U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner discusses effort to contain Kim Jong Un in latest Ripon Forum

WASHINGTON, DC – With the missile threat from North Korea increasing with each passing day, the latest edition of The Ripon Forum focuses on the effort to contain Kim Jong Un and punish those who enable the Pyongyang regime.

The effort is being led by U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO).  Gardner serves as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity. In a Q&A interview with the Forum, he discusses the Korea Conundrum, and his work to keep America’s allies unified in the face of this threat.

“It’s clear the situation now is at its most unstable point since the armistice,” Gardner stated, “but these nations are still looking to the United States for leadership.  I’m continuing to reiterate our support for them and letting them know that this situation will not be solved by just one of us. It’s going to take all of us along with China to stop the North Korean regime.”

Gardner also discusses legislation he has introduced that would place additional sanctions and penalties on those who support Kim Jong Un. “We must give every entity doing business with Pyongyang a choice – you either do business with this outlaw regime or the world’s economic superpower.”

In addition to the Gardner interview, the latest edition of the Forum also includes a collection of of authors and essays examining the changing U.S. policy toward North Korea, as well as some of the other challenges facing America around the world. These authors and essays include:

• Bruce Bennett of the Rand Corporation — writing about the American effort to move “Beyond Strategic Patience” when it comes to North Korea, and what U.S. policy might look like down the road.
• Former Australian National Security Advisor Andrew Shearer – writing about the role of America’s allies in meeting this and other global threats.
• Dean Cheng of the Heritage Foundation – writing about the leaders of China and how they view the United States and the rest of the world.
• Robert Manning of the Atlantic Council – writing about the state of U.S. missile defenses in light of the growing North Korean threat; and,
• Ian Wallace of New America — writing about the expanding role of NATO in keeping global cyber networks secure.

Closer to home, Will Marshall, the well-respected President & Founder of the Progressive Policy Institute, writes about Democratic efforts to rebuild their party heading into the 2018 midterm elections. And with Congress eyeing tax reform as a priority this fall, Gordon Gray of the American Action Forum explores the prospects that an agreement might be reached before the end of the year. In the regular Forum debate feature, authors and professors Kevin Guzman and Gregory Koger square off about the future of the filibuster and whether it should be preserved or eliminated.

And in the latest Ripon Profile, Republican rising star and former Coldstone Creamery CEO Doug Ducey discusses his background in business and his priorities as the Governor of Arizona. He also makes a prediction about his home state Cardinals for the upcoming NFL season. “I’m predicting a 13-3 record, NFC championship, followed by a Super Bowl victory,” the Governor declares.

The Ripon Forum is published six times a year by The Ripon Society, a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.