EWC Research Speaker Series featuring Joel S. Wit

Location: John A. Burns Hall, 3rd Floor, Room 3015

For almost four decades, the United States has tried to stop North Korea’s attempts to build nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. Based on more than 300 interviews with officials in Washington, Seoul and Beijing, as well as his own encounters with North Korean government officials over two decades, Joel Wit’s new book, Flashpoint: The Inside Story of How America Failed to Disarm North Korea, tells the up until now untold story of how six American presidents failed to stop Pyongyang. As a result, the United States is now faced with the threat of North Korea’s missiles that can threaten its cities and northeast Asia is on the verge of a nuclear arms race. Wit discusses how to deal with that challenge and whether President Trump is on the right track.

About the Speaker:

Joel S. Wit is a Distinguished Fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center and former director of the 38 North program. As a State Department official, he helped negotiate the 1994 U.S.-DPRK Agreed Framework and was in charge of its implementation until he left government in 2002. He met regularly with senior North Korean government officials over the next 15 years. Wit served as a Senior Fellow at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies from 2017-2018 and at the Henry L. Stimson Center until 2022. He is a co-author (with Robert Gallucci and Daniel Poneman) of Going Critical: The First North Korea Nuclear Crisis, published by the Brooking Institution Press.

The views expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect East-West Center policies or positions.

For questions or inquires on event please contact, Justina Leach at [email protected]

**Parking information: Parking at the East-West Center is administered by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Commuter Services. Visitor parking is available at green Pay-to-Park visitor stalls and in the two Lower Campus parking structures.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Research Program