Join us for a book talk with Dr. Siegfried Hecker, who discusses “his on-the-ground experience at the North's nuclear center at Yongbyon,” unpacking the ramifications of North Korea’s technical developments in the context of fateful foreign policy decisions by Washington, Seoul, and Pyongyang. Dr. Hecker describes how “successive U.S. administrations have been unable to prevent the North, with the weakest of hands, from becoming one of only three countries in the world that might target the United States with nuclear weapons.” The discussion also includes a consideration of developments to the approach addressed in the summit meeting between US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, and the debate around the potential for South Korea to acquire an indigenous deterrent. This program is moderated by Korea Society policy director Jonathan Corrado.
Siegfried S. Hecker is a professor emeritus (research) in the Department of Management Science and Engineering and a senior fellow emeritus at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). He was co-director of CISAC from 2007-2012. From 1986 to 1997, Dr. Hecker served as the fifth Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Dr. Hecker is an internationally recognized expert in plutonium science, global threat reduction, and nuclear security.