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Hinge Points: An Inside Look at North Korea’s Nuclear Program with Dr. Siegfried Hecker
Monday, March 27, 5:00 pm MT
FREE livestream event
Hosted by the World Affairs Council of Connecticut in partnership with Global Santa Fe and the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville.
The Book
Hinge Points brings readers literally inside the North Korean nuclear program, explains how the “Hermit Kingdom,” with the weakest of hands became one of only three countries in the world that might target the United States with nuclear weapons. Hecker goes beyond the technical details―described in plain English from his on-the-ground experience at the North’s nuclear center at Yongbyon―to put the nuclear program exactly where it belongs, in the context of decades of fateful foreign policy decisions in Pyongyang and Washington.
Describing these decisions as “hinge points,” he traces the consequences of opportunities missed by both sides. Hecker’s unique ability to marry the technical with the diplomatic is well informed by his interactions with North Korean and U.S. officials over many years, while his years of working with Russian, Chinese, Indian, and Pakistani nuclear officials have given him an unmatched breadth of experience from which to view and interpret the thinking and perspective of the North Koreans.
The Author
Siegfried Hecker was at the Los Alamos National Laboratory for 34 years, including 12 years as director. He was at Stanford University for 17 years, including 6 years as co-director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation. He is now part-time professor of practice at Texas A&M University and at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Hecker has worked on nuclear matters for most of his career, including having visited all countries with declared nuclear weapons programs, including North Korea.
The Moderator
Jim Falk, president emeritus of the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth, retired in March 2021 after serving as the organization’s president since 2001. Now residing in Santa Fe, New Mexico he is member of the Board of Global Santa Fe where he chairs the program committee. Jim co-hosts Perspectives Matter, a McCuistion Program, that airs weekly on KERA-Dallas (PBS). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and honorary consul of Morocco.
Hosts & Partners
