Off-Ramps to War: Paths to Building Peace with North Korea

Tuesday, June 13, 2017, 9:00am – 4:00pm
Elliott School of International Affairs, Washington, DC

Please join the Korea Peace Network (KPN) and Partnerships for International Strategies in Asia (PISA) for a daylong conference on promising policy options that can defuse tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, while helping to heal those most impacted by the legacies of the Korean War.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have come dangerously close to a military confrontation that could engulf the entire region in a nuclear war. While there is consensus that the policy of Strategic Patience has failed to contain North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, few alternatives have emerged that deal with the whole range of issues facing the Korean peninsula, including the ongoing human legacies of the unresolved Korean conflict.

With new administrations in Washington and Seoul, an opportunity exists to bring forward fresh perspectives and ideas to deal with the 64-year old Korean conflict.

This conference will feature keynote addresses from former Secretary of Defense William Perry who successfully negotiated a freeze of North Korea’s nuclear program and the acclaimed Korea historian Bruce Cumings on lessons we can learn from the past towards building a peaceful future.

The event will also feature the voices of those most directly impacted by the unresolved conflict, from families of US servicemen who served in the Korean War to Korean-Americans still separated from their families in North Korea. It will also include rare insights from on-the-ground humanitarian aid and development practitioners working with North Koreans.

Keynote speakers

William J. Perry, former US Secretary of Defense, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University
Bruce Cumings, Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in History, University of Chicago

Panelists

Jason Ahn, Physician and Filmmaker – Divided Families Film
Rick Downes, Coalition of Families of Korean and Cold War POW/MIAs
Nadia Hadi, Humanitarian Affairs Officer, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – Asia Pacific Section
Nan Kim, Professor, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Linda Lewis, American Friends Service Committee
Ann Wright, Retired US Army Colonel and Diplomat; Veterans for Peace
Katharina Zellweger, Visiting Fellow, Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation

Please RSVP at: go.gwu.edu/kpn