CONWAY, Ark. (January 15, 2019) – “The way forward on North
Korea: fire and fury, or carrots and diplomacy?” will be presented by David C. Kang
on Tuesday, January 29 from 6-7:30 p.m., in Lecture Hall C of the Wilbur D.
Mills Center for Social Sciences on the Hendrix College campus. The lecture,
sponsored by the W. C. Buthman Endowed Visiting Scholar and Lectureship Program
at Hendrix, is free and open to the public.
From an historic first summit between U.S. President Donald J.
Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, to multiple meetings between the
leaders of North and South Korea, the Korean peninsula has been experiencing a
period of unprecedented diplomacy. Yet progress appears to have slowed, or even
stopped: North Korea is no longer moving as quickly toward denuclearization,
and the U.S. and South Korea have not removed any significant economic
sanctions on the North.
Dr. Kang, an international relations professor at the University
of Southern California, will discuss what 2019 could bring for the U.S., North
Korea, and the security issues affecting relations between the two countries;
whether the possibility of “fire and fury” still lingers on the Korean
Peninsula; and whether there is a real opportunity for easing tensions. Kang
will discuss these and many other issues surrounding North Korea, including U.S.
policy toward the region.
In addition to delivering the Buthman Lecture, Dr. Kang will
meet with the Hendrix Westphalian Society Reading Group, a group of students
interested in international relations, to discuss his most recent book, Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement
Strategies (revised in 2018).
Dr. Kang is Maria Crutcher Professor in International Relations,
Business and East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern
California, with appointments in both the School of International Relations and
the Marshall School of Business. He also directs the Korean Studies Institute at
USC. Kang’s latest book is American Grand
Strategy and East Asian Security in the 21st Century (Cambridge University
Press, 2017). He is also author of East
Asia Before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute (Columbia
University Press, 2010); China Rising:
Peace, Power, and Order in East Asia (Columbia University Press, 2007); Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development
in South Korea and the Philippines (Cambridge University Press, 2002); and Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement
Strategies, co-authored with Victor Cha (Columbia University Press, 2003).
Kang has also written opinion pieces in the New
York Times, the Financial Times,
the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, as well as a monthly
column for the Joongang Ilbo in Korean. He received an A.B. with honors from
Stanford University and his Ph.D. from Berkeley.
About Hendrix College
A private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix
College consistently earns recognition as one of the country’s leading liberal
arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40
Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic
quality and rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a fixture
in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, Hendrix has
been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more,
visit www.hendrix.edu.