Peace Studies Workshop on Peace and Security on the Korean Peninsula
On Friday 9 March staff and students from the Division of Peace Studies and International Development at the University of Bradford held a joint workshop on North East Asia and Global Security with a delegation of academics from Hiroshima City University, in Japan.
Nuclear weapons and security
Key issues explored in the workshop included the very salient issue of nuclear weapons and security on the Korean Peninsula. Clearly, given the recent announcement of a possible meeting between Donald Trump and the leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un participants had much to discuss. Other issues covered included Japanese peacekeeping operations, Cold War nuclear politics and the approach to North Korean refugees in South Korea.
Ongoing collaboration
The workshop was organised by Professor Christoph Bluth who is an expert on North Korea and nuclear arms control, together with Prof Yoshiaki Furuzawa of Hiroshima University.
The workshop formed part of an ongoing programme of collaboration between Peace Studies at Bradford and Hiroshima City University. This also includes funding for two students from Peace Studies to attend a summer school at Hiroshima on the theme of peace, security and nuclear weapons.
The summer school also includes a meeting with the mayor of Hiroshima and a meeting to hear the testimony of survivors of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War Two. The two organisations are also exploring the potential for a student exchange in which Bradford students would be able to spend part of their studies at Hiroshima.
From left to right, front row: Bradford research student Sadia Khan, Prof Yoshiaki Furuzawa from Hiroshima University, Prof Christoph Bluth from University of Bradford, Prof. Hyun Jin Son from Hiroshima University, Bradford research student Silvia de Michelis;
back row: Bradford research students Aslam Kan and Farouk Tarfa, Prof Neil Cooper - Head of Peace Studies and International Development at the University of Bradford, Prof Robert Jacobs - Historian of nuclear technologies and radiation technopolitics.