On February 18, 2010, PSA and Hudson Institute held a panel discussion on nuclear non-proliferation in East Asia, featuring Victor Cha, Patrick Cronin, Christopher Ford, and Jeffrey Lewis, and moderated by PSA Board member and former NSC official Mark Brzezinski. Cha, formerly the NSC Director for Asian Affairs, began the discussion with an overview of U.S. options for negotiating with the DRPK and the likelihood of success in achieving the U.S.'s ultimate goal in the region- the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Cha expressed the opinion that the Kim Jong-Il regime will not denuclearize because of internal insecurities about regime stability, not because of worries about a significant external military threat.

Cronin, a Senior Advisor and Senior Director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security discussed the issue of American leverage over the DPRK, pointing out the complexities of relationships between the different countries involved in the six-party talks and expressing the need for the ROK to be not only a provider of aid to the DPRK but also a strategic participant in talks.

Ford, former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, expressed an opinion that, while the DPRK's nuclear program undermined the credibility of the global non-proliferation regime, it was not as severe a security threat to North East Asian stability as the rise of Chinese power.

The final panelist was Lewis, the Director of the Nuclear Strategy Initiative at the New America Foundation. Lewis discussed the Sino-U.S. relationship in terms of nuclear arsenals, stating that the current Chinese government will never fully cooperate with the U.S. on nonproliferation if they believe the U.S. is attempting to negate their deterrence.

Audio and video of the event are available on Hudson's event page and a full summary of the event will be available soon.

This was the third event in a joint PSA-Hudson series on nonproliferation issues. The next panel discussion will focus on the Nuclear Posture Review. This event was made possible by the generous support of the Connect U.S. Fund.