The Impossible State

In this second-ever live episode, students of CSIS Korea Chair Victor Cha’s “Modern Asia” class join host Andrew Schwartz and guests for a lively discussion about the upcoming meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and President Trump. Guests include Victor Cha, CSIS Korea Chair Senior Fellow Sue Mi Terry, and Kelly Magsamen, the vice president for National Security and International Policy at the Center for American Progress. Download transcript here.

In this first live episode of The Impossible State, four esteemed guests join host H. Andrew Schwartz to discuss the latest Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi. Panelists included former US Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow, CSIS Korea experts Victor Cha and Sue Mi Terry, and Washington Post White House reporter David Nakamura.

Dr. Michael Green, Senior Vice President for Asia at CSIS, joins host Andrew Schwartz to discuss the aftermath of the latest Trump-Kim summit, and reactions from U.S. allies in the region. Download transcript here.

In this episode, host H. Andrew Schwartz and CSIS Korea Chair Victor Cha invite Dr. Stephen Noerper to preview the second Trump-Kim summit. Stephen Noerper is the Korea Society senior director for policy and education, a Columbia University adjunct professor, and senior advisor to the United Nations programme in support of cooperation in Northeast Asia.  Download transcript here.

In this episode, experts discuss the upcoming Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi. CSIS's Korea Chair, Victor Cha, and host H. Andrew Schwartz welcome Dr. Ramon Pacheco Pardo, KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Institute for European Studies and Reader in International Relations at King's College London. Pardo offers the view from Europe.  Download transcript here.

Tom Karako, senior fellow with the International Security Program and director of the Missile Defense Project at CSIS, joins resident Korea expert Victor Cha and host Andrew Schwartz to discuss the 2019 Missile Defense Review. They also discuss the annual Worldwide Threat Assessment and how North Korea’s threat will play out as President Trump is expected to meet with Kim Jong-un next month. Download transcript here.

David Sanger of the New York Times and resident Korea expert Victor Cha weigh in on the recent CSIS findings of 16 hidden missile bases in North Korea. They discuss David Sanger’s article on the matter, and how the Trump administration has responded to these findings. Download transcript here.

Stephen Morrison, the director of CSIS’ Global Health Policy Center and resident Korea expert Victor Cha, discuss Morrison’s documentary about the health crisis in North Korea. The Gathering Health Storm Inside North Korea was presented by CSIS’ Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security. You can watch the documentary and find out more at https://healthsecurity.csis.org/articles/the-gathering-health-storm-inside-north-korea/. Download transcript here.

On July 16, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging Sue Mi Terry with violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The indictment alleges activities that took place, in part, during a period in which Ms. Terry was employed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. CSIS is not a party to this litigation and takes the allegations seriously. CSIS maintains strict policies to ensure full compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act and the intellectual independence of its scholarship. In light of these serious allegations, CSIS cannot verify the independence of the scholarship of this material containing the views of Ms. Terry and has therefore archived this content pending the resolution of the charges.

David Kang, director of the Korean Studies Institute at the University of Southern California, joins CSIS’s Victor Cha again by phone to discuss the latest Inter-Korean summit, what this means for denuclearization, and what to expect from a potential 2nd Trump-Kim summit. Download full transcript here.