The Impossible State

North Korea is the Impossible State. Each week join the people who know the most about North Korea—The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Victor Cha, Mike Green, and Sue Mi Terry—for an insider's discussion with host H. Andrew Schwartz about the United States’ top national security priority. Email your questions to ImpossibleState@csis.org.

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Third Summit
David Kang, director of the Korean Studies Institute at the University of Southern California, joins CSIS’s Victor Cha again by phone to discuss the latest Inter-Korean summit, what this means for denuclearization, and what to expect from a potential 2nd
31 min
102
Strategizing Engagement
David Kang, director of the Korean Studies Institute at the University of Southern California, joins guest host Victor Cha of CSIS to discuss the second edition of their book, Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies from the studio. Origin
38 min
103
Recovery Operations
Dr. Jennie Jin, an anthropologist with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the lead researcher tasked to identify the recent American POW/MIA remains from North Korea, joins resident expert Victor Cha and host H. Andrew Schwartz by phone from Pearl
28 min
104
Left Out
Motoko Rich, the Tokyo bureau chief for The New York Times, joins CSIS's Victor Cha by phone to discuss the view from Japan. Download transcript here. 
33 min
105
Grinding It Out
Jonathan Cheng, the Seoul bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, joins resident experts Victor Cha and Sue Mi Terry by phone to discuss the specter of North Korea’s latest dismantling efforts, road blocks in the denuclearization talks, and the return
31 min
106
Third Visit
Resident North Korea experts Victor Cha and Sue Mi Terry discuss Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s latest visit to North Korea. They also weigh in on the possibility of Kim Jong Un’s appearance at the 2018 United Nation General Assembly meeting in Septemb
28 min
107
Verification
Rebecca Hersman, the director of the Project on Nuclear issues at CSIS who is a former WMD non-proliferation expert with the Defense Department, discusses the challenges and mechanics of complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization in North Ko
31 min
108
Where Do We Go from Here?
Special guests Ambassador Robert King, the former special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, and Joseph Kim, a young man who defected from North Korea in 2006, discuss human rights in North Korea and the Trump administration’s position on the is
41 min
109
Trailer: The Impossible State
North Korea is the impossible state. For over 45 years no American president has figured it out. Now, the stakes may be higher than ever as Donald Trump and the Trump administration come to the negotiating table. Each week join the people who know the mo
1 min
110
Stunning Our Allies
Victor Cha, the former deputy head of the U.S. delegation to the Six-Party talks during the George W. Bush administration, and Mike Green, the senior director for Asia of the National Security Council of George W. Bush., talk about the outcome of the Sin
41 min
111
Swinging in the Dark: Eve of the June 12 Summit
The world’s top Korea watchers, Victor Cha, Sue Mi Terry, and Mike Green, discuss the upcoming June 12 Summit in Singapore, what Kim Jong Un has already gotten out of the meeting with Donald Trump, the maddening nature of negotiations with North Korea, a
50 min
112
The Summit Saga Continues
Sue Mi Terry, a former senior CIA analyst and National Security Council staff member during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations talks about efforts this week by the administration to revive the peace summit between President Trump and Nor
19 min
113
June 12 Summit Canceled
Victor Cha, a top Korea expert who was an Asia director in the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration and deputy head of the U.S. delegation at the Six-Party Talks in Beijing, talks about President Trump’s letter to North Kore
15 min