Robert R. King served as special envoy for North Korea human rights issues at the U.S. Department of State. He was nominated by President Barack Obama, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and served in that position from November 2009 to January 2017. Ambassador King led U.S. efforts to press North Korea for progress on its human rights, U.S. humanitarian work in North Korea, and the treatment of U.S. citizens being held in the North. He represented the United States in international organizations dealing with these issues. Earlier, Dr. King was staff director of the House Foreign Affairs Committee under Chairmen Tom Lantos and Howard Berman and prior to that was a senior professional staff member of the committee (1993–2009). He was concurrently chief of staff to Representative Tom Lantos (1983–2009). In the 1970s, as a White House fellow, he was a member of the National Security Council staff working with Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski in the Jimmy Carter administration. He was also assistant director of research and senior analyst at Radio Free Europe in Munich Germany (1970–1977). Dr. King holds a Ph.D. in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a B.A. in political science from Brigham Young University. An adjunct professor, he has taught courses in international relations and U.S. foreign policy in a number of graduate and undergraduate programs. He was awarded the Knight’s Cross Order of Merit by the president of the Republic of Hungary.

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North Korean Human Rights and International Cooperation: The Way Forward after the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI)+10

Please join the CSIS Korea Chair for the "North Korean Human Rights and International Cooperation: The Way Forward after the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI)+10." conference on April 21 at 9 am EDT. 

Event by John J. Hamre , Victor Cha , Jin Park , Shin-wha Lee , and Hyun-dong Cho , Robert R. King , Jung-Hoon Lee , Michael Kirby , Elizabeth Salmón , Robert Joseph , Jung H. Pak , Scott Snyder , Chaesung Chun , Sheena Chestnut Greitens , Ellen Kim — April 21, 2023

Book Launch: The North Korean Conundrum

While North Korea’s nuclear weapons and the security threat it poses have occupied the center stage and eclipsed other issues in recent years, human rights remain important to U.S. policy. 

Event by Victor Cha , Robert R. King , Gi-Wook Shin , and Nat Kretchun — October 28, 2021

The Impossible State

North Korean Human Rights and the Biden Administration

Victor Cha is joined by Amb. Robert King, the former special envoy for North Korean human rights, and Mr. Lindsay Lloyd, Bradford M. Freeman Director of the Human Freedom Initiative at the George W. Bush Institute for a conversation on North Korean human rights.

Podcast Episode by Victor Cha and Robert R. King — September 14, 2021

CSIS The Impossible State North Korea

Concern in Pyongyang over Protests in Havana?

The demonstrations in Cuba are not just a time for North Korea to demonstrate solidarity. There is a good possibility that these events are a concern to some North Korea’s leaders because what happened in Cuba might also happen in their own country.

Commentary by Robert R. King — August 3, 2021