Newswise — North Korea's test of a nuclear weapon raises a serious challenge to the international community. Experts from the University of California, San Diego are available for comment on the impact of the test on the United States and the world, the likely responses from key players " the US, China, South Korea and Japan " and the consequences for North Korea's own economic and political predicament.

SUSAN SHIRK is professor of political science at the UC San Diego School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS) and director of the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC). Shirk served as deputy assistant secretary for China, Taiwan and Hong Kong in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the U.S. Department of State from July 1997 to July 2000. At IGCC, she founded the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue, a track-two security forum, and has brought the North Koreans into the dialogue. She has visited North Korea twice and had originally planned to be there in early October, canceling because of news of the nuclear test. She has just returned from Beijing. She is the author of the forthcoming "China: Fragile Superpower" (spring 2007).

STEPHAN HAGGARD is professor of Korea-Pacific studies and director of the Korea-Pacific Program at IR/PS. His current research has focused on the political economy of engagement with North Korea. He is the co-author of "Famine in North Korea: Aid, Markets and Reform."

TAI MING CHEUNG is a research fellow at IGCC and is a specialist on Northeast Asian and Chinese security issues. His current research is on the relationship between technological innovation, economic development and national security, especially focusing on China's rise as an economic and military technological power.

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