Roundtable on North Korea: Missiles, Nukes, Markets, Madman?: North Korea in 2016

Hyun-Binn Cho, Ph.D. Candidate, Political Science
John Grisafi, History, EALC 2017; Intelligence Director at NKNews - North Korea News
Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein, Ph.D. Student, History; Co-Editor of North Korean Economy Watch
Moderated by Frank Plantan, Jr., Co-director of the International Relations Program 

North Korea Roundtable at Penn: What's really going on in North Korea? Is Kim Jong-un crazy? How big of a threat is North Korea's nuclear weapons program under Kim Jong-un? And how is North Korean society changing in the shadow of international sanctions? This roundtable is a new initiative, conducted with the generous sponsorship of the James Joo-Jin Kim Program in Korean Studies, to bring together the Penn community to discuss what’s happening in North Korea. During 2016, for the first time, North Korea conducted not just one, but two nuclear tests within a single year. With parallel missile tests in recent months, experts now believe that the country is closer than ever to being able to arm a missile with a nuclear warhead. Meanwhile, although North Korea is under the harshest international sanctions in its history, its domestic economy remains relatively stable, and the regime appears nowhere near the implosion that many observers have expected for decades. To better understand these developments, we invite the Penn community to share their thoughts at the roundtable. Three Penn students will kick-off the discussions by presenting some of their own research and analysis: Hyun-Binn Cho, a Phd candidate in political science and lecturer of the Introduction to International Relations LPS course, will analyze North Korea’s political calculations for conducting the recent tests and the responses from the United States, China, and South Korea. John Grisafi, a History and East Asian Languages and Civilizations major ('17) and Director of Intelligence at NK News, will discuss North Korea's weapons developments and analyze some key components of progress. Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein, a PhD student in the history department and Co-Editor of North Korean Economy Watch, will take a look at trends in the North Korean economy, and show why things are not as bad as some might think. He will also show pictures from his summer trip to the Sino-Korean border. Dr Frank Plantan, co-director of the International Relations Program at Penn, will moderate the discussion. After three short presentations, we will open up the table for a discussion with all attendees. No prior knowledge of North Korea is required to participate. Cookies and coffee will be served!