The World On arirang

A year has passed since the Hanoi summit between North Korea and the U.S. ended abruptly without a deal, leading to a deadlock in negotiations. The U.S. Senate has recently held a hearing to assess the Trump administration’s North Korea policy one year after Hanoi, where experts stressed the need to keep economic pressure on the North while leaving the door open for diplomacy. U.S. President Donald Trump, preoccupied with the presidential race, has significantly lost interest in the North Korea issue, while North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for self-reliance to boost the North’s sanctions-strapped economy. Meanwhile, a recent Bank of Korea report found that there has been an increase in North Korean research on reform and opening-up since Kim took power. Where do North Korea and the U.S. stand now a year after the Hanoi breakdown, and what can explain North Korea’s growing interest in reform and opening-up?

To break down the latest developments, we are joined by Professor Choo Jae-woo from Kyung Hee University. We also connect with guest experts on Skype to broaden the perspective, including Benjamin Silberstein, Associate Scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Michael O’Hanlon, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.