What's going on in North Korea? Why did Kim Jong-un publicly revealed his visit to a uranium-enrichment facility? What can we expect from North Korea for the rest of 2024? And how will North Korea react to a new U.S. administration in 2025?
Joining Mark Lippert and Victor Cha to discuss this and more are Dr. Jung Pak, former Senior Official for the DPRK, Mr. Sydney Seiler, former national intelligence officer for North Korea at the National Intelligence Council, and Dr. Katrin Katz, former National Security Council.
Dr. Jung Pak is former Senior Official for the DPRK and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands until 2024. She previously served as the DAS for Multilateral Affairs (2021-2023), deepening and expanding the U.S. relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and related fora, including the U.S.-Mekong Partnership. She also led on Global China issues (2021-2022), developing new initiatives within the Department and the interagency, and strengthening collaboration with key foreign interlocutors. In these roles Dr. Pak has worked to advance U.S. security and prosperity, including by promoting bilateral economic relationships, pushing back against PRC coercion with allies and partners, and ramping up U.S. and global efforts to counter the DPRK’s WMD programs and sanctions evasion techniques.
Sydney Seiler was the national intelligence officer for North Korea at the National Intelligence Council from 2020 to 2023 and is one of the nation’s top experts on North Korea. Previously, he was the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) senior analyst and senior defense intelligence expert for North Korea from 2016 to 2020, serving as the principal adviser and senior expert on Korean Peninsula security issues to the USFK commander and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Enterprise. Mr. Seiler also served as the U.S. special envoy for Six Party Talks (2014–2015), where he coordinated U.S. diplomacy and policy on the DPRK and led negotiations with North Korea. Prior to that, Mr. Seiler served as the director for Korea on the National Security Council (2011–2014). A member of the Senior National Intelligence Service, Mr. Seiler has over 40 years of experience focusing on Korean Peninsula affairs in a range of executive management, intelligence, and policy positions within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Directorate of Analysis, the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, the CIA’s Open Source Center, and the National Security Agency.
Katrin Fraser Katz is an adjunct fellow (non-resident) in the Office of the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. She is also a professor of practice in the Department of Political Science and the Master of Arts in International Administration (MAIA) program at the University of Miami and the Van Fleet nonresident senior fellow at the Korea Society in New York. Previously, Dr. Katz served as director for Japan, Korea, and oceanic affairs on the staff of the National Security Council from 2007 to 2008. She was also a special assistant to the assistant secretary for international organization affairs at the U.S. Department of State and an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency.
The Capital Cable is made possible through general support to CSIS.
