home > think tank > research projects > Independent Task Force on Managing Change on the Korean Peninsula
| Director: | Michael J. Green |
|---|---|
| Chair: | James T. Laney |
| Staff: | The Honorable Morton I. Abramowitz, Senior Fellow, The Century Foundation |
January 1, 1997 - December 31, 2000
This Task Force will examine various scenarios for reunification of the Korean Peninsula and their implications for regional security. Problems such as mass population exodus from North Korea, the viability of the South Korean economy under tremendous new pressures, and security concerns relating to China and Japan will be discussed in relation to their impact on American policy. The Task Force will prepare a draft document of analysis and recommendations that will be compared to a similar draft by a South Korean Task Force at a conference in 1998. Representatives from the two Task Forces will then hold a second conference to explore the same issues with scholars and policymakers from other northeast Asian countries.
Publications
July 1999
Task Force Report No. 24
This report argues that, in spite of tenisons, the United States should continue to support South Korea's engagement policy and keep the comprehensive Perry proposal on the table. The Task Force recommends that North Korea might be further opened by certain symbolic changes in U.S. economic sanctions policy. However, the Task Force warns that while diplomacy with the North should not be cut off because of another missile launch, the United States and its allies would be forced by a launch to take a new approach to Pyongyang.
June 1998
Task Force Report No. 17
The Korean peninsula remains one of the most heavily armed and dangerous places in the world. Despite its deteriorating economy, North Korea retains a standing army of over one million men and an enormous arsenal of artillery and missiles, most of them as close to Seoul, the South Korean capital, as Dulles Airport is to downtown Washington, DC. In 1994, the United States and North Korea almost went to war over the North’s nuclear program. Since then, Washington and Seoul have attempted to cap North Korea’s nuclear ambitions through the Agreed Framework, but the threat from the North remains.
Meetings
A Blueprint for the Future of the U.S. Armed Services
Related Project: Independent Task Force on Managing Change on the Korean Peninsula
| Presider: | Richard B. Cheney |
|---|---|
| Speakers: | Dennis J. Reimer, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army |
| Charles C. Krulak, Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps | |
| Michael E. Ryan, Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force |
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