Korea Regional Impacts Panel Discussion

June 2018 No Comments

Korea Regional Impacts Panel Discussion

Date: 5 June 2018

Panel Preview

SMA hosted a panel discussion presented by Dr. Toby Dalton (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace [CEIP]), Prof. Narushige Michishita (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies [GRIPS]), and Dr. Nicholas Wright – moderator (Intelligent Biology / Georgetown University) as a part of its SMA Korea Strategic Outcomes Speaker Series. Dr. Dalton first spoke about his recent project in collaboration with Prof. Michishita, which focuses on the following research questions: 1) What are the range of possible DPRK objectives with nuclear weapons? How do perceptions of these objectives vary within the region?, 2) What are plausible future U.S. & ROK options to strengthen deterrence?, and 3) How would Japan and China be impacted by and respond to these developments? Next, Prof. Michishita outlined North Korea’s four main objectives: 1) Deter US preventative strikes, 2) Conduct brinkmanship diplomacy, 3) Conduct limited military strikes against South Korea, and 4) Unify the Korean Peninsula. Dr. Dalton then discussed a variety of deterrence options for the US, and Prof. Michishita concluded by outlining the implications for Japan.

This panel supported SMA’s Korea Strategic Outcomes project. For additional speaker sessions and project publications, please visit the Korea Strategic Outcomes project page.

To access an audio file of the speaker session, please contact Ms. Nicole Omundson (nomundson@nsiteam.com).

Briefing Materials

Biographies

Dr. Toby Dalton is a co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Before joining Carnegie, he served in various high-level nuclear policy positions at the U.S. Department of Energy. An expert on nonproliferation and nuclear energy, his work addresses regional security challenges in South Asia and East Asia and the evolution of the global nuclear order.

Narushige Michishita is a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. Previously, he served as a senior research fellow at the National Institute for Defense Studies, Ministry of Defense and assistant counsellor at the Cabinet Secretariat for Security and Crisis Management of the Government of Japan. A specialist in Japanese security and foreign policy, as well as security issues on the Korean Peninsula, his works include North Korea’s Military-Diplomatic Campaigns, 1966-2008 (Routledge, 2009).

Dr. Nicholas Wright is a consultant at Intelligent Biology and an affiliated scholar at the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics at the Georgetown University Medical Center. He applies insights from neuroscience and psychology to decision-making in international confrontations in ways practically applicable to policy. He has conducted work for the UK Government and Pentagon Joint Staff. He was previously an Associate in the Nuclear Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Conflict, Cooperation and Security at the University of Birmingham (UK). Prior to joining Birmingham and Carnegie, he examined decision-making using functional brain imaging at University College London (UCL) and in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics. He worked clinically as a neurologist in Oxford and at the National Hospital for Neurology in London. He has published academically (e.g. Proceedings of the Royal Society), in general publications such as the Atlantic or National Interest, and with the Joint Staff at the Pentagon (see www.nicholasdwright.com/publications). He has briefed multiple times at the Pentagon, and also at the UK MoD, French MoD, German Foreign Office and elsewhere. He has appeared on the BBC and CNN. Wright received a medical degree from UCL, a BSc in Health Policy from Imperial College London, has Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (UK), has an MSc in Neuroscience and a PhD in Neuroscience both from UCL.