Brookings Institution
Jonathan D. Pollack is the Interim SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies in the Center for East Asia Policy Studies and a senior fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution. He is also the author of No Exit: North Korea, Nuclear Weapons and International Security.
How worried should you be about the rhetoric between North Korea and the U.S.? It would take 30 minutes for a nuclear missile to travel from North Korea to Los Angeles. How close is that possibility? Many experts are saying the ratcheting up of tensions -- fueled by President Trump -- is needlessly worrying.
North Korea's threat in the Trump era North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un greeted the New Year — and America's new President -- by threatening to develop a missile that could carry a nuclear warhead to the United States. Donald Trump tweeted, "it won't happen." Jonathan Pollack is Interim South-Korea Foundation Chair at the Brookings Institution and the author of No Exit: North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, and International Security .
World Responds to North Korea's 'Destabilizing and Provocative' Acts In the past few days, North Korea has challenged its many adversaries with a series of provocative actions. It has launched a rocket, restarted a reactor that could fuel nuclear weapons and it claims to have tested a hydrogen bomb. That's created anxiety from Asia to Capitol Hill. How are its many adversaries responding to these "destabilizing and provocative actions?" We ask Jonathan Pollack, a senior fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center and the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution . He's also the author of No Exit: North Korea, Nuclear Weapons and International Security .
Examining North Korea-China Ties Chinese officials went on the record today about the hack of Sony Pictures, saying that while they oppose cyberattacks, there’s no proof that North Korea is behind it. China is North Korea’s only major ally. But as North Korea becomes more isolated and more brazen in its actions, could that change?
Obama Touts China Relationship at APEC Summit Just a week after being rebuffed by American voters in the midterm elections, President Obama’s in China today for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit . In Beijing, he announced visa expansions and stronger trade relation with China. Jonathan Pollack is Director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution.
Will Increasing Tensions with North Korea Get Out of Control? As North Korea has escalated its threats to attack the US and its neighbors, the US has responded with its own plan of action: military exercises with South Korea; B-2 bombers from Missouri dropping dummy bombs in the Yellow Sea. Now US warships with guided missiles are part of the picture—and today’s Wall Street Journal says the Obama White House is concerned about “unintended consequences.”
What Next for North and South Korea? After a year in office, North Korea's young president has proven himself to be a different man from his father. Kim Jong Un has been outgoing, making public appearances with his pregnant wife. He's also claimed a great victory with the controversial rocket launch. Now South Korea has elected its first woman president, one who also comes from a political family. Park Geun-hye is the daughter of that country's longest-ruling dictator, Park Chung-hee, whose legacy still divides the nation. Dr. Jonathan Pollack is acting director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution and author of No Exit : North Korea, Nuclear Weapons and International Security.
What Next for North and South Korea? After a year in office, North Korea's young president has proven himself to be a different man from his father. Kim Jong Un has been outgoing, making public appearances with his pregnant wife. He's also claimed a great victory with the controversial rocket launch. Now South Korea has elected its first woman president, one who also comes from a political family. Park Geun-hye is the daughter of that country's longest-ruling dictator, Park Chung-hee, whose legacy still divides the nation. Dr. Jonathan Pollack is acting director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution and author of No Exit : North Korea, Nuclear Weapons and International Security.
Politics in the Other Superpower While the world waits to see if there will be leadership change in Washington, in China it's guaranteed, but nothing is out in the open. The Communist Party is about to start meeting behind closed doors to endorse the tiny group who will run the number two superpower for the next ten years. The biggest turnover since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976 -- and only its fifth generation of leaders since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 -- will have worldwide consequences, though nobody knows just what to expect. We hear about murder, corruption, public unrest and the uncertain future of the "economic miracle."
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?