate Director, Brookings-Tsinghua Center
Time: 15:30-17:30, April 23rd, 2013
Venue：Auditorium Hall, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University
Language: English
Brief Introduction:
North Korea’s threats against the outside world have reached new heights in recent months, triggering mounting concern across Northeast Asia about the possibilities of instability, crisis, and even war. Yet there is nothing especially unusual or new in North Korean statements and actions, even if its recent behavior seems particularly extreme and worrisome. Its conduct reflects the isolation and deep frustrations of leaders in Pyongyang, the persistence of dynastic rule in North Korea, its economic weakness in relation to its neighbors (especially the Republic of Korea), and the unwillingness of outside powers to legitimate the DPRK’s claims to status as a nuclear-armed state.
On April 23, Brookings-Tsinghua Center is honored to host a public event for Dr. Jonathan Pollack, Senior Fellow and Director of the John Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution. Dr. Pollack is a specialist on East Asian international politics and security. His latest book, No Exit: North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, and International Security, was published in May 2011 by Routledge for the International Institute for Strategic Studies. In this event, Dr. Pollack will briefly review North Korea’s political history and assess how Chinese views of the DPRK have shifted in recent years, and then weigh how North Korea’s future could affect Northeast Asia as a whole and US-China relations in particular.
