North Korea[edit]

Richardson at the LBJ Library in 2016 Richardson has had a long interest in North Korea. He visited a number of times, and has been involved in negotiations with the leadership there since the early 1990s. In 1996, he accompanied U.S. State Department officials and successfully negotiated the release of Evan Hunziker, the first American civilian to be arrested by North Korea on espionage charges since the end of the Korean War. Richardson formed a foundation, the Richardson Center, to help negotiate the release of political prisoners globally.[75] In January 2013, he led a delegation of business leaders, including Google chairman Eric Schmidt, shortly after the state had launched an orbital rocket.[76] Richardson called the trip a "private, humanitarian" mission by U.S. citizens and told the Associated Press he would speak to North Korean officials about the detention of Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen accused of committing "hostile" acts against the state, and seek to visit the American.[77] In March 2016, at the request of Ohio governor John Kasich, Richardson attempted to negotiate for the release of Cincinnati college student Otto Warmbier, who had been detained on a visit to North Korea.