ENGAGING NORTH KOREA: Human Rights, Nuclear Weapons, and a Plan for Peace in the Obama Era

featuring Dr. Suh Bohyuk, Research Professor at Ewha University and formerly with the South Korea National Human Rights Commission, and Dr. Hazel Smith, Professor of Resilience and Security at Cranfield University

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Chapel of Grace, Grace Cathedral
1100 California Street
San Francisco, California 94108

    With hawks pushing for increased militarization of the Korean peninsula and with the groundwork for war as palpable today as during the Bush administration, North Korea's recent nuclear test calls, more than ever, for even-handed, informed analysis.

    Obama's historic election generated a sense of tremendous optimism that the conflict between the U.S. and North Korea could finally be ended. This urgent forum explores constructive approaches to achieving enduring peace, greater stability, and enhanced human rights on the Korean peninsula, and challenges neoconservative hysteria for North Korean regime change.

    Co-sponsored by Grace Cathedral and the Korea Policy Institute, this critical forum brings together two international experts on human rights and security in North Korea: Dr. Suh Bohyuk, former senior researcher at the South Korea National Human Rights Commission and current research professor at Ewha University, and Dr. Hazel Smith, Professor of Resilience and Security at Cranfield University and author of numerous books on North Korea, including Hungry for Peace: International Security, Humanitarian Assistance, and Social Change in North Korea.

    With due attention to the root causes of the present crisis, these scholars will offer a fresh perspective that situates North Korea's recent nuclear test and its human rights record within a critical historical, geopolitical, and on-the-ground framework.  This panel will be moderated by Dr. Christine Hong, assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.