The Belfer Center officially launched the Korea Project in September 2018. The Korea Project is committed to advancing research and analysis, policy engagement, and mentorship of next-generation specialists at Harvard. Building on the work of the late Ambassador Stephen Bosworth - Senior Fellow and former U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy - the Korea Project continues to deepen the connection between practitioner and research communities focused on Korean Peninsula affairs. 

Ambassador Stephen W. Bosworth, a Belfer Center senior fellow, former ambassador, university dean, and long-time public servant, died on January 4, 2016, at the age of 76.

Stephen Bosworth, Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center, and Nicholas Burns, Professor of Practice at the Harvard Kennedy School, both signed a letter to President Obama hailing the recent Iran nuclear agreement as a landmark for American diplomacy, and urging the United States to adopt the accord. 

Eight members of the Belfer Center's Iran Working Group—Graham Allison, Stephen Bosworth, Chuck Freilich, Nader Habibi, Martin Malin, Payam Mohseni, Gary Samore, and William Tobey—comment on the extension of nuclear negotiations with Iran beyond November 24th and consider potential determinants of the talks'  success in the coming months.

As an American diplomat, Stephen Bosworth stared down dictators (Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines) and cajoled repressive regimes (North Korea). Then he had a second career as dean of Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. But he wasn’t able to retreat to the quiet halls of academia. President Obama appointed him the U.S. special envoy on North Korea, a role he filled from 2009 to 2011 even while he was leading the Fletcher School.

James F. Smith, director of communications for the Belfer Center, interviewed newly appointed senior fellow Stephen Bosworth for this profile.

As officials in charge of American policy toward North Korea during the Clinton and Obama administrations, we met last month in Europe with senior representatives of the North Korean government to discuss relations between our countries. We believe that the current impasse, which only buys time for North Korea to develop its nuclear program, is unstable and that matters will only get worse if not addressed directly. It’s time for the Obama administration to reopen dialogue with Pyongyang.