East-West Center in the News

(2011-06-02) Marcus Noland is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics and the East West Center in the United States. He says he supports President Lee's attempted dialogue.

"Really the story is not that the South Koreans were talking to the North Koreas - just like the Chinese and Americans are - but rather that the North Koreans chose to publically embarrass him just like they had done to a previous delegation of international statesmen that tried to reach out and open up some doors," he said.

Noland speculates that something is amiss in Pyongyang for it to be shutting down such contact at this time.

"I think it's likely that their internal politics are now going in a very hard-line militaristic direction," he said.

... Noland, an economist who closely follows North Korea, agrees with that scenario.

"I think that the likelihood of provocation over the next year is significantly high," he said. "The North Koreans, they're in a difficult situation. Their economy is not doing well. I think it's most likely that they're asking for food aid now because they are going to do a provocation of some sort and they anticipate things tightening up."

-- Also appears in: States News Service