NCNK Steering Committee Member; NCNK Membership Committee Co-Chair

Consultant

Email: BradBabson@aol.com

Economic Development

Expertise

- Economic Development

- Multilateral Organizations

Background

Brad Babson is retired from a career at the World Bank, with a concentration in East Asia.In the early 1990's he worked on the opening up of Vietnam and was the first World Bank Resident Representative in Hanoi, and since 1997 has studied the North Korean economy and written extensively on economic perspectives on the integration of North Korea into the international community.

Biography

Bradley O. Babson is a consultant on Asian affairs with a focus on Korea and Northeast Asia economic cooperation. Presently he is co-Chair of the Stanley Foundation Project on Northeast Asia Security and Future Directors for the DPRK Economy. He worked for the World Bank for 26 years before retiring in 2000, serving as a Senior Loan Officer on Indonesia from 1983-87, Division Chief for Education and Health for eight Asian countries from 1997-92, Regional Representative in Bangkok, Thailand from 1993-94, and the first Resident Representative to Hanoi, Vietnam from 1994-97. From 1997-2000 he served as Senior Advisor in the office of the Regional Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific.


He has recently participated in projects on the DPRK sponsored by the Center for Strategic International Studies, U.S. Institute for Peace and National Bureau for Asian Research and in 2005 directed a Stanley Foundation project on Future Multilateral Economic Cooperation with the DPRK. He serves on the Advisory Council of the Korea Economic Institute of America, and as a director of the World Affairs Council of Maine.

Publications include: "Understanding North Korea's Economic Crisis" with Deok Ryong Yoon, Asian Economic Papers 1:3, 2002, "Inter-Korean Economic Relations in a Regional Context," Asian Perspective, 2002, "The International Financial Institutions and DPRK:Prospects and Constraints". North Pacific Policy Papers 9, Institute of Asia Research, University of British Columbia, 2002, "China and the Future of the Korean Peninsula," National Strategy Forum Review, 2003, "Korea's Regional Economic Role," East Asia: An International Quarterly, Volume 20, No.4, 2003, and "Designing Public Sector Capital Mobilization Strategies for the DPRK," A New International Engagement Framework for North Korea?" Contending Perspectives, 2004, and "International Organizations and Economic Development in the DPRK," Asia Policy Number 2, National Bureau for Asian Research, 2006. Mr. Babson received his BA degree from Williams College in 1972, and MPA degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs at Princeton University in 1974. He lives in Brunswick, Maine, USA.

Views expressed by individual National Committee on North Korea members are their own and should not be attributed to the National Committee itself. With the exception of statements that have been approved by the membership, NCNK does not advocate particular policies or take positions on issues.

Organizations are listed for identification purposes only.