Nowhere are nuclear dangers growing more rapidly than in Northeast Asia. China’s rise and North Korea’s rapidly developing nuclear and missile programs have catalyzed a debate about whether the United States should rely more heavily on nuclear weapons in its efforts to protect the security of Japan and South Korea. Meanwhile, civilian nuclear energy programs risk the stockpiling of plutonium. South Korea and China are considering programs to extract plutonium from used nuclear fuel, as Japan wrestles with the realization that it is unable to make fresh fuel from the plutonium it has already extracted.
Carnegie held a discussion, hosted jointly with Nagasaki University, of the most urgent nuclear challenges facing international actors in this increasingly tense region.
Agenda
10:30 to 10:35 a.m.
Welcome
Susumu Shirabe, James Acton
10:35 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Extended Deterrence in Northeast Asia
Rebecca Hersman, Jina Kim, Jon Wolfsthal, Fumihiko Yoshida, Toby Dalton
12:00 to 12:30 p.m.
Lunch
12:30 to 2:00 p.m.
Security Risks of Civilian Plutonium Use in Northeast Asia
Thomas Countryman, Sharon Squassoni, Victor Reis, Tatsu Suzuki, James M. Acton
Speakers
Susumu Shirabe
Susumu Shirabe is the executive adviser to the president at Nagasaki University.
Rebecca Hersman
Rebecca Hersman is the director of the Project on Nuclear Issues and a senior adviser to the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Jina Kim
Jina Kim is a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.
Jon Wolfsthal
Jon Wolfsthal is a nonresident scholar with the Nucelar Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Fumihiko Yoshida
Fumihiko Yoshida is editor-in chief of the Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament and the vice director of the Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition at Nagasaki University. He is also a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Toby Dalton
Toby Dalton is co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Thomas Countryman
Thomas Countryman is the former assistant secretary for international security and nonproliferation at the U.S. Department of State.
Sharon Squassoni
Sharon Squassoni is a research professor of practice at the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy at the Elliot School of International Affairs at The George Washington University.
Victor Reis
Victor Reis former assistant secretary for defense programs at the U.S. Department of Energy.
Tatsu Suzuki
Tatsu Suzuki is director of the Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition at Nagasaki University.
James M. Acton
James M. Acton holds the Jessica T. Mathews Chair and is co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
