Wednesday, October 25, 2006
The Korea Society, 950 Third Avenue, Eighth Floor, New York City
(Building entrance on SW corner of Third Avenue and 57th Street)

3:00 PM -3:30 PM ♦ Registration and Reception
3:30 PM-4:30 PM ♦ Presentation and Q&A

In the wake of North Korea's current nuclear test, Marion Creekmore will discuss his recently published book, A Moment of Crisis: Jimmy Carter, the Power of a Peacemaker and North Korea's Nuclear Ambitions. Twelve years ago, with North Korea suspected of building nuclear weapons, international negotiations gridlocked and the United States pressing for United Nations sanctions that North Korea insisted would be a declaration of war, former President Carter traveled to North Korea to talk with President Kim Il Sung. He did so despite serious reservations within the Clinton administration and the South Korean government. The resulting deal broke the diplomatic deadlock and spurred Washington and Pyongyang to resolve the crisis peacefully. The U.S.-North Korean Agreed Framework, signed in October 1994, shut down the North Korean plutonium-based nuclear program for eight years.

Creekmore, who accompanied Carter on his historic trip, will talk about the mission's controversies and successes, how the former president conducts sensitive negotiations, why the discussions between Carter and Kim Il Sung proved fruitful, and lessons gleaned from the 1994 experience that are applicable today in dealing with North Korea and other so-called "rogue regimes."

About the Speaker

Ambassador Marion V. Creekmore, Jr. is currently distinguished visiting professor of History and Political Science at Emory University. In 1993 Creekmore was appointed to the joint position of program director of The Carter Center and vice provost for International Affairs at Emory.  While at The Carter Center (1993-1996), he coordinated many of the international activities of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. 

A career American diplomat from 1965-1993, Creekmore served as U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka and Republic of Maldives from 1989 to 1992.  Other overseas postings included South Africa, Ghana, Germany and India. In New Delhi he held the position of deputy chief of mission from 1981-1984.  Ambassador Creekmore's policy assignments in the U.S. State Department in Washington included deputy assistant secretary of state for International Organizations Affairs; deputy director of the secretary of state's Policy Planning Staff; deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs; and deputy Afghan coordinator.