Stephen W. Bosworth | Former Chairman

The late Stephen W. Bosworth (1939-2016) was the Chairman of the US- Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies from July 2013 until January 2016. Prior to joining USKI, he was the Dean Emeritus of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, a position he assumed in February 2001.

Ambassador Bosworth served as the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Korea from November 1997 to February 2001. Most recently, from March 2009 through October 2011, he served as U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy for the Obama Administration. From 1995-1997, Mr. Bosworth was the Executive Director of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization [KEDO], an inter-governmental organization established by the United States, the Republic of Korea, and Japan to deal with North Korea.

Before joining KEDO, he served seven years as President of the United States Japan Foundation, a private American grant-making institution. He also taught International Relations at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs from 1990 to 1994. In 1993, he was the Sol Linowitz Visiting Professor at Hamilton College. He has co-authored several studies on public policy issues for the Carnegie Endowment and the Century Fund, and, in 2006, he co-authored a book entitled “Chasing the Sun, Rethinking East Asian Policy.”

Ambassador Bosworth has had an extensive career in the United States Foreign Service, including service as Ambassador to Tunisia from 1979-1981 and Ambassador to the Philippines from 1984-1987. He also served in a number of senior positions in the Department of State, including Director of Policy Planning, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Affairs. He is the recipient of many awards, including the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Diplomat of the Year Award in 1987, the Department of State’s Distinguished Service Award in 1976 and again in 1986, and the Department of Energy’s Distinguished Service Award in 1979. In 2005, the Government of Japan presented him with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star. In 2010, he was the recipient of the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award which challenges and inspires those whose moral courage, personal integrity, and passion for scholarship, research, and teaching be dedicated to solving the most pressing problems facing the world.

Ambassador Bosworth served as a member of the Board of the Japan Society of Boston and is a director of the International Textile Group. In addition, he was a member of the International Advisory Board for Olympus Capital. He was a director of the Franklin Templeton Investment Trust Management Co. (Korea) and the Franklin Templeton Sealand Fund Management Co., Ltd. (China). He was also a member of the Trilateral Commission. Ambassador Bosworth was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an honorary society with members who are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs, which recognizes achievement in the natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. It is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of the world’s complex and emerging problems. Mr. Bosworth was a graduate of Dartmouth College where he was a member of the Board of Trustees from 1992 to 2002 and served as Board Chair from 1996 to 2000.