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Ruediger Frank, Professor of East Asian Political Economy at the University of Vienna, writes, “If pressure exerted through economic, political, or military means increases to a level that is high enough to trigger a qualitative change such as regime collapse, we might end up with a successful surgery, but a dead patient. Both sanctions and assistance naturally involve a great deal of uncertainty and risk. But while we can still change the engagement therapy after the failure of one type of medicine, the failure of a hard-line approach will leave us with irreversible damage.”

Ruediger Frank, Professor of East Asian Political Economy at the University of Vienna, writes, “There is nothing mystical about North Korea; it is just a highly intransparent case of ordinary development – as easy or as hard to understand as any other example. It can be expected that the closer the institutional structure in North Korea comes to the international mainstream, the easier it will get to integrate this case into standard theoretical models and to compare it with other examples.”

CONTENTS I. Introduction II. Essay by Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland I. Introduction Stephan Haggard, a professor of international relations at the University of California, San Diego, where he directs the Korea-Pacific Program, and Marcus Noland, senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics, Washington, write“a revival of the failed socialist model would not only […]

David Kang , associate professor of government, adjunct associate professor and research director at the Center for International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and co-author of Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies, writes “The United States can improve its position in East Asia, as well as solidify its alliance with South Korea, by widening its focus beyond North Korean denuclearization and coming out strongly and enthusiastically in favor of Korean unification.”

Mark J. Valencia, Maritime Policy Analyst and Nautilus Institute Senior Associate, writes “Most of the PSI’s shortcomings stem from its ad-hoc, extra-UN, US-driven nature. Bringing it into the UN system would rectify many of these shortcomings by loosening US control, enhancing its legitimacy, and engendering near universal support.”