NEWS & EVENTS

North Korea Peace? Nuclear War?

On December 9th, 2019 Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies hosted Dr. William Overholt, Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, to present his most recent book, North Korea: Peace? Nuclear War?, an edited volume explaining the complexities of the Korean nuclear crisis.

Dr. Overholt argued that the crisis represents the greatest risk of nuclear war in the modern world and that denuclearizing North Korea is only possible through a peace deal. He argued that current negotiations are severely constrained by mutual distrust, but that time is running out for a breakthrough as North Korean citizens’ patience with Kim Jong Un wears thin and President Trump risks losing reelection to a candidate less inclined to negotiations. Dr. Overholt then fielded audience questions on the distinction between warheads and delivery systems, Japanese views of the crisis, and the 1994 Agreed Framework.