Ambassador Alastair Morgan
Former British Ambassador to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (2015-2018)
Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS)

Mr. Keith Luse (Opening Remarks)
Executive Director, National Committee on North Korea  

Mr. Ross Tokola (Moderator)
Executive Associate to the Director, East-West Center in Washington

Tuesday, September 6, 2022
10:00 - 11:00 AM EDT
Click here to find your local start time

REGISTER

How has the United Kingdom maintained diplomatic relations with North Korea despite the latter’s hostile relationship with the United States? How has its approach towards the DPRK changed since establishing ties in 2000? And what role can Britain play as part of a larger global effort to contain North Korea’s nuclear program and address the humanitarian crisis? To answer these questions, the National Committee on North Korea and the East-West Center in Washington have invited Ambassador Alastair Morgan to hear key insight from his experience in North Korea as Britain’s ambassador and his perspective on the future of UK-DPRK relations. 

This North Korea in the World webinar is the fourth in a series examining North Korea's historical and contemporary relations with countries in Europe and how those countries navigate relations between the United States, South Korea, and North Korea. How do these countries manage to walk the 38th parallel? How successful are they, and what can we learn from it? It follows a prior North Korea in the World webinar series on North Korea’s relations with countries across the Global South. 

The North Korea in the World project is a joint initiative of the National Committee on North Korea and the East-West Center in Washington; the NorthKoreaInTheWorld.org website collects and curates information and data on North Korea’s external economic and diplomatic relations. 

This seminar will take place entirely on Zoom via its Webinar platform. This seminar will be on-the-record, recorded on Zoom, and live streamed to YouTube for sharing afterwards.

About the Speakers

Amb. Alastair Morgan is currently a Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the Department of War Studies, at the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS), King’s College London, and a Tokyo College Ushioda Fellow of the University of Tokyo, affiliated with Tokyo University’s Graduate School of Public Policy. Alastair was the British Ambassador to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from December 2015 until December 2018. He was British Consul-General in Guangzhou from 2010 to 2014 and Director of Trade and Investment at the British Embassy in Beijing from 2007 to 2010. Prior to that, he was Counsellor Trade Policy and Director of Inward Investment at the British Embassy in Tokyo from 2002 to 2006, following a year on loan to the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry from 2001 to 2002. He started work in British government service at the Department of Trade and Industry in 1985. He was regional security expert and Coordinator of the UN 1874 Panel of Experts on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea sanctions from 2019 to 2021. From 1983 to 1985 he was a lecturer at Gakushuin University, Tokyo. He is a graduate of Cambridge University.

Keith Luse is the Executive Director of the National Committee on North Korea. Previously, Luse was the Senior East Asia Policy Advisor for Chairman and later Ranking Member Senator Richard G. Lugar at the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2003 until 2013. Luse also served as Staff Director for Mr. Lugar at the Senate Agriculture Committee from 1999 through 2002, where the Senator also served as Chairman and later Ranking Member. While at the Senate Agriculture Committee, Luse made the first of eventually five trips to North Korea. Luse’s Bachelor of Arts degree in political science is from Indiana University. His graduate certificate in public management and additional graduate studies were obtained at Indiana University – Purdue University, Indianapolis.

Ross Tokola is the Executive Associate to the Director at the East-West Center in Washington. Mr. Tokola gives advice and support to the Director on ongoing near-term and long-term strategic projects and programs, and helps monitor progress and ensure effective coordination with East-West Center in Washington staff and stakeholders. Previously, Mr. Tokola was a Program Officer at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies during his five years in Seoul, and worked for the U.S. embassies both in the Republic of Korea and in the United Kingdom. In addition to studying the Korean language at Sogang University in Seoul, he holds a first class honors B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy from Heythrop College, University of London, and a M.Phil. in International Relations from the University of Cambridge.