Andrew S. Erickson

China-North Korea Dynamics: Is Their Bond Eroding as North Korea Draws Closer to Russia?

November 5, 2024 | 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm

Location: S050, Thomas Chan-Soo Kang Room, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA

Please click here to register for the event.

Sponsors:

• Harvard University Asia Center
• Korea Institute, Harvard University
• Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University

• Speaker: Seong-Hyon Lee, Associate, Harvard University Asia Center; Former China Director, Sejong Institute, Seoul
• Moderator: Andrew S. Erickson, Professor of Strategy, China Maritime Studies Institute, U.S. Naval War College; Visiting Scholar, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University 

The talk will examine the evolving China-North Korea relationship, particularly as Pyongyang strengthens its ties with Russia and how this affects Beijing’s strategic calculations. While China and North Korea have experienced periods of diplomatic tension, their partnership remains resilient, serving Beijing’s broader objective of counterbalancing U.S. influence in Asia. This relationship enables China to maintain regional stability while compelling the United States to divide its strategic attention across multiple theaters. The discussion will probe how China’s management of its North Korean alliance reflects its larger geopolitical strategy within the context of U.S.-China competition. 

Dr. Seong-Hyon Lee is an Associate at Harvard University’s Asia Center and a Senior Fellow at the George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations. Previously, he served as the China Director at the Sejong Institute in Seoul. Dr. Lee spent four years in Iowa, growing corn and completing his undergraduate studies in neuroscience at Grinnell College. After earning his master’s degree at Harvard, he traveled to China, where he ultimately spent 11 years working as a foreign correspondent and as a consultant for the United Nations. He completed his Ph.D. at Tsinghua University, the alma mater of President Xi Jinping. His research focuses on contemporary international relations in East Asia, with a particular emphasis on China and the Korean Peninsula. Currently, he is translating a biography of Zhou Enlai into Korean, originally published by Harvard University Press. He has also been a visiting scholar at Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

ASIA BEYOND THE HEADLINES SEMINAR SERIES

The Asia Beyond the Headlines Seminar Series, inagurated in the fall of 2017, focuses on contemporary issues that cut across Asia. The first seminar, titled “One Belt/One Road in Historical and Global Context,” featured a discussion of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in the context of similar programs that have changed human history worldwide. The series has covered important topics affecting the stability of not only Asian nations but the entire world from elections, and political protests to border conflicts, migration, and plight of refugees.