The International Crisis Group, to my mind, is a very uneven operation. It also annoys me that they never sign their reports.
But Dan Pinkston, out in Seoul, has a trio of very good reports on North Korea’s Chemical and Biological Weapons Programs, Nuclear and Missile Programs and Getting Back to Talks.
Top notch stuff from a top notch analyst.
I am less optimistic, at least in the near term, than Dan seems to be about getting back to talks with North Korea — though I agree that we need to be ready to engage them, as Dan says, “if and when there appears to be a prospect, however uncertain, that the North is willing to engage seriously.”
anon | June 21, 2009
I lean toward those who maintain a long-term solution to the Korean nuclear problem cannot be achieved through the “Six-Party Talks” without a “Concert of powers” with “connected purposes” among the U.S. PRC, ROK, Japan &Russia.
Without this, it’s a “fait accompli” for North Korea’s & its nuclear weapon program.
Anon | June 23, 2009
The ICG reports for most regions are excellent and in my experience consistant. Their Seoul office has been messed around though as they have effectively closed it and relocated their East Asia HQ to Beijing, a regional office which is still in its infancy. As a former intern there, I’ve witnessed this chaos first hand. All kudos to Dan for getting some serious work done amid this situation…