A Win-Win Strategy to Transform North Korea
Speaker: Jiang, M. (Creighton University)
Date: 9 January 2019
Speaker Session Preview
SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Dr. Maorong Jiang (Creighton University) as a part of its SMA STRATCOM Academic Alliance Speaker Series. Dr. Jiang elaborated on his contributions to the NSI Virtual Think Tank (ViTTa®) report entitled “Is There a Win-Win Scenario for the Key Actors Concerned with the DPRK?”, in which he sought to “provide both a realistic and an optimistic projection to achieve the goal of approaching a win-win scenario for all of the key actors (North Korea, South Korea, Japan, US, China, and Russia).” He argued that the US should acknowledge North Korea’s ability to maintain a carefully-monitored nuclear program and accept that the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is highly unlikely. He stated that the US should focus its efforts on stabilizing the Korean Peninsula, which would consequently draw North Korea back into the international community and contain Russia’s and China’s regional influence. Dr. Jiang explained that in order for North Korea’s relations with other key actors to be normalized and for stability to be achieved, North Korea would need to “commit to abiding by international norms and conventions adhered to by other nuclear states under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and to the verifiable abandonment of its long-range missile program.” If North Korea cannot adhere to these conditions, Dr. Jiang stated that the US should reject North Korea’s nuclear program and “re-implement the strongest of international sanctions.” He also explained how allowing a carefully limited North Korean nuclear program could benefit each of the key regional actors and offered a potential strategic plan for US policymakers’ consideration. To conclude his presentation, Dr. Jiang explained what short-term, medium-term, and long-term projections for US strategies could look like.
Dr. Maorong Jiang is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations and Director of the Asian World Center at Creighton University. After completing graduate studies at the Beijing Foreign Affairs College, he taught international relations at the Military College of International Relations in China. In the early 1990s, he was selected by the U.S. State Department to participate in its prestigious International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP).
Dr. Jiang later served as a Visiting Fellow at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, where he took part in the East-West Center’s Asia Pacific Leadership Program. Since beginning his doctoral studies in the United States in 1996, he has been consulted by multiple government agencies on matters relating to China and North Korea. He has been a regular speaker at the Global Reporting Network and the Honolulu Security Seminars, and has participated in notable events such as the 1997 Conference on the Transition of Power: Democratic Enlargement in Asia and the 1998 International Game on Korea Reconciliation and Asian Security.
Since 2015, Dr. Jiang has served with the U.S. Strategic Command’s Deterrence and Assurance Academic Alliance. He was one of five supervisors in the U.S. Midwest responsible for the Japan Foundation Outreach Initiative Projects at Creighton and, in 2016, was selected by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to join its “Building a Multi-Layered Network of Influential Figures” program. His publications and presentations focus primarily on security issues, particularly U.S.–China and U.S.–China–DPRK relations.
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