April 15, 2023 — When Siegfried Hecker visited North Korea in 2004 as a senior fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, he was granted unparalleled access to North Korean nuclear facilities. At one point, he was asked to hold a half-pound piece of plutonium in North Korea’s Radiochemical Laboratory – apparently to document for the world the North’s nuclear accomplishments.
Hecker is the author of a new book, “Hinge Points: An Inside Look at North Korea’s Nuclear Program”, which offers an in-depth look at Hecker’s visits to North Korea from 2004-2010. He spoke with Jim Falk, of Global Santa Fe, about how successive US administrations failed to weigh the benefits of negotiation, and missed a chance to halt North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
This was a live program produced in partnership with the World Affairs Council of Connecticut, Global Santa Fe, and the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville.
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