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MPR News Staff

How we got into a nuclear standoff with an impoverished dictatorship

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Kim Jong Un
A TV screen showed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a shop in Tokyo, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. North Korea said it conducted a powerful hydrogen bomb test.
Eugene Hoshiko | AP

A special report from Neal Conan on the historical background and context for the nuclear standoff with North Korea.

Trump administration officials will brief the U.S. Senate today on the possibilities of diplomacy and the sobering military problem of a nuclear-armed Korea. Experts say the options are complicated and the consequences are great.

Three experienced foreign policy pros share their insights:

Christopher Hill, former assistant secretary of state, former North Korea negotiator, and former U.S. ambassador to South Korea. Now dean of the Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.

Sheila Miyoshi Jager, professor of East Asian studies at Oberlin College, and author of "Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in Korea."

Michele Flournoy, CEO of the Center for a New American Security, former under-secretary of defense and now a senior fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center.

Neal Conan, who moderated the discussion, is host of "Truth, Politics and Power" from PRX and is the former host of NPR's "Talk of the Nation."

To listen to their discussion, click the audio player above.

Further reading

• Mike Pence: "Era of strategic patience is over"

• North Korean official: Ready for war if Trump wants it

• More from MPR News Presents

MPR News presents offers speeches, documentaries and debates — airing weekdays from noon to 1 p.m.