A Joint Conference on Russia and North Korean Nuclear Weapons

Russia’s relations with North Korea are often ignored in the West, being overshadowed by China. Yet Russia has been a major player on the Korean Peninsula since the late 19th century. It was directly responsible for the creation of the North Korean state (the DPRK) and it still maintains a range of political, economic and social links. Indeed, Russia is now the only major country on more or less friendly terms with Pyongyang. We will therefore examine whether Russia can be engaged as a broker of negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, especially as our failure to restrain North Korea’s nuclear and missile program to date suggests it is time for a new strategy.

This conference will present the findings of a year-long research project on the current state of Russian-North Korean relations and the implications for US policy.  The project has been conducted as a collaboration of researchers from the Foreign Policy Research Institute, Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), and the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Moscow.  

Conference Agenda

9:00 a.m.  Welcoming Remarks

9:10 a.m. Panel 1: Russian-North Korea Relations 

Presenters
Artyom Lukin
Assoc. Professor of International Relations and Deputy Director of Research, School of Regional and International Studies, Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok 

Georgy Toloraya  
Director, Asian Strategy Center, Institute of Economics, Russian Academy of Science
Professor, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO)

Commentators
Chris Miller
Research Director, Eurasia Program, Foreign Policy Research Institute 
Assistant Professor of International History, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy 

Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein
Associate Scholar, FPRI 

Moderator
Rensselaer W. Lee III
Senior Fellow, FPRI 

10:35 Panel 2:  Implications for US Policy 

Presenters
Rensselaer W. Lee III
Senior Fellow, FPRI 

William Severe
Independent Consultant

Commentators
Sue Mi Terry
Senior Advisor for North Korea, Bower Group Asia 

Jenny Town
Assistant Director, US-Korea Institute at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University 

11:50 Adjournment/ Closing Remarks  

Rensselaer W. Lee III
Senior Fellow, FPRI