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North Korea either can or soon will be able to target the United States with nuclear missiles. How will North Korea’s nuclear capability influence its foreign policy towards South Korea, China and the United States? Under what conditions is armed conflict – between North Korea and South Korea, or perhaps between the United States and China – most likely? What has been the impact of President Trump’s three meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, and what might we expect in the future?

We are joined by leading global experts in the field Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman & Dr Michael Cohen to discuss and debate these questions that touch on the future of the Korean peninsula and East Asian security.

 

Our speakers

Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King's College London

Sir Laurence has been Professor of War Studies at King's College London since 1982, and Vice-Principal since 2003. He was educated at Whitley Bay Grammar School and the Universities of Manchester, York and Oxford. Before joining King's he held research appointments at Nuffield College Oxford, IISS and the Royal Institute of International Affairs. In 1995 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy and awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 1996, he was appointed Official Historian of the Falklands Campaign in 1997.

In 2003 he was awarded the KCMG (Knight Commander of St Michael and St George). He was appointed in June 2009 to serve as a member of the official inquiry into Britain and the 2003 Iraq War.

Dr Michael Cohen, Senior Lecturer, Australian National University & Australian National Fellow at King's College London, Menzies Australia Institute

research addresses international security in the Indo-Pacific and explores the causes of armed interstate conflict. His expertise covers nuclear weapons proliferation, the Korean peninsula, South Asia, deterrence and coercion, leaders, foreign policy decision-making and the US-Australia alliance. He regularly provides media commentary on these issues.

Dr Cohen’s first book, When Proliferation Causes Peace: The Psychology of Nuclear Crises (Georgetown University Press: 2017), addressed how nuclear proliferation influences states’ foreign policy. His co-edited book North Korea and Nuclear Weapons: Entering the New Era of Deterrence (Georgetown University Press: 2017, with Sung Chull Kim) addressed the impact of North Korea’s nuclear program on the Korean peninsula.