First Wednesday: North Korea and the nuclear threat beyond
In the week following the debut of Kim Jong Un, son of Kim Jong Il, the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear programme is said to have reached an "extremely dangerous level".
Aidan Foster-Carter, honorary senior research fellow in sociology & modern Korea at Leeds University and Charles Scanlon, BBC correspondent in Japan and South Korea from 2000 to 2007, currently an editor at BBC World Service news will be discussing the looming power shift in North Korea and the prospects for its relationships with its neighbours and the world beyond.
As the focus on North Korea shifts towards its nuclear capabilities we will be broadening the discussion to look at the nuclear question. On the panel will be Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, one of the world’s leading experts on nuclear proliferation who will be able to ask questions about the emerging ‘nuclear renaissance’.
Here’s an interview on Iranian threat in the Huffington Post. Fitzpatrick, a former US State Department nonproliferation analyst has also spoken on the significance of Iran’s claims about computer-based assaults on its nuclear programme.