Description

This seminar focuses on the complex interactions between ‘North Korean issues’ and Japanese foreign policy. From the Japanese point of view, the main components of the issues are abduction, missile launch, and nuclear development. Although Japan considers the abduction issue to be their top priority, there are presently no international forums that could exert pressure of this issue on North Korea. Thus, the resolution of the abduction, to no small extent, depends on the multilateral negotiation on nuclear disarmament, and on the political pressure by the United States. What kinds of effects does this complex political configuration have on Japanese diplomacy and regional security? What kinds of effects do the other issues such as democratization and humanitarian assistance have on them?

Norihito Kubota (Ph.D. candidate, University of Tokyo) is an assistant professor in the Department of International Relations at the National Defense Academy of Japan, where he teaches international politics and the United Nations. His main focus of study is the states’ motivations in military contribution to multilateral peacekeeping. He has published several articles in academic journals using the quantitative method and contributed in editing books on theoretical analysis of security issues and on application of psychological decision-making theory to international crisis. He is currently a visiting scholar at the Asian Institute at the University of Toronto (2008-2010).