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New Atlanticist

Apr 9, 2013

North Korea: Sad, Bad, and Mad?

By Julian Lindley-French

In 2000 Cranfield University’s Professor Helen Smith posed the now seminal question about North Korea, “Bad, Mad, Sad, or Rational Actor?” Kim Jong-un, the thirtyish leader of the somewhat misnomered Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) would indeed seem on the face of it to be bad, mad, and sad.

Korea

New Atlanticist

Apr 1, 2013

Confronting What We Don’t Know About the Korean Crisis

By Rajan Menon

War cries, threats and counter-threats, moves and counter-moves are emanating from the Korean peninsula. Pundits have pronounced on what’s going on and where things are headed. So this may be a good time to engage in some humility and to reflect on how little we know.

Korea

New Atlanticist

Mar 7, 2013

North Korean Albatross Around China’s Neck

By Robert A. Manning

North Korea’s recent nuclear test was a stark reminder to China that the days of a “lips and teeth” relationship with Pyongyang, of Mao Zedong and Kim Il-sung half a century ago, are long gone. Nuclear test after nuclear test, missile test after missile test, Pyongyang has time after time ignored Beijing’s pleas not to […]

Korea National Security

New Atlanticist

Feb 21, 2013

The Pyongyang Persian Pickle

By Harlan Ullman

In English slang, “pickle” means a bad situation or a state of disorder. The provenance is Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” And pickle well applies to the nuclear ambitions of North Korea, Iran and U.S. policy.

Korea Nuclear Nonproliferation

NATOSource

Dec 6, 2012

NATO expresses ‘grave concern’ about North Korea’s intent to launch a ballistic missile

By NATO

From NATO:  The North Atlantic Council expresses its grave concern at North Korea’s declared intent to launch a rocket using ballistic missile technology this month. Such an act would be in direct violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874.  It would risk exacerbating tensions in the region and further destabilising the Korean […]

Korea NATO

New Atlanticist

Mar 28, 2012

America’s Number One Geostrategic Threat?

By James Joyner

Yesterday, likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney declared Russia “without question, our No. 1 geopolitical foe.”

Iran Korea

New Atlanticist

Oct 26, 2011

Persistence Pays Off with “Rogue” Regimes

By Barbara Slavin

The United States and North Korea are resuming the joint search for U.S. soldiers still missing from the Korean War, one of the few positive areas of interaction between two countries estranged for more than 60 years. The announcement last week by the Pentagon came before two days of U.S.-North Korea talks in Geneva over […]

Korea

Event Recap

Sep 23, 2011

From North Korea to South Sudan: The Path of Crisis and the European Response

By Jason Harmala

On September 23, the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Relations Program hosted a conversation with Kristalina Georgieva, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. The Commissioner discussed the EU’s role in disaster response and the current challenges faced by her office. As Commissioner, she has overseen the EU response to humanitarian crises such as […]

East Africa European Union

New Atlanticist

Aug 6, 2009

Bill Clinton’s North Korea Gambit

By James Joyner

While the release of journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee from a North Korean prison has universally been hailed as good news, the trip by former President Bill Clinton that made it possible has been controversial.

Korea

New Atlanticist

May 28, 2009

Jones: North Korea Nukes ‘Not an Imminent Threat’

By James Joyner

National Security Advisor Jim Jones declared in a speech to the Atlantic Council that the recent testing of a nuclear device and firing of Taepodong missiles by North Korea “are not an imminent threat” to the United States or the regions because “they have a long way to go” in perfecting the technology to weaponize […]

Korea

Experts