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What to Do on the Korean Peninsula

What to Do on the Korean Peninsula

  Speaking in Maine features a talk by Donald P. Gregg, former U.S. Ambassador to Korea and Chairman of the Board of The Korea Society in New York City. Mr. Gregg recently spoke at the Midcoast Forum on Foreign Relations in Camden.

Donald P. Gregg is Chairman of the Board of The Korea Society in New York City. Following graduation from Williams College in 1951, he joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and over the next quarter century was assigned to Japan, Burma, Vietnam and Korea. He was seconded to the National Security Council staff in 1979, where he was in charge of intelligence activities and Asian policy affairs.

In 1982, he was asked by the then Vice President George Bush to become his national security advisor. He then retired from the CIA, and was awarded its highest decoration, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal. During his six years with Vice President Bush, Mr. Gregg traveled to 65 countries.

Between 1980-1989, he also served as a professorial lecturer at Georgetown University, where he taught a graduate level workshop entitled “Force and Diplomacy.”

In September 1989, Mr. Gregg began his service as the United States Ambassador to Korea. Prior to his departure from Korea in 1993, Mr. Gregg received the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, an Honorary Degree from Sogang University, and a decoration from the Prime Minister of Korea.

In March 1993, Mr. Gregg retired from a 43-year career in the United States government and assumed his current position. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Recent awards include an honorary degree from Green Mountain College (1996), the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service (2001), Williams College’s Kellogg Award for career achievement (2001), the 2004 Bartels World Affairs Fellowship from Cornell University, the Distinguished Service Award from the American Committees on Foreign Relations (2006), and the Korean-American Friendship Award (2007). In 2005, Mr. Gregg was the first non-Korean to receive the Philip Jaisohn Award for service to Korean-American relations. In December 2007, the John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies established a Foreign Policy fellowship in the Ambassador’s name.