20 February 2009

Clinton Names Special Representative for North Korea Policy

Stephen Bosworth is veteran American diplomat

Secretary Clinton addresses the Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea, February 20.

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington — Veteran American diplomat Stephen Bosworth, the current dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, has been named special representative for North Korea policy and will oversee the Six-Party Talks on halting North Korea's nuclear development program.

Bosworth was named by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton February 20 during her stop in Seoul, South Korea, which is part of a four-nation visit to East Asia.  Clinton said that Bosworth, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, would work with China, South Korea, Japan and Russia to get the North Korean regime back into negotiations that have stalled since last year.

The decision was made after close consultations with the partners in the talks, Clinton said, adding that “Ambassador Bosworth will be our senior official handling North Korea issues.”

Clinton also warned the North Korean regime that it will not get a different relationship with the United States while insulting and refusing to talk with the leadership in South Korea.

“I make the offer again right here in Seoul; If North Korea is genuinely prepared to completely and verifiably eliminate nuclear weapons, the Obama administration will be willing to normalize bilateral relations, replace the peninsula's long-standing armistice agreement with a permanent peace treaty and assist in meeting the energy and other economic and humanitarian needs of the Korean people,” Clinton said in a speech to students at Ewha Womans University, according to an Associated Press report.

“North Korean behavior presents a number of important foreign policy challenges for the United States, the region and the world,” Clinton said during an earlier press briefing with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan.

Clinton concludes her swing through East Asia, her first trip abroad since becoming secretary of state a month ago, in Beijing for consultations with Chinese leaders before returning to Washington. The secretary had already met with officials in Japan and Indonesia before her stop in Seoul.

Bosworth, who will report to Clinton and President Obama, will also be responsible for dealing with North Korean human rights and humanitarian issues, she said.  Bosworth will work closely with the U.S. special envoy for the Six-Party Talks, Ambassador Sung Kim, who will lead the day-to-day efforts, she said.

Bosworth served as ambassador to South Korea from 1997 to 2000, which was a period in which Seoul initiated a series of efforts at rapprochement with the isolated North.

He also served as executive director of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization from 1995 to 1997, when the consortium began building two light-water nuclear energy reactors in the North under an agreement with the North that collapsed in 2002.

In 1987, Bosworth was designated Diplomat of the Year by the American Academy of Diplomacy. He has also served as ambassador to the Philippines and to Tunisia.

Bosworth, who succeeds Ambassador Christopher Hill as lead negotiator for the talks, is the second special representative named by the Obama administration since taking office a month ago. Obama previously named Ambassador Richard Holbrooke as special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He also appointed former U.S. Senator George Mitchell as special envoy for the Middle East peace. Special envoys have authority to negotiate agreements; special representatives do not.

Ask Secretary Clinton a question online about her trip to Asia.

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