CIA Affiliate Appointed as U.S. Envoy for North Korea Peace Talk

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher announced on December 23 that Joseph De Trani, the former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) senior advisor, was appointed as the U.S. State Department envoy for North Korea dialogue and representative for the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO).

Spokesman Boucher said that De Trani recently visited China and met with Chinese high ranking officials as well as Korean and Japanese ambassadors positioned in China to discuss the situation in the Korean peninsula in addition to North Korea’s nuclear program through a six-way negotiation process.

He added that De Trani did not take over the position of Jack Prichard, U.S. special envoy for Korean peace talks, but that it was a “new position”. According to U.S. Department of State, De Trani, a New York University graduate, served as an officer for the Air Force and joined the CIA in 1974 as an analyst and was the manager for Europe and East Asia. Since 1991, he has also worked as a senior advisor and counselor.

maypole@donga.com