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March 7, 2017: Event [Book Launch: Preventing North Korea’s Nuclear Breakout]
Dr. Robert Litwak, the Vice President for Scholars and Director of International Security Studies at the Wilson Center finished his new book on North Korea’s nuclear breakout, and had a book launch event with David Sanger, the Chief Washington Correspondent for The New York Times. Dr. Litwak’s core argument in the book was that the United States have three options—bomb, negotiate, or acquiesce—and in pursuit of negotiation, it should seriously contemplate the possibility of transactional diplomacy through coercive engagement.
March 8, 2017: Event [Understanding the North Korean Regime: Research Perspective from Japan and the United States]
Atsuhito Isozaki, Japan Scholar at the Wilson Center, made a presentation on the North Korean regime, which he has analyzed by taking full advantage of primary sources. By looking into North Korean media outlet—such as Rodong Sinmun and Kulloja—he finds that the three Kims had different strategy for sustaining the regime. Kim Il-sung relied on hereditary succession; Kim Jong-il on songun policy; and Kim Jong-un on nuclear weapons. His findings were not particularly groundbreaking, but I thought his effort to shed light on policy-making processes in North Korea and demonstrate that the North is not a black box was admirable. Considering he did not cherry-pick his sources to substantiate his argument, but went through the sources thoroughly first and then systematically analyzed it, I thought there was a lot to learn from his methodology since I aim to rely on primary sources as well for my independent research at the Wilson Center.
March 9, 2017: Tour to the Asian Reading Room at the Library of Congress; Meeting with James
We went to the Asian Reading Room at the Library of Congress (LOC) and met with Sonya Lee, a reference specialist who is in charge of the Korean collection at the LOC. Sonya briefly talked about the history of the Korean collection—how it used to be jointed with the Chinese collection and then became an independent one with the support of the Korea Foundation. Then she showed some of North Korean primary sources, such as Kulloja. The difficulty with referring to North Korean primary sources was that they are not indexed yet, and that words used in South and North Korea are not necessarily identical. Therefore, even if some phrases and key words were indexed, it would be necessary to play around with them to find out materials we need. It sounded like a painstaking and yet fascinating process. After I settle down on my research topic, I will definitely contact Sonya to search primary sources that can substantiate my hypothesis. After we got back from the tour, I had a second meeting with James on my individual research. He assigned me some more readings on the DPRK-Soviet Union/China relations. I plan to consolidate my research proposal by the end of March.
March 13, 2017: Lunch with Christian Ostermann
KF Scholars, a Korean fellow, and an intern from the Asan program had a lunch with Christian Ostermann, director of the History and Public Policy Program (HAPP) at the Wilson Center. After we introduced our background and research topics, Christian advised on where to look at and whom to talk to regarding our research. In my case, Christian told me to check the National Security Archive at the George Washington University, and reach out to Malcom Byrne and Robert Wampler. He is very busy, running the HAPP and the European Program, but also very willing to support our research and consult when we have questions.
March 15, 2017: Lunch meeting with Dr. Robert Litwak
Dr. Robert Litwak took his time to further discuss his new book with scholars and interns affiliated with HAPP. He briefly introduced his intellectual history—what he was interested in when he was writing his Ph.D. dissertation and how we got to work on nuclear proliferation/non-proliferation issues—and explained his core argument of the book for an hour. Then we answered our questions. He emphasized that not everyone has to agree with him, but it is important to discuss underlying assumptions of foreign policy and discuss whether those assumptions are true or not. In this case, Dr. Litwak argued we should have a debate on whether sanctions against North Korea are working or not.
March 22-23, 2017: Event [U.S.-Asia Relations in the New Administration]
I attended a two-day conference at the Brookings Center on U.S.-Asia Relations in the New Administration. The Brookings hosted leading experts from Korea, Japan, China, India, and Southeast Asia to discuss a wide variety of major issues—ranging from economic and security dynamics, North Korea, maritime Asia, and the future of the United States in the Asia-Pacific.
March 24, 2017: Lunch with KF Junior Scholars in Washington
All of KF junior scholars in Washington gathered and had lunch at Founding Farmers with Seayoun Lee, director of the Korea Foundation Washington branch. We met with junior scholars at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Freer Gallery of Art. Founding Farmers is one of the most famous restaurants in downtown DC. For future reference, food at Founding Farmers is good but not great. I would say it is overpriced in general, so it is worth a visit for the sake of experience, but not anymore than that.
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