Category: Washington Views

Secretary of State Clinton will travel to Asia, including South Korea, next week. In announcing the visit, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell gave this July 15th on-the-record briefing. In contrast to the Bush Administration’s anytime, anywhere approach to the six-party talks, you can sense a subtle shift in tone: Let me say that the United States and South Korea have always maintained, and our position is clear, that we are prepared under the right circumstances to sit down in...

Over the last several days, the think tanks have rained down more interesting reports than I’ve had time to pick through, so I’ll just link them for your reading. – Criminal Sovereignty: Understanding North Korea’s Illicit International Activities, by Dr. Paul Rexton Kan, Dr. Bruce E. Bechtol Jr., Mr. Robert M. Collins. – China, Iran, and North Korea: A Triangular Strategic Alliance, by Christina Y. Lin – Audio of Hwang Jang Yop at the Center for Strategic and International Studies...

Klingner, formerly a CIA analyst and a private consultant with the Eurasia Group, has been with Heritage since 2007. He’s also a daily reader of this site. Here’s a sample of his assessment of the current situation: Pyongyang is increasingly desperate to have the UN sanctions removed. Obama administration officials have commented that the Banco Delta Asia (BDA) sanctions of 2005-06 were very effective and it was a mistake for the Bush administration to have removed them. This is, of...

So much will be said about Ambassador Lilley in the next few days, at places of far greater consequence than this site, that I need only add a few personal observations. In Washington, Lilley was treated with greater respect than I’ve ever seen afforded to any other person in Asia policy circles. At public events where rooms were filled with well known and respected people, the whole room would rise to recognize Ambassador Lilley when he walked in. My wife,...