[News Spot] 'Stimson Center' Raises Risk Assessment of North Korea

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jonghwa] The Stimson Center is a centrist security-focused nonprofit, bipartisan think tank located in Washington D.C., USA.

It was jointly founded in 1989 by security experts Barry Blechman and Michael Krepon, named after Henry Lewis Stimson, a famous American politician and lawyer. Henry Lewis Stimson served as Secretary of War under President William Howard Taft in 1911, Secretary of State under President Herbert Hoover in 1929, and Secretary of War again under President Franklin Roosevelt in 1940. During his last tenure as Secretary of War, he oversaw the Manhattan Project, the development of the atomic bomb, and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He retired in 1945 and passed away at the age of 83 in 1950 at his home in Huntington, New York.

The launch of North Korea's super-large multiple rocket launcher.
[Photo by Pyongyang Korean Central News Agency / Yonhap News]

The Stimson Center researches various topics for the peace and prosperity of humanity, including the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), security programs, and the impacts of climate change. It was ranked 21st among U.S. think tanks in the University of Pennsylvania's "2016 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report."

According to the Stimson Center's recently released "Top 10 Global Risks for 2023," North Korea's risk level for 2023 was assessed as "Medium+," an increase from last year's "Medium" rating.

The top 10 risks are classified into five levels based on severity: High, Medium+, Medium, Medium-, and Low. The Stimson Center explained that the risk level rose because North Korea conducted 86 ballistic missile test launches last year and the possibility of a seventh nuclear test remains.