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Melanie, Chris, and Zack debate nuclear proliferation in Northeast Asia. Are Russia’s nuclear saber-rattling, North Korea’s advancing capabilities, and China’s nuclear modernization program likely to spur additional nuclear proliferation? How satisfied are South Korea and Japan with current U.S. nuclear extended deterrence guarantees? And what should policymakers in Washington do in response to questions about the U.S. nuclear umbrella? In their last show of 2022, Chris says goodbye to Twitter (at least for now). Melanie asks for a more serious debate about immigration. And Zack commends the work and collegiality of the think tank community.

Episode Reading: 

• Yonhap, “N. Korean nuclear threat poses serious challenge to US extended deterrence: Campbell,” The Korea Herald, December 9, 2022.
• “China Military Power Report,” U.S. Department of Defense, November 2022.
• Evan Braden Montgomery and Toshi Yoshihara, “The Real Challenge of China’s Nuclear Modernization,” The Washington Quarterly, 45:4.
• Tristan A. Volpe, Leveraging Latency: How the Weak Compel the Strong with Nuclear Technology (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2022).
• Scott D. Sagan and Kenneth N. Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons: A Debate Renewed (New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2002).
• Jennifer Lind and Daryl G. Press, “Should South Korea build its own nuclear bomb,” The Washington Post, October 7, 2021.

Image: China Mil (Photo by Xu Yu)