Don't sugarcoat it: Why candor is the best policy with North Korea

Analysis

Don’t sugarcoat it: Why candor is the best policy with North Korea

Ambassador Thomas Schäfer’s book shows the value of speaking truth to power about the unjust system under Kim Jong Un

Roberta Cohen August 30, 2021

Don’t sugarcoat it: Why candor is the best policy with North Korea

Eric Lafforgue | North Korean young men cleaning the road in front of propaganda posters in Pyongyang (Sept. 2008)

While the world watches whether North Korea and the United States can agree on removing nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula and normalizing relations, German Ambassador Thomas Schäfer’s new book should be on the table.

Schäfer served as ambassador in Pyongyang from 2007 to 2010 and again from 2013 to 2018, and is one of the very few chiefs of mission to have published a book about his experiences.

About the Author

Roberta Cohen

Roberta Cohen is a Co-Chair Emeritus of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. A specialist in human rights, humanitarian and refugee issues, and a leading expert on internally displaced persons and on human rights conditions in the DPRK, her extensive career has spanned NGOs, the State Department, the United Nations and the Brookings Institution.

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