Tuesday 20 May – Thursday 4 August 2011
Japan and North Korea: What is the real security threat?
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle (entrance facing Regent's Park), London NW1 4QP
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
About the contributors
Dr Jim Hoare
Dr Jim Hoare is a freelance writer and broadcaster. From January 2001 to October 2002, Dr Hoare was the British Chargé d’Affaires and Consul General in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), responsible for establishing the British Embassy. Before that, he was a Research Counsellor, heading the North Asia and Pacific Research Group of the Research Analysts in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, working on all aspects of East Asia. He also served in postings to Seoul and Peking. He has published several books on East Asia, including [i]Embassies in the East: The Story of the British and their Embassies in China, Japan and Korea from 1859 to the present [/i]and, with Susan Pares, ‘Roots of Modern Conflict: Conflict in Korea: An Encyclopaedia’.
Minister Kazuyoshi Umemoto
Minister Kazuyoshi Umemoto (chair) is Political Minister at the Japanese Embassy in London. Minister Umemoto joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1977 and undertook some of his training at the University of Cambridge. His work has centred on the Japan-US security relationship and Japan’s relationship with the Korean peninsula. As Director of the Northeast Asia Division he was involved in the normalisation talks between Japan and the DPRK in Pyongyang in 2000. Most recently, he was part of the advance team of Prime Minister Koizumi’s historic visit to Pyongyang in September 2002.