As part of the IISS Korean Security Programme, Ambassador Charles L. Pritchard gave a stimulating and well attended presentation to the IISS on 31 October entitled ‘The Bush Administration’s Policy Towards North Korea and Next Steps in Resolving the Nuclear Crisis’. His remarks traced, from an insider’s perspective, the development of the current crisis and provided many insights into the forces shaping US policy on this highly contentious and tangled issue.
Currently a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Ambassador Pritchard was until August 2003 the US Special Envoy for Negotiations with North Korea, and US Representative to the Korean Energy Development Organisation (KEDO). His involvement with North Korean policy extends into the Clinton administration, where he was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asian Affairs at the White House. He was part of the US delegation which in October 2002 traveled to Pyongyang to present North Korea with evidence that it was pursuing a clandestine uranium enrichment programme.
Prior to the talk, Gary Samore and Adam Ward on 30 October hosted a private dinner at which Ambassador Pritchard led a discussion on North Korea. The dinner was attended by diplomats from the embassies of North Korea, China, Japan, South Korea, the Australian High Commission and Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
