Clarke Forum hosted its first panel discussion of the semester discussing the threat North Korea’s nuclear program poses to the United States on Thursday, Sept. 7.

The panel was made up of Dean of the School of Strategic Landpower at the U.S. Army War College Richard Lacquement, Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies at Dickinson Jina Kim, Visiting Professor of International Security Studies at Dickinson and former Dean of Academics at the U.S. Army War College Jeff McCausland, to discuss the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Lacquement was first to speak, outlining the status of North and South Korea. South Korea, according to Lacquement, has twice the population and almost 50 times the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) its neighbor to the north does. The southern country not only spends more on defense; it also uses a smaller percentage of its GDP to fulfill this expenditure. Lacquement then proceeded to summarize the powerful links the U.S. has with its allies in the region. This includes a combined forces command arrangement with South Korea, which places the control of U.S. and South Korean forces under joint leadership, and strong bilateral relations with Japan.

Kim followed Lacquement and focused on the historical and cultural differences between North and South Korea, examining why a peaceful solution would be difficult. Kim discussed the history of the North and South split during the fight for independence from Japanese colonial rule and how that division applies to modern considerations. She also explored the media restrictions in both countries that affect each nation’s perception of the other.

The third and final speaker was McCausland, who spoke on policy, economics, diplomacy and information related to the two Koreas. He stressed the importance of understanding the north’s regime, and the impact the media, especially from South Korea and the West, could have on the people of North Korea. In his concluding statement, McCausland reminded the audience that solutions to problems like the tensions between North and South Korea are often not elegant, and that this situation is one where “policy makers… may have kicked this can about as far as we can kick it.”

In the following discussion, moderated by Douglas Stuart, the inaugural holder of the Stuart Chair in International Studies at Dickinson College, the panelists discussed the decisions and promises of the new President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in. McCausland and Kim commented on recent proposals for talks between the involved parties and what effect sanctions might have on those talks.

During the question and answer session, several Dickinson students asked about hypothetical scenarios, including the ability of the U.S. to respond to military action by North Korea and what would happen if the regime of Kim Jong-un collapsed. Kim responded to the latter saying that, while many scholars consider the North and South to be separate, many Koreans “still believe that Koreans are Koreans, whether [they] are from North Korea or South Korea.”

Tristan Arnold ’18 said he appreciated that the panelists did not call for an out-right military operation.

“I thought the speakers were informative and well-chosen, and I was glad to see that no one supported a so-called “military option.” I hope this is the only time I’ll be on the same side as Steve Bannon, but a broken clock is still right twice a day. There is no military solution here.”

On the other hand, Nick Deitz ’18 an international studies major, “thought that the panelists had a good range of experience.” However, he did comment that “[the panelists] did a lot of admiring the problem…where you say ‘this is a really hard problem, and this is why, this is what makes it hard’ but there was no trying, you know, solution finding.”

Thomas Connell ’19, agreed with Deitz but he also criticized the Clarke Forum for hosting one-sided opinions.

“I felt that the panelists left out inconvenient facts with respect to the conflict on the Korean Peninsula, some of which were brought up by an esteemed professor in attendance. During the Q&A one of the panelists, Mr. Lacquement Jr., seemed confused and shocked that a student suggested that North Korea was a victim of U.S. aggression, and immediately dismissed that idea,” he said. “The Clarke Forum claims that it respects a diversity of opinions, however this isn’t true. For events that have to do with foreign policy, viewpoints are only deemed acceptable if they are pro-American, or palatable for institutions such as the U.S. Army War College or the State Department.”

The panel was hosted by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the departments of political science, international studies and East Asian studies in the Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium at 7 p.m.