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Korea Divided: Change and Prospects for Reunification

RAS Lecture Meeting
Mr. Walter L. Keats
August 28, Thursday
7:30 p.m.
2nd floor, Residents lounge
Somerset Palace

Korea Divided: Change and Prospects for Reunification

Fifty-five years after the signing of the Armistice Korea is still divided and on a war footing. What are the prospects for a peaceful resolution of this situation and what are some of the things that can be done to accomplish it? Walter L. Keats, returning to Seoul after his 15th visit to the DPRK since 1995, will have fresh insights into how we got into the situation we are in, how things are changing, and how we might get ourselves out of the current stalemate.

A frequent visitor to East Asia for over 35 years Mr. Keats is based in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette. He has been specifically following the situation on the Korean peninsula for more several decades, not just through reading and study, but actively through periodic visits. He will be returning from his most recent trip on August 27 just prior to addressing the Society.

During the course of his visits he has personally experienced some of the modest changes going on in the DPRK and in the ROK since the death of Kim Il Sung in 1994, including the establishment of several special economic zones, and the requirement that organizations must earn a profit. Over the years he has developed a broad knowledge of the history of the conflict on the Korean peninsula, from the point of view of the U.S., both Koreas and even China. He will illustrate his talk with photos of key areas of the DPRK including Pyongyang, Mt. Myohang, Gaeseong, Nampo, Mt. Geumgang and Panmunjom.

Mr. Keats is a member of the National Committee on North Korea, The Korea Society, and the Presidents Council of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He is President of Asia Pacific Travel, Ltd., the only U.S. tour company authorized to bring tourists to the DPRK.
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