“Targeted Sanctions and the Counterproliferation Puzzle: The Case of North Korea”The Asan Institute for Policy Studies

The Asan Institute for Policy Studies cordially invites you to an Asan Dosirak Series roundtable with Dr. John Park, Adjunct Lecturer at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, on Wednesday, August 13, 2014.

Targeted sanctions have become the primary and dominant counterproliferation policy instrument for addressing the challenges of countries such as North Korea and Iran. At no point in the history of U.S. nonproliferation and counterproliferation policy have targeted sanctions been so central to U.S. efforts to prevent or rollback the acquisition of nuclear weapons. In the case of North Korea, the use of counterproliferation-focused sanctions raises a puzzle. The U.S. and the international community have been sanctioning North Korea for decades—targeting, in particular, its procurement activities—yet its nuclear programs continue to grow. Dr. Park’s study confronts that puzzle and seeks to better understand the diverse effects of counterproliferation sanctions by looking at the issue from the target’s perspective.

Date / Time: Wednesday, August 13, 2014 / 11:30-1:30PM
Venue: The Asan Institute for Policy Studies, 2nd Floor Conference Room

Speaker

John S. Park is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School and a Research Associate at MIT. He is also a Faculty Affiliate with the Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Previously, he was also a Stanton Nuclear Security Junior Faculty Fellow at MIT. His research focuses on the effectiveness of financial sanctions as a counterproliferation policy tool in the North Korean case. During 2007-2012, he directed Northeast Asia Track 1.5 projects at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP). Dr. Park previously worked at Goldman Sachs, where he specialized in U.S. military privatization financing projects. His publications include: “Assessing the Role of Security Assurances in Dealing with North Korea” in Security Assurances and Nuclear Nonproliferation (Stanford University Press, 2012); “North Korea, Inc.: Gaining Insights into North Korean Regime Stability from Recent Commercial Activities” (USIP Working Paper, May 2009); “North Korea’s Nuclear Policy Behavior: Deterrence and Leverage,” in The Long Shadow: Nuclear Weapons and Security in 21st Century Asia (Stanford University Press, 2008). Dr. Park received his M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Cambridge University and completed his pre-doctoral and postdoctoral training at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.