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9 December, 2008
RECONSTITUTING KOREAN SECURITY: plus ça change, moins ça change
UNU-ONY organized a panel discussion of a UNU Press publication Reconstructing Korean Security: A Policy Primer with the live participation of the book's editor Hazel Smith and former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Donald P. Gregg
Photographs and audio of this event
Photos by Durlabh S. Maharishi
Watch the interview with Dr Hazel Smith
Watch the interview with Hon. Donald P. Gregg
Dr. Hazel Smith, author and editor of certain articles in the volume, talked on security threats and the US foreign policy emphasizing views and main ideas of Barack Obama as the new US President and the George Bush Administration.
The current progress towards possible resolution of the long-lasting nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula is the result of the quite unlikely, somewhat unexpected, and very definitely unsung American foreign policy success that has come with the Bush administration's present strategy concerning North Korea. After more than five decades of security crises, this bold new approach is unraveling tension and (hopefully) building peace in one of the world's most volatile hot spots.
In January 2009, Dr. Hazel Smith will take the position of the Chair in Resilience and Security and Director of the Resilience Centre at Cranfield University, UK. At present she is the Chair in International Relations at the University of Warwick, UK. She has been the Chair for ten years. Dr. Smith spent nearly two years living in the DPRK while working for the UN's World Food Programme and UNICEF. In Summer 2008, Dr. Smith was Visiting POSCO Fellow at the East-West Center in Hawaii and has previously been a visiting Fulbright fellow at Stanford University and visiting Jennings Randolph senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace. Her recent publications include Hungry for Peace; International Security, Humanitarian Assistance and Social Change in North Korea (USIP press,200 5) and Reconstituting Korean Security (UN University Press, 2007).
Hon. Donald P. Gregg, a former US Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, discussed the UN foreign policy on the Korean peninsula.
The North Koreans, with good reason, approach today's transition from Bush to Obama with great apprehension, given what happened to them when George Bush replaced Bill Clinton. If we are going to have "more of the same" in North Korea, this transition has to be much better managed than the last one was.
Hon. Donald P. Gregg served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea from September 1989 to 1993. While ambassador, his efforts were directed towards helping the U.S.-Korea relationship mature from a military alliance into an economic and political partnership. Gregg was also active in support of U.S.-Korea business activities.
Prior to his departure from Korea on February 28, 1993, Gregg received the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, a decoration from the Prime Minister of Korea, and an honorary Ph.D. in international relations from Sogang University. In March 1993, Gregg retired from a 43-year career in the United States government to become the president and chairman of The Korea Society.
Alexandre Ilitchev, Senior Officer at the Asia & the Pacific Division, Department of Political Affairs, United Nations Secretariat, commented on the issue of Korean security from the UN perspective.
Committed to strengthen security in the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia, the United Nations should do its utmost to support and facilitate the above mentioned efforts, helping the six-party process sustain its momentum and overcome the remaining formidable challenges. Stronger international support to the process, however, is imperative.
During his career diplomatic service with the United Nations since 1992 Alexandre Ilitchev accompanied the current Secretary-General and his predecessor on many trips to Asia, and was advisor to the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Korean Peninsula (2003-2005).
John H. Kim, a NGO Representative to the UN for the US Fellowship of Reconciliation and the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, will give his comments to presentations and then add his perspective on the Korean security issue.
Mr. Kim is strongly convinced that the United Nations, which had been deeply involved in the Korean affairs from 1947, owes a special obligation to assist in earnest the Korean people's efforts to realize their full human security and self-determination by all means. He attempts to consider the issue of the Korean denuclearization in combination with an idea of a reunification of North and South Korea.
For more information on the UNU Press Publication "Reconstructing Korean Security: A Policy Primer" edited by Hazel Smith please press here.
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