Join us for a discussion with Ambassador Peter Semneby, the Swedish Government's Special Envoy for the Korean Peninsula. In conversation with policy director Jonathan Corrado, Ambassador Semneby will provide a brief overview history of Sweden's role in Korea, examine Sweden's convening capacity as exhibited in 2018-2019, investigate whether Sweden's interests and perspective have been affected by North Korea's involvement in the Russo-Ukraine War and Sweden's ascension to NATO, and explore ideas for how to break the current impasse.
This program is made possible by the generous support of the Kim Koo Foundation.
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Sweden's Role in Korean Peninsula Diplomacy with Ambassador Peter Semneby
Thursday, December 18, 2025 | 4 PM (EST)
LIVE WEBCAST
About the Speaker:
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Ambassador Peter Semneby is currently the Swedish Government's Special Envoy for the Korean Peninsula. He has spent a large part of his career working in senior positions for the Swedish Government and international organizations on conflict management and conflict resolution, largely in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. As Swedish Special Envoy for the conflict in Yemen 2018-23 he was instrumental in gathering the Yemeni conflict parties in Stockholm in December 2018 for the first agreement after the start of the conflict. He was Swedish Special Envoy for Libya 2017-18, ambassador to Lebanon 2015-17 with concurrent responsibility for Syria, and ambassador to Afghanistan 2012-15. As Special Representative for the South Caucasus of the European Union 2006-11, he mediated political crises, advised on human rights issues, and worked on territorial conflicts, including the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Georgia. He was head of two Missions of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)--in Latvia 2000-02 and Croatia 2002-05, where he worked on minority issues and regional cooperation, assisting those countries to clear the political criteria for EU membership. He also served in Swedish diplomatic missions in Germany, Ukraine and the Soviet Union, and briefly as chargé d'affaires of the Swedish Embassy in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1997. Ambassador Semneby is, inter alia, a member of the European Council of Foreign Relations and sits on the boards or advisory council of several think tanks. He was educated at the Universities of Uppsala and Stockholm, the Stockholm School of Economics, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. |