Straub Likely to Play Key Role in Obama’s NK Affairs

David Straub, a former U.S. State Department official in charge of Korean affairs, will likely play an important role in the Obama administration's formative policy on North Korea, Dong-A Ilbo reported Saturday, citing an influential U.S. scholar on North Korea.

Scott Snyder, the Asia Foundation's Center for U.S.-Korea Policy Director, said that Straub, who is currently the associate director of the Korean Studies Program at Shorenstein Center at Stanford University, will likely contribute an important role to architecting Obama's emerging policy on the North.

Straub flew to Pyongyang this week with former President Bill Clinton in a well-publicized mission to secure the release of the two detained American journalists since March, but many suspect that Clinton's mission has more implications.

"The State Department likely asked Straub to join the Clinton trip in a 'fact-finding' mission," Snyder said, adding he is fluent in Korean and had experience of negotiating with North Koreans before.

The U.S. State Department is divided into three groups that advocate different approaches on North Korea, according to Snyder. Namely, the first group argues for both six-party talks and bilateral negotiation. The second group stresses the importance of bilateral contact, an approach advocated by the former Clinton administration. The third group focuses on arms reduction, pushing for tougher verification requirements and also generous ``carrots'' as a reward.

Straub's report to the State Department, based on his trip to North Korea, is likely to exercise a considerable influence on the North Korean task force within the department that has been studying North Korea's intentions, Snyder said.

Straub worked over 12 years on Korean affairs, first arriving in Seoul in 1979, just months before the assassination of then President Park Chung-hee. He served as head of the political section at the U.S. embassy in Seoul from 1999 to 2002 and he played a key working-level role in the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear program as the State Department's Korea country desk director from 2002 to 2004.