CivilNet.TV hosted Stephen W. Bosworth, the Dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy, and Civilitas honorary board member, on the set in Yerevan in an interview about student diversity and the diplomacy program for young Foreign Service professionals at Fletcher school, higher education standards in diplomacy.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has appointed Ambassador and Civilitas honorary board member Stephen W. Bosworth as Special Representative for North Korea Policy.  Ambassador Bosworth will be State Department’s senior official handling North Korea issues, reporting to the Secretary of State, as well as to the President.

The Secretary has asked Ambassador Bosworth to oversee U.S. efforts in the Six-Party Talks to achieve the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.  He will serve as the senior emissary for U.S. engagement with North Korea, in close consultation with our allies and partners.

Ambassador Bosworth's experience both in government and in the private sector makes him an ideal candidate for this task.  He served as United States Ambassador to the Republic of Korea from 1997 to 2000.  He was Executive Director of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization from 1995 to 1997 and previously served as Ambassador to Tunisia and the Philippines.  He has visited North Korea several times and currently serves as Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Following North Korea’s offer to resume disarmament negotiations, Civilitas Foundation honorary board member Stephen W. Bosworth returned to Asia in early January 2011 as the Obama Administration’s special envoy to North Korea.  Bosworth consulted with South Korea, China and Japan about resuming the six-party talks, which would also include Russia and the US.

The talks have been on hold for nearly two years, and the result of the meetings is still unclear.  Many have expressed agreement that North Korea will have to prove its credibility and show that disarmament talks would be meaningful and fruitful.

At the end of the trip, Bosworth stated that the parties “are talking about and moving forward in our attempt to address the questions of the Korean Peninsula.”  On January 14, Bosworth plans to meet with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Defense Minister of South Korea to continue discussing diplomatic issues.

As the Obama Administration’s special envoy to North Korea, Civilitas Foundation honorary board member Stephen W. Bosworth will be heading to Seoul this week.  Suspicions arose when Stanford University Professor, Siegfried Hecker, was shown a new uranium facility on Pyongyang.  North Korea claims that the facility is designed to produce electricity.  However, it is believed that Pyongyang has secretly developed the ability to enrich uranium.  This discovery has raised concerns that the regime’s nuclear program is more advanced than previously thought.  Bosworth will also visit Tokyo on the trip to discuss how the region plans to respond to the situation.

Civilitas Foundation honorary board member Stephen W. Bosworth is the Obama administration’s special envoy on North Korea.  The U.S. State Department said in a statement that Bosworth will visit South Korea, Japan, and China to discuss North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.  New satellite images show construction under way at North Korea’s main atomic complex.   That, combined with reports from two American experts who recently travelled to the Yongbyon complex, appear to show that Pyongyang is making good on its pledge to build a nuclear power reactor. The trip also comes in the wake of rising tensions in the region.  Last week, North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells onto a South Korean island, killing one person, setting homes ablaze and triggering an exchange of fire as the South’s military went on top alert.