Tuesday, June 06, 2017, 15:00 - 16:00
"Understanding Kim Jong-un's Regime"
Language: The speech and Q & A will be in Japanese with English interpretation
As North Korea forges ahead with a flurry of tests to further its nuclear weapons and missile programs, prompting G-7 leaders to vow tougher measures against "new levels of threat", the FCCJ is fortunate to welcome a noted Japanese expert on Korean affairs for the second week in a row as a guest speaker.
Atsuhito Isozaki, an associate professor of North Korean studies at Keio University, will enlighten members on how best to understand the five-year-old regime of Kim Jong-un, whose politics, he says, are "even more of a black box" than those of his late father Kim Jong-il, due to "less information leaking out of North Korea than in the past."
In his book "Understanding the North Korean Regime, " published in April in English after his sabbatical research at the Wilson Center in Washington, Isozaki attempts to shed light on Pyongyang's political structure, its strategic priorities, sources of resilience, how it sees nuclear weapons and approaches to analyzing its present status. He writes that the Kims learned a lesson from the fate of Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi, who abandoned a nuclear weapons program in 2003 to improve ties with the West, only to be toppled and executed by NATO-backed rebels.
Isozaki received his M.A. in law from Keio University and served as a researcher at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing from 2001-2004. He then taught at Keio, Tokyo University, the National Police Academy and other institutions before assuming his current position in 2015. In the past two years, he was a visiting scholar at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies of George Washington University and the Wilson Center.
Please reserve in advance, 3211-3161 or on the website (still & TV cameras inclusive). Reservations and cancellations are not complete without confirmation.
Professional Activities Committee
