White Paper posted July 17, 2012 by Walter Lohman, John Fleming, Robert Warshaw
Key Asian Indicators: A Book of Charts
America’s Enduring Leadership in Asia
America has been engaged in Asia since a few decades after securing its independence.
Its early interest is documented in the 1833 Treaty on Amity and Commerce between the U.S. and the Kingdom of Siam Thailand), and later in the market-opening 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan. The U.S. has, in fact, been a “resident…
Testimony posted November 3, 2011 by Bruce Klingner
The Expanding U.S. – Korea Alliance: Protecting Freedom and Democracy in Asia
My name is Bruce Klingner. I am Senior Research Fellow for Northeast Asia at The Heritage Foundation. The views I express in this testimony are my own, and should not be construed as representing any official position of The Heritage Foundation.
It has been said that the U.S. – Republic of Korea alliance was “forged in blood.” That is surely true, because the true…
WebMemo posted May 18, 2011 by Bruce Klingner
Proposed Re-Realignment for Northeast Asia Ignores Strategic Realities
Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin (D–MI), ranking member John McCain (R–AZ), and Senator Jim Webb (D–VA) have called on the United States to overhaul two complex military realignment agreements with South Korea and Japan. Their proposals would undermine years of carefully crafted diplomacy that achieved U.S. strategic objectives and resolved contentious…
White Paper posted January 14, 2011 by Walter Lohman, John Fleming, Nicholas Hamisevicz
Key Asian Indicators: A Book of Charts
The global financial crisis has had a major impact on perceptions of American power and its relationships in Asia. Many of the perceptions are not founded on facts. Among the facts often overlooked:
American companies invest far more abroad than does all of Asia combined.
For every dollar the U.S. has invested in China it has invested two in Australia…
WebMemo posted March 11, 2010 by Bruce Klingner
New North Korean Missile Unit Reflects Growing Missile Threat
North Korea has established an independent military division responsible for controlling and deploying its intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs).[1] Known as the Musudan,[2] these IRBMs are a strategic-level asset controlled by the senior leadership. Little is known about the missile, but U.S. assessments consider it to be a single-stage, road-mobile IRBM with a…
WebMemo posted October 31, 2008 by Bruce Klingner
North Korea Nuclear Verification: Has the U.S. Blinked?
The Bush Administration announced on October 11 that it had
removed North Korea from the state sponsors of terrorism list in
return for Pyongyang's acceptance of a six-party talks verification
protocol. Details of the verification agreement have not been
disclosed pending formal approval at a heads of delegation meeting.
The State Department claims that all…
WebMemo posted September 11, 2008 by Bruce Klingner
Planning for a North Korea without Kim Jong-il
Rumors that Kim Jong-il suffered a stroke have triggered
concerns over the ramifications of instability and regime change in
North Korea, particularly in regards to that nation's arsenal of
nuclear weapons. Over the years, there have been scores of rumors
regarding Kim, including illness, incapacitation, coup,
assassination, and even death.
Subsequently, jaded…
WebMemo posted July 16, 2008 by Bruce Klingner
North Korea Denuclearization Requires Rigorous Verification System
On July 12, the six-party talks nations agreed on July 12 to
broad measures for verifying North Korea's pledge to abandon its
nuclear weapons programs. The joint communiqué was typically
bereft of substantive details, which were deferred to a working
group for resolution. North Korea did agree to verification
measures that included "visits to facilities, review of…
WebMemo posted June 26, 2008 by Bruce Klingner
Limited Progress on North Korean Denuclearization: CriticalQuestions Lie Ahead
Pyongyang's June 26 delivery of a data declaration regarding its
nuclear weapons programs and the anticipated destruction of the
cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear reactor represent commendable
progress toward North Korean denuclearization. Similarly, North
Korea's earlier delivery of approximately 19,000 pages of
Yongbyon's operating records provided a trove of…