Landmines, Nuclear Weapons, Deterrence, and Stability on the Korean Peninsula

Though Washington and Seoul are interested in engaging with North Korea diplomatically, Pyongyang continues to advance its nuclear and missile capabilities and insists that its status as a nuclear-armed state is irreversible. President Donald Trump has expressed interest in renewing diplomacy with Kim Jong Un, raising the possibility of another Trump–Kim meeting.

Managing North Korea, though, remains only one of several major challenges confronting the United States–Republic of Korea alliance. Washington and Seoul also need to grapple with the future of extended deterrence, South Korea’s new nuclear-powered attack submarine project, wartime operational control, and the broader challenge of maintaining military readiness while creating space for diplomacy.

To discuss these and other issues, Hudson Institute Asia-Pacific Security Chair Patrick M. Cronin will lead an expert panel featuring Lieutenant General (Ret.) In-bum Chun, senior fellow at the Association of the United States Army and former commander of the Republic of Korea Special Warfare Command; Dr. Mira Rapp-Hooper, senior adviser at the Asia Group and former special assistant to the president and senior director for East Asia and Oceania at the White House National Security Council; and Ankit Panda, senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of The New Nuclear Age: At the Precipice of Armageddon.