IISS visit to North Korea

 

From 21–25 May 2003, Adam Ward, Senior Fellow for East Asian Security and Editor of Strategic Comments, visited North Korea as a guest of the DPRK Institute for Disarmament and Peace (IDP) and the British Embassy, Pyongyang. The visit was designed to strengthen IISS ties with North Korean foreign-policy officials, the military and research counterparts. It marked a follow-up to the workshop on Korean Peninsula developments organised in Macau in late 2001.

 

Against the backdrop of rising regional tensions, the visit featured a number of discussions on the prospects for inter-Korean relations and developments in US policy towards the Peninsula with directing staff of the IDP, as well as with members of the Institute for International Affairs (IIA). These topics were also addressed during meetings with several senior officials from the DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). The scope for future exchanges between the IISS and MFA were explored.

 

Adam Ward benefitted from extensive briefings on the internal food situation and economic and social conditions from Richard W. Corsino, Country Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and Paul Filler, Head of the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) in North Korea. On 24 May, he visited the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at Panmunjom, 180 km south of Pyongyang, where he held meetings with the Director of the Negotiation Department of the DPRK Mission.

 

The visit has helped to clear the way for greater DPRK participation in the Institute’s programmatic activities. In line with the dynamic strategic situation on the Peninsula, the IISS intends to boost its Korea Programme in a sustained manner, and aims to deepen its ties and exchanges with North Korea over the coming months. The success of this visit owed much to the support and generous hospitality afforded by Dr James Hoare, UK Chargé d’Affaires in Pyongyang. Dr Hoare is an IISS Member and former Research Associate at the Institute.