The Korean Nuclear Policy Society (KNPS) publishes its 7th issue of the Korean Journal on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Energy in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network (APLN). This special Spring edition features seven essays by APLN members on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its relevancy in containing and eliminating nuclear threats in Northeast Asia.

Addressing a range of perspectives, the essays are written by the following distinguished APLN network members:  

1. “The Relevance of the NPT to Containing and Eliminating Nuclear Threats in North East Asia” – Nobuyasu Abe 
2. “The Nonproliferation Road Travelled and the Continually Shifting Disarmament Goalposts: The NPT at 50” – Ramesh Thakur 
3. “The NPT, East Asia and the Problem of Nuclear Latency” – John Tilemann 
4. “The NPT and the DPRK Nuclear Program” – Bong-geun Jun 
5. “Simple Steps for Nuclear Weapon States to Honor Their Disarmament Commitments” – Tong Zhao 
6. “Reinforcing the NPT at 50: Regional Arrangements and Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones” – Angela Woodward 
7. “Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Security Ten Years After the Fukushima Disaster” – Tatsujiro Suzuki

Read the journal

On 8-9 July, the APLN and the KNPS co-hosted a webinar titled “The NPT and Security Dynamics in Northeast Asia,” featuring the journal’s authors. Read more about it here.

The Korean Journal of Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Energy is an academic journal published by the KNPS and sponsored by the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

About the Authors 

Nobuyasu Abe 

Ambassador Nobuyasu Abe is a former UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs and a former Commissioner of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission. He was a senior fellow (2018-19) at Harvard Kennedy School with its Project on Managing the Atom of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Currently, he is a senior advisor of the Council on Strategic Risks. He recently wrote on a Japanese perspective on the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty in Global Change, Peace & Security and on Japan’s dilemma over nuclear “No First Use” in the Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament. B.A., Amherst College 1969. 

Ramesh Thakur 

Ramesh Thakur is Emeritus Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University, Senior Research Fellow at the Toda Peace Institute, and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. His last post was Director of the Centre for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament at the ANU and his books include Nuclear Weapons and International Security: Selected Essays (Routledge); The United Nations, Peace, and Security: From Collective Security to the Responsibility to Protect (Cambridge University Press). He was formerly Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and co-Convenor of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network. 

John Tilemann 

John Tilemann is a Senior Fellow and former Director of Research at the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (APLN). He represented Australia at various international forums including Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conferences, the Proliferation Security Initiative, the ASEAN Regional Forum Intersessional Meetings on Non-proliferation and Disarmament, and at Asian Export Control Seminars. In Vienna, he was Australia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He was also Australia’s ambassador to Jordan 2002-2006 and served previously in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Poland. 

Bong-geun Jun 

Dr. Bong-Geun Jun is a Professor at the Department of Security and Unification Studies in the Korean National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA). Professor Jun held several governmental and non-governmental positions: Policy Advisor to the Minister of Unification, Secretary for international security affairs at the Presidential Office, and professional staffer at KEDO New York headquarters. Dr. Jun was also visiting fellow at Keio University, Asia Foundation Center for U.S-Korea Policy, Geneva Center for Security Studies. Dr. Jun’s research areas cover the North Korean nuclear issue, Northeast Asian politics, nuclear policy, and strategic studies. 

Tong Zhao 

Tong Zhao is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy. His research focuses on strategic security issues, such as nuclear weapons policy, deterrence, arms control, nonproliferation, missile defense, hypersonic weapons, and China’s security and foreign policy. He serves on the board of directors of the APLN and on the advisory board of the Missile Dialogue Initiative. Zhao is also an associate editor of Science & Global Security and is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials. Previously he was a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at Harvard University, a nonresident WSD-Handa Fellow at Pacific Forum, and worked for the Office of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality. 

Angela Woodward 

Angela Woodward is Deputy Executive Director at the Verification Research, Training and Information Centre (VERTIC) where she works on monitoring, verification, and compliance issues in arms control and disarmament, and legislative implementation of CBRN instruments. She is a Council member of the Aotearoa New Zealand Disarmament and Security Centre. Previously, she served on the New Zealand Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC) 2011-2018, she was the Legal Coordinator for the first EU Joint Action on the Biological Weapons Convention (2006), and she was an adviser to the chair of the UN Group of Governmental Experts on Verification in All its Aspects (2006). She has taught public international law and international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. 

Tatsujiro Suzuki 

Tatsujiro Suzuki is a Vice Director, Professor of Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition at Nagasaki University (RECNA), Japan. Before joining RECNA, he was a Vice-Chairman of Japan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) of the Cabinet office from January 2010 to March 2014. He is now a member of the Advisory Board of Parliament’s Special Committee on Nuclear Energy since June 2017. He is also a Council Member of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (2007-09 and from 2014~), Dr. Suzuki has a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Tokyo University (1988). 

 

Image: www.state.gov 

President Lyndon B. Johnson (far right) looks on as Secretary of State Dean Rusk signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968. (© Corbis/Getty Images)